English 309 (Judge)

Spring 2007

library research guide
Librarian: Diane Prorak
E-mail: prorak@uidaho.edu

UI Library Website: www.lib.uidaho.edu

If you need additional help with your research, try:
Research Tips
Basic Rules
  • Start early.
  • Try library databases first, or Google Scholar, before standard Google or other web search engines
  • Search your topic in the library catalog (for books) or article databases using 2-3 “key words” (search terms) not complete sentences.
  • For articles, generally start with one of the multi-subject databases like Academic Premier (by Ebsco).
  • If you don’t find what you need:
    • Change search terms several times (even singular vs. plural can sometimes make a difference).  Watch for good search terms in the relevant items that you find.
    • Change databases. There are many on the Find Articles page (http://db.lib.uidaho.edu/databases/) under the “databases by subject” pulldown menu. Click on the “Info” icon for more information about each of them.  In the Ebsco databases, you can also choose more databases, and search several at once, by clicking on the “Choose Databases” tab from a screen within the databases. Put a check on all the databases you’d like to search and then click “continue.”
    • Scan your results list, look at abstracts of promising items, then revise your topic based on what you learn from searching.  Look especially for new search terms in the “subject terms” listed in the full information for books and articles.  In many databases, you can also search the subject terms by clicking on them.
    • Use some advanced searching techniques:
      • Truncation: Usually putting * at the end of a word allows you to search for different forms/endings.  For example, homosexual* searches homosexuals, homosexuality, etc. 
      • Use parentheses and Boolean terms to combine synonyms and other concepts, e.g. (Gay or same-sex) and marriage
    • Keep trying. Good researchers persist.
    • Get help from a librarian (Reference Desk or Research Assistance Program).
Books and DVDs

To search for books or DVDs in our library, type your search terms in the box below.  If you type DVD in the box, you will mostly see DVDs in your result list.

Books listed may be located at the UI Library, the UI Women's Center (in Memorial Gym) the UI Law Library, NIC (North Idaho College, Coeur d'Alene), and LCSC (Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston).  Books from libraries not on the Moscow campus can be ordered using the "request" button.  Some books are electronic books or sources and are only available through the link in the catalog information.

Books are shelved using the Library of Congress classification scheme. 

The location name for UI DVDs is UI Library Audiovisual Collection.  Write down the call number and request them at the Library's Reserve Desk. 

To see books from a worldwide selection of libraries, use WorldCat. You can order items we don't own using Interlibrary Loan (and there is a link within WorldCat to do that).

Electronic Books

Electronic books can be found in the library catalog or from the E-books page. You can use an electronic book by clicking on the lin in the "links" field found in the "brief record" screen.  Some E-books require that you set up a free account to fully use them.

Articles
Articles are found in periodicals.  Examples of periodicals are magazines, journals, and newspapers. Scholarly (also called peer-reviewed or refereed) journals are one of the primary means of disseminating ideas in academic scholarship. 

Scholarly vs. Popular  

What is the difference between a scholarly journal, a trade journal and a popular magazine? Use the links on the page to find out.

 
How To Find  Articles
Articles are located by searching for your topic in an article database (sometimes called an article index). First, select an appropriate database from the Library Find Articles page or choosing one of those listed below. After selecting a database to search, type in search terms. Articles are generally more specific than books and may require a narrower search.

In the Ebsco databases, you can check a limit box to limit to scholarly journals. It reduces your results, but won't eliminate the news or editorial articles that may appear in journals.  

IMPORTANT SEARCH TIP:  If you are not getting the results you want from your search:

  • Try different search terms or different combinations of terms
  • Try a different database

Example of an efficient search:

  • (television or media): the parentheses and OR allow you to include more terms in one search
  • The * is a wildcard, so you will find teenager or teenagers
  • AND requires that the concepts of oral history and gay/lesbian sexual orientation are BOTH present in the resulting articles. 
  • The quotes require that the words are found as a phrase

Getting the full text of articles:

  • Article Linker
    If the article in a database does not have a direct full text link, click on the link or symbol for “Article Linker” (which may be a text link such as "locate article").  ArticleLinker will help you find out if the library has the journal and/or article available either in print or online or to request a copy of the article by Interlibrary Loan.
  • Magazine and Journal Title List: Search for the title of the periodical (magazine or journal) to see if we subscribe to it or have access to it in print or online.  You can find out what dates we own.

Selected Article Indexes 

Many more indexes are available at http://db.lib.uidaho.edu/databases/

Selected Article Database Titles and Descriptions
CQ Researcher  An excellent and reliable source for overviews of many social and ethical topics.  Each week the publication explores a topic in depth.  Broaden your topic to see what is available.  Full text.
EbscoSearch  A good general database of both scholarly and popular articles in almost all subject areas, many full text or with links to full text.  An excellent starting place. You can limit your search to scholarly journals by checking a box under "Limit your results" called "Peer Reviewed (Scholarly Journals)".
ERIC (Ebsco) Index to educational literature. The EBSCO version provides access to ERIC Document citations and ERIC Journal citations.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition: Articles focusing on medical and health issues. Use this to explore medical aspects of your topic.  Some are full text.
Humanities International Index: This database provides citations and abstracts for articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations. Dates covered:1975-present for some journals
JSTOR: A collection of the back issues of full text older journals.  No issues in the last 3 years are included.
Lexis Nexis A full text database with many newspaper articles and radio transcripts included (as well as legal and business information).  For local/regional newspaper articles, click on “Guided News Search,” then categories “US News” then “Western Regional Sources.”  The Lewiston Tribune, Spokesman Review and Idaho Statesman are included here. You can also search campus newspapers by choosing the tab "Guided News Search" then the pulldown "University News."
Lewiston Morning Tribune Archives Find full text of local news articles back to 1990. To access articles, enter the username "UIL" and password "1011738".
MLA Bibliography (Modern Language Association) Scholarly index of citations to articles on literature, linguistics, language and folklore. No full-text, but an icon next to a citation indicates if UI Library owns the journal containing the article. 1963 - present
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center Database of articles and other sources representing differing viewpoints on social, ethical, political and technological topics.
PsychINFO: Scholarly international index for the broad field of psychology providing citations and abstracts of international journal articles and current chapter and book coverage. Our library will not own all the articles.  Use the pulldown under "Limit to document type" to limit to peer reviewed articles. The  icon with UNIV OF IDAHO LIBR indicates we own the journal (unless it is a dissertation).  Use "See more details for locating this article" or "Locate article" to get the link or call number for the journal. 
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection:  For mostly scholarly sources that deal with the psychology of gender issues.  Many full text articles.
Polling the Nations Gives questions and results of polls on various topics.  You may want to browse the list of topics and choose a broader aspect of your topic. 
ProjectMuse: A full text collection of some fairly recent journals in the humanities and some in the social sciences.
Religion and Philosophy Collection: An Ebsco database similar to EbscoSearch, but with some additional focus on religion and philosopy. Some full text.
Science Direct: A full text collection of the last 10 year of some journals in the sciences and some social sciences. Click on the "journals" button near the top to search journals only
Sociological Abstracts: Scholarly international index for the broad field of sociology.  Contains other types of publications besides journals, including dissertations and book chapters, but you can choose "journals" by choosing a tab.  Default search is a phrase search so use Boolean "and" to separate terms. Our library will not own all the articles. Use the "Locate article" link to determine if we have access to the article. 
Synergy: A full text collection of some fairly recent journals in the sciences and social sciences.
Thomson/Gale databases: This list provides access to a number of databases covering a wide range of topics.  Many of them do not have a link to ArticleLinker though, so you need to look up if the UI Library owns them using the Magazine and Journal Title list.
Other Web Resources
Google Scholar Google has a specific search that take you to a variety of more scholarly publications (not just articles, but many types of documents).  It is much less defined than the databases above. Some items retrieved are not strictly scholarly. Searching it results in a scatter of publications, all of which need to be scrutinized.  However, it is an impressive resource, sometimes pulling up articles not found elsewhere, old and new.  Sometimes you will see a link called "U Idaho Article Linker" to determine if the UI Library has the journal.
OAIster: A catalog of digital resources. Digital resources can be images, academic papers, movies and audio files, technical reports, books, as well as preprints (unpublished works that have not yet been peer reviewed). By aggregating these resources, OAIster makes it possible to search across all of them and return the results of a thorough investigation of complete, up-to-date resources.
Government Information
Government publications come from state, federal, and foreign governments, as well as intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations. Government documents are a great place to look for statistical information.
Selected Government Resources 

Title/Description

Call #
American Factfinder: a wealth of population, housing, economic, and geographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs
Crime in Idaho http://www.isp.state.id.us/identification/ucr/crime_idaho.html
Thomas (For searching U.S. laws and legislation) http://thomas.loc.gov/
Uniform Crime Reports (See especially hate crime section) http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius
U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov
Evaluating Sources
Information on the Internet ranges from the free web to electronic books, journals, etc. that the library pays for. The Internet is a wonderful source for many different types of information. It is important to remember that anyone can publish something on the web and it is critical to evaluate your source carefully. The library's Critically Analyzing Information Sources or Applying the CRAAP Test can help you choose reliable information.

Besides doing searches on www.google.com (or Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com)or other search engines, you can use subject lists that have evaluated web sites before inclusion: Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org , the Internet Public Library at www.ipl.org, and Infomine (scholarly sources) at http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Citing Sources

You will need to properly cite your sources.  Here are some links that may be helpful:

Research and Documentation Online  Diana Hacker's guide covering citation of both print and electronic sources using APA, MLA, Chicago, or CBE. Includes sample paper in each style.

UI Library's page of Electronic Style Guides