Perspectives on Inquiry- MTU Library Resources

Internal Violence in America

Instructor: Mathew Hill: email; mahill@mtu.edu

Librarian: Joan Goodbody: email; goodbody@mtu.edu: phone; 487-2698

 

MTU Library Catalog:

Use the catalog to find items that the library owns: Searchable by author, title, subject or keywords. Also after using an index to find a paper/article that you want, youll need to use this catalog to determine whether we have the journal that the article appeared in. Articles from journals we do not have or books we do not have can be ordered through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Many of the databases now have a direct ILL link.

 

Reference resources:

The reference collection is a good place to begin exploring an unfamiliar subject. The encyclopedias and dictionaries found here can give you definitions of terms and background information on your subject. Along with help identifying specific issues within your broad subject area to explore in more detail.

CQ researcher (issues): H35 .E2. REF: This is a multi volume (by year) publication that is put out to help the members of congress and their staff understand public issues. The newest Index is available at: http://library.cqpress.com/researcher_index.pdf

Census of population and housing (2000). Summary social, economic, and housing characteristics. Michigan, 2000. C 3.223/18:2000PHC-1-24 REF: Michigan Statistical information, this is also available online.

Aggression and conflict : a cross-cultural encyclopedia. HM136 .L46 1994 REF

Encyclopedia of American cultural & intellectual history. E169.1 .E624 2001 REF

Encyclopedia of crime and justice. HV6017 .E52 1983

Workplace violence issues in response. J 1.14/23:W 89 Documents-Electronic Disc - Second Floor

Crime in the United States. J 1.14/7: U.S. Core Documents - Second Floor

 

E-Resources access to electronic indexes/abstracts, online books, e-journals and selected websites. From the E-Resource menu select listings by alphabet, topic or collection (e.g. FirstSearch or InfoTrac.) E-Resources are also searchable by name or keyword(s.) Use the index databases to locate journal articles, newspaper articles, or reviews on your topic. Some indexes or collections of indexes especially useful for research in this course include:

 

Databases:

FirstSearch: This database provides access to over 60 indexes. They include:

Worldcat, a comprehensive database for all types of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. This does NOT index periodicals at the article level;

Wilson Select Plus, A full text database comprised of articles represented by selected citations from Readers' Guide Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, General Science Abstracts, Education Abstracts, and Wilson Business Abstracts.

Infotrac: A comprehensive multi-index database including:

General Reference Center Gold (issues and philosophers): A general interest database that integrates a variety of sources in one easy-to-use interface. Use General Reference Center Gold to find articles from newspapers, reference books, and periodicals, many with full-text and images.

InfoTrac Custom 150 Full Text Newspapers: A collection of newspapers from around the Country and the World;

Expanded Academic ASAP: Gives access to arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images!

Computer Database: Use this database to find computer-related product introductions, news and reviews in areas such as hardware, software, electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology

 

 

LexisNexis:

Academicprovides full-text documents from over 5,600 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications with a variety of flexible search options. 

Congressional provides a comprehensive online resource from Congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research.

 

JSTOR: is a searchable database containing scanned images of back issues of over 100 scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines. Titles currently available are from the fields of: African-American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Education, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Sociology and Statistics.

 

Websites:

Evaluation of websites: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html - Cornell University Libraries Research Skills -One of the best sites on evaluating information found on the Internet.

 

Firstgov.gov: www.firstgov.gov. This is the official government site that searches over 87 million sites. Can search for just federal, federal and a specific state, federal and all states, all states, or a specific state. Advanced search gives the most flexability.

Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov. The site of the census bureau and will connect you with American Fact finder a link that gives statistical information. There are also links to subject specific information.

American Memory: http://www.loc.gov/. This is the main page of the Library of Congress. Click on American Memory to get to the search page. American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.

Workplace Violence Prevention Taskforce 2000: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/topics/violence.htm. Report of Recommendations.

Office of Justice: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov. Since 1984 the Office of Justice Programs has provided federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, improve the criminal and juvenile justice systems, increase knowledge about crime and related issues, and assist crime victims.

FBI: Uniform Crime Reports: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm. The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet a need for reliable, uniform crime statistics for the nation

 

Interlibrary Loan access to items from other libraries.

Request items using an ILL form available at the Circulation desk or online (Under Library Services menu, select Interlibrary Loans.) Many index databases also allow ILL requests through their sites. Note The ILL process can take time (longer than 10 days in some cases.) Plan your research time accordingly.

 

For Assistance

For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit or phone the Reference/Information Desk (487-2507), e-mail instrlib@mtu.edu, or complete an Individual Instruction Request form found under Reference & Instruction on the Librarys web page at www.lib.mtu.edu.