Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

WorkTalk : Communicating for Success UN1001, secs. 21 & 28 Chapel

Instructor: Amanda Binoniemi: email: abinonie@mtu.edu

 

MTU Online Catalog : Librarys Main Page - www.lib.mtu.edu

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 Collection Second Floor

The Reference Collection is a good place to collect background information on an issue or to start your research. The collection is arranged by subject, using the Library of Congress classification system (call numbers.)

Encyclopedia of Human Behavior BF31.E5 1994 REF
Encyclopedia of Psychology BF31.E52 2000 REF

Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics BJ63.E458 1998 REF

Encyclopedia of Business HF1001.E466 1995 REF

Dictionary of Business & Management HF1001.R79 1993 REF

The Communication Handbook: A Dictionary P87.5.D461 1986 REF

International Encyclopedia of Communications P87.5.I5 1989 REF

A Dictionary of Communication & Media Studies P87.5.W38 1989 REF

 

Library of Congress Classification All FloorsUse the LCCS to locate items within a specific subject. Try browsing the following call number areas.

  P87 P95: Communication

HF5717 HF5718.2: Business Communications

HD 30.3: Communication in organizations

BF637: Communication-Psychological aspects

HM 1211 and P 94.6-65: Intercultural communication

 

E-Resources access to electronic indexes/abstracts, online books, e-journals and selected

websites.

From the E-Resource menu select listings by alphabet, subject or provider (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:

Infotrac: A comprehensive multi-index in which multiple databases can be searched at one time. Databases include:

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.

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;

General Business FileProvides information to analyze company performance and activity, industry events and trends as well as the latest in management, economics and politics. Includes access to a combination of broker research reports, trade publications, newspapers, journals and company directory listings with full text and images available.

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.

Wilson Business, Provides complete and accurate indexing and abstracting of leading English language business magazines. Included are 50-to-150-word abstracts written by subject experts for each article and gives citations (but not abstracts) for book reviews and includes links to many full-text articles.

LexisNexis:

Academic provides 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.

ABI/Inform: Most scholarly and comprehensive way to explore and understand business research topics. Search nearly 1800 worldwide business periodicals for in-depth coverage of business and economic conditions, management techniques, theory, and practice of business, advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more. Covers 1971- present.

 

Resources on the Web

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.

Suggested Websites:

www.firstgov.gov - FirstGovPortal to federal and state government information. All sites linked by FirstGov are evaluated for accuracy and authority.

http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/ - Internet Public Library: Subject Collections Good starting place for a research-oriented approach to a variety of subject areas. IPL Emphasis is on education rather than entertainment.

 

Citing Your Sources

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (5^th ed.)BF76.7.P83 2001 REF DESK

http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html - APA Style - Sample citations from the APA manual and changes made in the new edition. Note: site does not contain the complete text of the manual.

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html - Online! Citation Styles - Site contains samples of APA style for various types of information.

 

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.