Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

Human Sexuality and Society UN1001, Section R54 & R60 P. Kieckhafer

Librarian: David Bezotte (dbezotte@mtu.edu, Phone 487-3041, Library-Room 203)

 

For Assistance - For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit the Reference & Information desk on 2^nd floor, phone 487-2507, or use e-mail or instant messaging by clicking Ask a Librarian on the Library's website.

 

Guide to the Library -http://www.lib.mtu.edu/about/MTU_Library_Guide.pdf

Answers your questions about the basics of using the MTU Library.

 

Reference Collection - 2^nd Floor - The Reference Collection contains dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, standards, codes, catalogs, etc.,and is a good place to find background information on an issue or start your research. The collection is arranged by subject, using the Library of Congress Classification System (LCCS) call numbers. An outline of the system is available at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html.

Encyclopedia of Psychology BF 31 .E525 2000 REF

Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics - BJ 63 .E458 1998 REF

CQ Researcher (1959-present) H35.E2 REF

Reports on timely issues. Provides an overview, history, impact, positions and resources for further study. A comprehensive index is available at http://library.cqpress.com/researcher_index.pdf.
Encyclopedia of Sociology HM 17 .E5 2000 REF

West's Encyclopedia of American Law - KF 154 .W47 1998 REF

Encyclopedia of Education - LB 15 .E47 2003 REF

Encyclopedia of Bioethics QH 332 .E52 2004 REF

Encyclopedia of Mental Health RA 790 .E53 1998 REF

Magazines for Libraries - Z 6941 .K2 REF DESK (Provides reviews and evaluations of over 6,850 periodicals.)

 

Resources on the Librarys Web Page - www.lib.mtu.edu

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) To request material not available at the JRVP Library

To request books and articles from other libraries, complete an Interlibrary Loan Request Form, available by selecting Interlibrary Loan on the Library's website or visiting the Circulation desk.

 

Locating Books & Periodicals

Books are located on the Third Floor in the Main Collection, shelved by Library of Congress call number.

Periodicals in are shelved by Library of Congress call number in these locations:

CURRENT JOURNALS (1^st Floor): Recent issues kept here until bound or reissued in microfilm/fiche.

SERIALS COLLECTION (Garden Level): Older volumes in print format.

MICROFICHE & MICROFILM AREA (2nd Floor, west): Older volumes on microfiche or microfilm.

Electronic journals are found under E-Journals on the Librarys web page.

 

JRVP Online Catalog

Contains records of materials owned by the MTU Library, including books, periodicals, videos, CDs, maps, government publications, and microformat materials. Two search interfaces, Basic and Keyword, allow the user to search for items by author, title, subject, call number, ISBN/ISSN, or keyword(s). Use the Location, Status, and Call Number information to find an item in the Library collections. To search for a periodical article, search by Journal Title for the title of the periodical (sometimes called the "Source"), rather than searching by article title or author.

 

Evaluating Information Sources - Consult these sites provided by other institutions:

Identifying Research Articles & Refereed Journals: http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/lsx/tutorial/section3.html

Evaluating Web Sites: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html

 

Citation & Style Guides: Citation & Style Guides

Concordia Universitys site on Citation & Style Guides: http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/citations.html

Using APA Format: http://www.lib.mtu.edu/xmldata/course_guides/52.aspx

 

Government Information on the Web

FirstGov: www.firstgov.gov - Portal to federal and state government information.

 

Databases (Periodical & Newspaper Indexes)

To find citations to articles from journals, conference proceedings, and other publications, go to the Librarys website and select Databases. The resulting screen offers four options for finding databases:

(1) "Search for Databases" to search database titles and/or descriptions,

(2) "Databases A-Z" to browse an alphabetical list by title,

(3) "Search by Subject Headings" to view databases grouped by subject, and

(4) "Search by Providers" to view databases grouped by publisher/provider.

 

To select the databases that best meet your needs, look at the database descriptions and consider

Topics covered (General news? Engineering? Social sciences? etc.)

Time period covered (1980-present? Most recent year? Last ten years? etc.)

Types of publications indexed (Periodical articles? Newspapers? Books? etc.)

Levels of publications indexed (Popular/news? Academic/research/scholarly? Trade/professional? etc.)

 

For Database Keyword Search Tips such as using truncation and Boolean & proximity operators, go to http://www.lib.mtu.edu/reference/tutorials/databasekeyword.aspx or select Tutorials on the Library's website.

 

Many databases include some articles in full text. If you're viewing an article citation from a database and see the Husky Fetch symbol , click on it for options for locating the article. Most of these databases may be accessed by MTU students/faculty/staff from off-campus by entering your ISO/Husky Mail user ID and password.

 

Here are some databases recommended for this course:

 

Thompson Gale

Expanded Academic ASAP Scholarly and popular research on a variety of academic subjects. Includes full text.

Health Reference Center Academic Consumer health and allied health research. Includes full text.

InfoTrac Custom Newspapers - Collection of newspapers from around the country and the world.

 

FirstSearch

The Wilson indexes (marked with * ) allow a Reviewed Journal Phrase field search for peer-reviewed journal.

*WilsonSelectPlus Full text articles from over 1400 periodicals covering research in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Business, Education and General Sciences.

Article 1^st - contains citations for items listed on the table of contents pages of over 12,600 journals in all subject areas.

Medline - a comprehensive database covering all areas of medicine.

*Biological & Agricultural Index - provides information on topics from groundwater pollution to genetic engineering and covers the entire range of sciences related to biology and agriculture. Indexes key periodicals in the life sciences and agriculture. Includes current book reviews.

*Education Abstracts- encompasses all areas of educators, including administration, teaching methods and curriculum.

ERIC - a guide to published and unpublished sources on educational topics, with information from RIE (Resources in Education) and CIJE (Current Index to Journals in Education); includes some full text of articles and reports.

*Humanities Abstracts - covers English language periodicals in all areas of the humanities, including ethics.

PsycFirst - most recent three years of the PsycINFO database covering worldwide research in psychology and related fields. Contains citations and abstracts from all types of publications.

*Social Science Abstracts - covers periodicals in anthropology, economics, ethics, geography, law and criminology, political science, social work, sociology, and international relations.

*Wilson Business Abstracts - provides complete and accurate indexing and abstracting of 345 leading business magazines

 

LexisNexis Academic Wide range of business, legal, medical, and current affairs information. Extensive U.S. newspaper coverage in full text. Updated daily.

 

World News Digest (Facts on File) - Concise, comprehensive record of world events since 1940. Looking at a series of related events as they have developed over time, you can find comprehensive information to use as a starting point for research.