Perspectives on Inquiry- MTU Library Resources

The Worldly Philosophers: Instructor, Terry Monson

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

 

MTU Library Catalog: 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 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.

Dictionary of business and economics: HB61 .A53 Ref

Dictionary of philosophy and psychology, including many of the principal conceptions of

ethics, logic, economics: B41 .B1 Ref. [2 volumes]

Encyclopedia of economics, edited by Douglas Greenwald: HB61 .E55 Ref.

The Europa world year book, D2 .E82 REF: Statistical and informational publication on countries of the World.

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. Index is in the front of the newest notebook.

 

Databases: 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:

 

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:

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 File ASAP : Gives access to company performance and activity, industry events and trends as well as the latest in management, economics and politics.

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.

 

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, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, History, Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Sociology and Statistics.

 

Websites:

 

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.

The World Bank Organization: http://www.worldbank.org. The World Bank is one of the world's largest sources of development assistance. Its primary focus is on helping the poorest people and the poorest countries.

The United Nations: http://www.un.org. This site can lead to international information on economic, political, and social issues produced by the UN.

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development: http://www.oecd.org/home/.OECD groups countries that have a shared commitment to democratic governments and the market economy.

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

Union Websites: These are a few selected links, many more are available on the web.

http://www.aflcio.org/ American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial

Organizations.

http://www.afscme.org/ American Federation of state, county and municipal employees, AFL-CIO.

http://www.seiu.org/ Service employees international union.

http://www.uaw.org/ The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW).

http://www.umwa.org/homepage.shtml: United Mine Workers of America, AFL-CIO.

http://www.uswa.org/: United Steelworkers of America.

 

 

For Assistance

For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit or phone the Reference/Information Desk (487-2507), e-mail instrlib@mtu.edu,