Research Guide for
CRP 400: Urban and Regional Theory

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FINDING PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Periodical Indexes and Abstracts

Articles

Periodical articles are an excellent source for detailed analysis or up-to-date information on a topic. These articles are from materials that are published "periodically" or in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual or even irregular intervals. They are found in newspapers, magazines, journals, yearbooks, and other sources.

Periodicals are available in several formats: bound paper volumes (like books), microfiche or microfilm, and increasingly as electronic text.

Indexes and Abstracts

Periodical Indexes and Abstracts are Reference resources that identify and locate articles in periodical publications. They are often subject-oriented and list author, title, name of periodical, volume, pages and date of publication in entries called bibliographic citations. For information about bibliographic format and how to cite resources that you use in your research, go to Citing Sources.

Abstracts are specialized indexes that also include summaries of the content of the articles with their citations.

Periodical Indexes and Abstracts also come in several formats: traditional and historical bound paper volumes, stand alone CD-ROM computer workstations, and more recently as networked databases available via the Internet.

Networked indexes and abstracts come in a variety of versions and interfaces: telnet, Web, InfoShare (linked to the Catalog), and full-text, to name a few. For more information about finding Networked Resources available through the Cornell University Library, go to Finding Networked Resources.

Linked Indexes

InfoShare indexes are directly linked to holdings in the library catalog. This means your search will yield two kinds of information: 1) It identifies articles on your topic. And 2) It tells you where that source is in the Cornell Library system.

When using indexes and abstracts linked to the catalog, look for the message: Held by library--type HOL for holdings information. This note will appear in the lower lefthand corner of the screen in records where the Cornell Library has the journal or magazine listed as the source of the article. Typing HOL will take you to the Holdings information detailing what libraries on campus have the journal, what volumes they have, call numbers and special locations, and the circulation status of the material.

When using unlinked indexes (essentially all non-InfoShare indexes), search the Cornell Library Catalog (CU) by the title of the periodical (i.e. Time, Scientific American, etc.). If you have questions, ask at the Reference Desk.

Full-text Articles

An ever growing number of periodical indexes offer access to the full-text of articles electronically. Use the Library Gateway to find full-text resources.

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• Periodical Abstracts. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1986- . (Bear Access and Cornell Library Gateway)

  Indexes and abstracts over 1600 general interest magazines and scholarly journals including all the magazines in Reader's Guide and most of the scholarly journals from Social Sciences Index, Humanities Index, General Science Index. It also includes citations and abstracts to selected television and radio programs. Cornell University Libraries subscribe to most of the periodicals indexed. Holdings can be found easily since the titles are linked to the online catalog. The full text of some transcripts from the television and radio programs can be found by searching the Transcript Files on the LEXIS/NEXIS terminals.

  Periodical Abstracts (Linked to the Catalog version) InfoShare Telnet interface

  Periodical Abstracts (Web version) OCLC Web interface

  Periodical Abstracts/ABI Inform (Full-Text Web version) ProQuest Direct Web interface

• Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature/Readers' Guide Abstracts. New York: Wilson, 1900/04-. (Uris Ref AI 3 R28; also Olin Ref, Bear Access and Cornell Library Gateway)

  The Readers' Guide indexes approximately 160 current American popular and semi-popular periodicals. Author and subject entries are in one alphabet. Each entry gives the necessary information for finding the article: author, title, name of periodical (abbreviated), volume number, inclusive paging, and date. Maps, portraits, illustrations and bibliographies are noted. Published semi-monthly with cumulations annually. Book reviews appear at the end of each volume. Readers' Guide Abstracts includes indexing from January 1983, abstracts from September 1984.

• H.W. Wilson Select. Indexes a selection of scholarly journals and popular magazines and supplies access to the full-text of articles from a variety of the Wilson Company's indexing sources, including the Readers' Guide. (Use the Library Gateway, discussed below, to find this resource.)

Other networked indexes and abstracts can be found in the Cornell Library Gateway Selected titles of interest to this class to be found there include:

• Lexis-Nexis Universe

• NewsBank

• ABI Inform

• Social Science Citation Index

• Social Sciences Abstracts

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FINDING NETWORKED RESOURCES

Cornell Library Gateway

The Cornell University Library Gateway is a new web site which provides a unified approach to finding information about the Cornell University Library and to selecting and connecting to our diverse and growing constellation of networked electronic resources and services.

Buttons on the left side of the screen will always be available to help you navigate among a variety of choices. The Cornell University Library Catalog is at the top of the array to make it easy for you to connect and search for books, journal titles and many other types of materials at Cornell. Networked Resources, the default display on the right side of the screen, enables you to identify and connect to networked electronic resources, such as periodical indexes, full text documents or numeric data files. About CU Library leads you to a wealth of information about the Library, including individual library web sites. Services provides information about library services such as circulation, instruction and reference, and enables you to make a variety of requests, electronically, for services such as book renewals and interlibrary borrowing. Help provides information on a wide variety of general and technical topics that will help you understand and use the CU Library as well as the Library Gateway. And if you need personal help you can click on "Ask a Librarian" at the bottom of each page. Last, but not least, the CUInfo button enables you to connect easily to the Cornell University information system.

Networked Resources contains titles, descriptive information, and links to over 1,200 networked electronic resources, including periodical indexes, numeric and spatial data files, catalogs, audio-visual materials, and full text documents such as electronic journals and reference sources. It is a "database of databases." There are two main ways to search for databases in your areas of interest: searching and browsing.

Searching for Databases

Click on the top search box to select the type of resource you are interested in, such as indexes or full text, or all types, then type a keyword or keywords in the second search box. The Networked Resources database will then generate a list of resources (databases) that match your search request.

Browsing for Databases

Below the Search boxes you will find a menu of subject categories. Click on a subject category to browse lists of resources available in that subject area. Or, you can browse the lists of New Resources, "Greatest Hits" (frequently used databases), or the Alphabetical List of titles contained in the Networked Resources database (over 1,200 titles and growing).

Once you have identified the networked resource you are interested in, you can then connect to it directly to gather the information you need to perform a search on your specific topic in the file or database you have selected.

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FINDING INTERNET RESOURCES

SEARCH ENGINES AND SUBJECT GUIDES

Use search engines or Internet subject guides to find resources or sites on the World Wide Web on your topic. Search Engines are software that allow you to search the contents of web pages and Subject Guides are web pages that use menus and lists to sort and classify web sites.

Question Authority! The Internet is a very democratic tool, in that anyone can write or say virtually anything they wish to on it. As you would do with books and journal articles, look to see who is responsible for producing the web page or site that you are accessing. Does the individual or institution have a particular bias or concern or agenda in presenting their information. How objective is the information? How accurate or truthful? How authoritative?

• Search the Internet

• Internet Subject Guides

• Library Web Servers World-Wide

• Library Catalogs World-Wide

• Listserv and Discussion List Directories

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• Internet Reference Resources chosen by the O*K*U Reference staff

• Fine Arts Library List of Internet Resources for City and Regional Planning

• Statistical Resources (Bob's site)

• CISER Data Archive

• Internet Data Resources for Social Scientists

• LakeNet

• IthacaNet

• Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce

• County Business Patterns (Also available at the Statistical Workstation in the Olin Library Reference CD-ROM work area.)

• REIS (Regional Economic Information Service)

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CITING SOURCES

• APA and MLA Style sheets for print sources

• APA and MLA Style sheets for Internet sources

• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography

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• Library Gateway Help

• The Reference Home Page at O*K*U Libraries

• Library Research at Cornell: A Hypertext Guide

• Library Vocabulary: Definitions of Library Terms

You can ask your questions at our reference and information desks, over the phone, or by e-mail.

• Reference Desk Schedules in Olin and Uris Libraries

• Olin Library Reference phone number: 255-4144

• Uris Library Reference phone number: 255-2339

• Olin Kroch Uris Reference e-mail address: okuref@cornell.edu

• Question? Ask a Librarian

Reference Home Page

February 11, 1998
Lance Heidig, ljh5@cornell.edu
Reference Services Division, Olin Kroch Uris Libraries
Cornell University Library
URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/crp400.html

Olin and Uris Libraries, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853
Information and reference: 607-255-4144, okuref@cornell.edu
Circulation: (Olin) 607-255-4245, (Uris) 607-255-3537, olincirc@cornell.edu