Library Research Guide for Lansing High School English 12:
Prize-Winning Author Project
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/eng12a.html
|
Research Skills and Techniques:
|
Beyond Google
The purpose of this web page and our library instruction session is to get you to think about Information: what you need, where you get it, and how you use it.
We live in an Information rich society. We are literally surrounded and saturated with multiple choices, options, and strategies for finding and getting information.
Where do you get your Information?
The Web can provide excellent starting places to do your research.
But if you are only using Google and Wikipedia to find your information, you may not be finding all of the information that is available on your topic. Especially if you are being asked to do scholarly research.
Three very important facts to remember about information:
- Search Engines only retrieve a portion of the information available on the web.
A lot of useful information is not freely available on the web. It is proprietary, meaning someone--an author, a publisher, or institution--owns the information.
Not all digitized information is created equal.
You need to critically analyze and evaluate the information you intend to use.
Not all information has been digitized.
There are still books in the Library. And other print and analog resources that do not exist on the Web.
You are now affiliated with one of the largest and one of the best academic research libraries in the world. By being at Cornell, you now have access to more information resources than you can imagine. The Library and Information Resources listed below are here for you to use and explore.
Know better.
Return to Top
Research Strategies
The ability to identify, locate, access, evaluate, and use information effectively is an essential skill. It is a measure of your information literacy.
An information literate individual is able to:
- Determine the extent of information needed
- Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
- Evaluate information and its sources critically
- Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
- Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
- Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally"
Research Strategy Tutorial
Research Strategy and Process -- CU Library Gateway Help
-
- 1. Choose your topic
- 2. Find background information
- 3. Find books on your topic
- 4. Find periodical articles (journals, magazines, newspapers)
- 5. Find relevant web sites
- 6. Evaluate your sources
- 7. Cite your sources
See the following sites to learn more about how to find information and how to do scholarly research in a large academic library:
Return to Top
Database Searching Tips
Interpreting Your Search Results
Return to Top
|
Library and Information Resources:
|
The Cornell University Library Gateway is the Library's homepage on the World Wide Web. It is the Library's interface for connecting Cornell faculty, students, staff, and campus visitors to our digital and print collections.
Use the Gateway to:
- Connect to our digital library--thousands of databases, e-books, e-journals, online exhibits, and collections.
- Access the physical library--20 libraries, 7.5 million books, maps, microforms, and media.
- Learn more about the information Services the Library provides to connect you with the information you need.
- Contact our knowledgeable staff who are here to assist you with any questions you have.
Return to Top
The Cornell University Library Catalog is a database that contains records for materials held in 19 of the 20 of libraries that collectively comprise the Cornell University Library. The Weill Cornell Medical Library, located in New York City, has a separate catalog.
Use the Library Catalog to:
- Find records for books, journals, maps, government documents, DVDs, databases, networked resources (e-journals, e-books, digital collections), sound recordings, etc.
- Link to full text digital materials from their catalog records.
|
|
This symbol tells you that a resource is either available full text online or that an online Table of Contents exists for the material.
|
About the CU Library Catalog
Finding the books on the shelves
Books are arranged on our shelves in the stacks on various floors or levels in each of our libraries by call number.
Library of Congress vs. Dewey Decimal Classification
The Cornell University Library uses the Library of Congress Classification System (LC) to assign call numbers for library materials.
Dewey Decimal call numbers are numbers that place materials in a numerical order. But LC call numbers are a combination of letters and numbers both, so materials are arranged in "alphanumeric" order. For example:
PS3568.U812 E4x 2001
To retrieve an item from the library stacks:
-
Search the Library Catalog to identify call numbers for the items you want.
-
Note the library location, call number--including any
plus signs thay may appear with the number to indicate oversize sections
("+", "++")--and status of the item. Continuing our example:
-
-
Location: Uris Library
- Call Number: PS3568.U812 E4x 2001
- Status: Not Charged
|
-
Scan the record carefully to note any additional location or status information. The item may be shelved in a special location, or on Reserve for a course, or charged out (on loan) to another user.
- Use a library's stack guide to find out where the books are shelved.
|
A book with a call number starting with the letters PS should be on the shelf
in the 8th Level of the stacks in Uris Library.
If you cannot find the book on the shelf, please ask for assistance at a Reference Desk. We may be able to help you find what you need.
|
Return to Top
Reference Books and Databases
Background resources like encyclopedias and dictionaries will help you understand the broader context of your research and tell you in general terms what is known about your topic.
|
Selected Reference sources for your class
- Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1978- .
-
- Uris Library Reference
PS 129 D55+; selected volumes in Olin Ref PS 129 D55+
- Also available online as part of the Literature Resource Center.
An ongoing set of volumes designed to provide biographic, bibliographic and critical material on major writers of America and Great Britain as well as some writers of Canada, France and Germany. Each volume is arranged alphabetically by the writers covered. There are numerous portraits and often there are appendices containing special information. A list of further readingconcludes each volume. An index to all volumes appears at the end of each latest volume. Olin buys selected volumes.
- Pendergast, Sara and Tom Pendergast, eds. Reference Guide to World Literature. 3rd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 2003.
-
- Uris Library Reference PN 524 .R44x 2003
- Provides brief biographical essays for numerous international authors and critical essays on many of their most important works.
- Literature Online (LION). Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., c1999-.
-
- A full-text collection of poetry, drama, and prose with complementary references sources.
Includes articles, monographs, and dissertations from the Annual Bibliography of English Language and
Literature; full-text articles from literary journals (with links to JSTOR journals); and biographical information on widely studied authors. Subsumed in the database are the contents of several Chadwyck-Healey
CD-ROM products, including: The Bible in English; Database of African-American Poetry,
1760-1900; Database of Twentieth Century African American Poetry; Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare; and English Poetry.
- Literature Resource Center. [Farmington Hills, MI] : Gale Group, c1999-.
|
-
-
"The Literature Resource Center (LRC) is a complete literature reference
database designed for the undergraduate student. LRC combines
biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information to deliver a
complete reference/resource package on authors and their works (fiction,
nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). It includes full text online versions of Contemporary Authors, the Dictionary of
Literary Biography, Contemporary Literary Criticism, and the Encyclopedia of Literature.
|
For additional Reference sources
|
Return to Top
Databases and e-Journals
Selected resources from Find Databases that are recommended as starting places for finding and retrieving articles:
|
Multidisciplinary Indexes
- LexisNexis Academic. Dayton, Ohio: Lexis-Nexis, 1997-.
|
-
-
LexisNexis Academic provides access to full text resources on topics including current and general news; business and financial
information; newspapers; company directories; government and politics; medical and health topics; accounting, auditing, and tax; federal
and state laws; legal cases; and regulations. Resources include TV and radio news transcripts.
|
-
Research Library (ProQuest). Ann Arbor: Bell & Howell, 1986- .
|
-
- Available as part of the ProQuest suite of databases, Research Library indexes and abstracts an extensive number of general interest magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. Full text of many articles is provided.
|
Click on the Databases Selected link to select and search other ProQuest databases, including a selection of Historical Databases:
|
- APS Online (American Periodicals Series) 1740-1900
- ProQuest Historial Newspapers
- New York Times 1851-2002
- Wall Street Journal 1889-1989
- Washington Post 1877-1989
|
Specialized Subject Indexes
- Book Review Digest. Bronx,NY: H.W. Wilson Co., 1983- .
|
-
-
Indexes and abstracts reviews of English language adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction titles. Book reviews are selected from journals in the humanities, sciences, social sciences and library review media.
|
- MLA International Bibliography. New York: Modern Language Association, 1963- .
|
-
-
An international index and database providing references to scholarly articles from over 4000 journals dealing with languages, literature, folklore and linguistics. It is useful for finding literary criticism of a particular author or work, as well as articles on literary theory, women's studies, popular culture, and performing
arts. The online version of MLA covers 1963 to present. The print version covers 1921 to the present.
|
|
Find Databases provides access to the Cornell University Library's online indexes and abstracts, almanacs, catalogs, dictionaries, directories, and encyclopedias. Entries for these resources provide descriptive information, dates of coverage, and links to the databases. You can find databases in your areas of interest by either searching by title or keyword or browsing through the subject menus.
Searching Find Databases allows you to find online databases in your subject area but will not search within them.
Find Databases Quickguide
Find e-Journals allows you to search or browse for the 26,000+ electronic journals licensed by the Cornell University Library.
|
E-Journal Collections
- JSTOR New York, NY: JSTOR, c1996-.
|
-
-
JSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
|
- Project Muse Baltimore, MD : Johns Hopkins University Press, c1995- .
|
-
-
Searchable database that provides access to the full text of journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press and other university presses in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. Covers such fields as literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and others.
|
|
Find Articles allows you to search for articles from selected journals and magazines in MULTIPLE databases simultaneously.
Find Articles Quickguide
About Find Articles/Find Databases
Get it! Cornell
- The Get it! Cornell link is available in Find Articles and several other database interfaces. After you have identified items on your topic, you can use the Get it! Cornell link to locate them:
- Get it! Cornell will open an intermediate screen that tries to connect you to the item.
- If full-text is available online, Get it! Cornell will try to provide a direct link.
- If a direct online link is not available or recognized, on the Get it! Cornell page, click the links to search the Library Catalog by ISSN or ISBN (preferred) or by title, to determine whether we own, or have access to the item, either online through another source or in print (hardcopy).
- If the library does not own or have access to the item you need, use the link on the Get it! Cornell page to request it through Interlibrary Loan or Document Delivery.
The databases available in Find Articles represent only a fraction of the many online resources available at Cornell. To find additional article indexes, newspaper databases and other online resources, use the Library Gateway’s Find Databases feature or the CU Library Catalog.
Return to Top
Internet Search Engines
Use web portals, search engines, blogs, or Internet subject guides to find resources on the World Wide Web on your topic.
- Tool Kit for the Expert Web Searcher
This ALA sponsored site directs academic users to the best resources for web searching. Resources are listed by categories such as subject guides, search engines, news searching, metasearch engines, global searching, multimedia searching, the invisible web, and search engine news
- Search Engine Tutorials
This page by Search Engine Watch provides a guide to better web searching.
- Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need
Suggestions for selecting web search engines.
- Deep Web (or Invisible web) is the name given to pages on the World Wide Web that are not indexed by most commonly known search engines. It includes web pages that are not linked to from regular web pages and sites that require registration or a paid subscription. Most of the web resources listed in the Library's databases, including the Library Catalog, Find Databases, Find Articles, and Find E-Journals are part of the Deep Web.
Selected Web Searching Resources
| Web Portals | Search Engines | More Search Engines |
Metasearch Engines |
|
|
|
|
|
| Subject Guides | Other Web Guides | Web Reference |
Blogs |
|
|
|
|
|
| Multimedia | Deep Web | Scholarly | Open Access |
|
|
|
|
|
Look for Get it! Cornell links to access full text articles from Google Scholar.
HBO film of Empire Falls
Return to Top
Evaluating Sources
Be Critical. Analyze and evaluate your search results. Have you found the most authoritative, accurate, objective, up-to-date, scholarly information available on your research topic?
Return to Top
Citing Sources
Give credit where credit is due.
By properly citing the sources you use in your research projects you are both identifying the resources that you used to complete your work and you are formally acknowledging the authors or creators of those resources. This allows others to find what you have found and to verify your research.
MLA citation style
See Online! for other commonly used and popular citation styles.
Return to Top
Printing and Photocopying in Olin and Uris Libraries
Instructions for printing and photocopying your search results.
You may also want to consider e-mailing your work to yourself using the e-mail forms within the databases that you use or by using a personal web mail account.
Return to Top
Research and Reference Help
Not finding what you need? Ask your librarians for help!
|
Or find your answers in our online Help:
Return to Top
|
Richard Russo
|
January 7, 2008
Lance Heidig, ljh5@cornell.edu
Susette Newberry, sn18@cornell.edu
Lynn Thitchener, lmk7@cornell.edu
URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/eng12a.html
|
