Research Guide for English 1134.104:
Memoir and Memory

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/english1134cs.html

 Developing a Research Strategy
 Finding Background Information
 Finding Books
 Finding Articles
 Evaluating Sources
 Citing Sources
 Research and Reference Help

 

   

DEVELOPING A RESEARCH STRATEGY

Search strategy is the process of finding information in a logical, step-by-step manner. Using a search strategy insures that you will find the information and materials you need as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Research Steps

  1. Choose your topic
  2. Find background information
  3. Find books on your topic
  4. Find periodical articles
  5. Find networked resources or relevant Web sites
  6. Evaluate your sources
  7. Cite your sources

For more information about library research strategy and using library resources, go to Research Strategy: a tutorial -- An online hypertext guide to library research that is part of the Library Gateway Help.

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FINDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Guides and Handbooks

The materials listed below are a selection of reference resources for finding background information or supplying context for topics you will be covering in this class. Note the call numbers and library locations for these materials and check the reference collections for additional sources of background information.

The authors of articles in reference books often provide bibliographies of selected books and articles for further study.

Subject Encyclopedias

Affirmative Action: An Encyclopedia
Beckman, James A., ed.
2 Vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004.
(ILR Ref   HF5549.5 .A34 A426 2004, also Africana Ref)

Contains approximately 500 entries, in alphabetical order. Covers period from the end of the Civil War to the June 2003 Supreme Court decisions relating to the University of Michigan's admissions policies. Also examines affirmative action in other nations, such as Australia, Canada, India, and South Africa.

African American Writers
Smith, Valerie, ed.
2 Vols. New York: Scribners, 2001.
(Olin Ref   PS 153 N5 A23, also Africana Ref)

More than 50 signed articles provide biographical and critical overviews of African American writers, including Jamaica Kincaid. A selected bibliography accompanies each article.

American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals to 1980
Arksey, Laura, Nancy Price, and Marcia Reed, eds.
2 Vols. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983-1987.
(Olin Ref   Z1231 D52 A72 +)

Expansion and revision of a work by William Matthews: American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of American Diaries Written Prior to the Year 1861. Vol. 1. Diaries written from 1492 to 1844 -- Vol. 2. Diaries written from 1845 to 1980.

Encyclopedia of Learning and Memory
Squire, Larry R., ed.
Toronto; New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1992 .
(Uris Ref   BF318 .E56 1992, also Mann)

Entries cover current knowledge about learning and memory, written by scholars and researchers in neuroscience and psychology. Concentrates mostly on human memory, with some description of experimental work with animals. Includes biographies of important contributors in this field.

Encyclopedia of Life Writing: Autobiographical and Biographical Forms
Jolly, Margaretta, ed.
2 Vols. London; Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001.
(Olin Ref   CT21 .E53 2001 +)

Defined by the editor as something that "encompasses the writing of one's own or another's life," meaning standard autobiography and biography as well as letters, diaries, and memoirs. Other formats that aid in the telling of life stories are also included, in entries such as Film, Photography, and Testimony.
More than 600 alphabetically arranged entries are written by scholars in various disciplines. Each entry contains a descriptive and critical essay with a "Further Reading" list of anywhere from a few to more than 60 books and journal articles.

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust
Gutman, Israel, ed.
4 Vols. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990.
(Olin Ref   D804.3 .E56 +, also Uris Ref)

This 4 volume encyclopedia offers 900 entries from over 200 international contributors. Include articles about the root of anti-semitism within the beginnings of Western Civilization, the art and music of the Holocaust, the racial theories of National Socialism, the museums and memorial institutes that have arisen, etc. The 4th volume provides a glossary, chronology of events, index, and other appendices.

The Freud Encyclopedia: Theory, Therapy, and Culture
Erwin, Edward, ed.
New York: Routledge, 2002.
(Olin Ref   BF173 .F6176x 2002 +)

"A thorough and comprehensive encyclopedia on the life and work of Sigmund Freud." (Choice)

Holocaust Literature: an Encyclopedia of Writers and their Work
Kremer, S. Lillian, ed.
2 Vols. New York: Routledge, 2003.
(Olin Ref   PN56 H55 H66x 2003 +)

Covers authors who made the Holocaust the primary focus of their writings. Each entry describes the author's work, placing it within the context of Holocaust literature, and contains a bibliography of primary and secondary sources related to the author's work. An entry on Art Spiegelman is included in volume 2.

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
Groden, Michael, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman, eds.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997-.

Also in print,
(Olin Ref   PN81 J554 2005 +)

A full-text searchable database of articles on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. It also treats related persons and fields that have been shaped by or have themselves shaped literary theory and criticism. Each entry includes a selective primary and secondary bibliography.

Sage eReference
Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications, Inc., 2007.1

A database of 47 reference books published by SAGE covering the social sciences and education, including such areas as African American studies, aged & gerontology, anthropology, communication and media studies, criminology and criminal justice, economics, education, gender & sexuality studies, history, politics, psychology, social issues, social work & social policy, and sociology.

Biographical Information & Critical Analysis

LRC (Literature Resource Center)
Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 1999-.

A complete literature database combining biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism).

LION (Literature Online)
Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey, 1996-.

Includes critical and biographical references on English and American authors. Search tip: To find biographical entries as well as critical analysis, choose author from the left-hand tool bar. Enter the author's last name, first name, e.g. Kincaid, Jamaica.

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FINDING BOOKS

Cornell University Library Catalog

About the CU Library Catalog

The Cornell University Library Catalog includes the holdings of all 17 libraries on the Ithaca campus, in addition to those of the Geneva Experiment Station. The catalog contains records for books, computer files, government documents, manuscripts and archives, maps, musical scores, periodicals, serials, sound recordings, and visual materials received and cataloged since 1973. There are also records for most pre-1973 items, and for items that are on order or in process.

Connect to the CU Library Catalog

Click on the banner at the top of all catalog web pages to return to the CU Library Catalog homepage.

Library Catalogs Worldwide

Borrow Direct

Rapid book request and delivery system (4 working days). Searches the combined catalogs of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale to access books not owned by Cornell, or books charged in the CU catalog (great alternative to placing a recall).

Interlibrary Services

Option to borrow books not owned by Cornell from any library in the US. Borrowed books may be kept for one month, with no renewal. This service option may also be used to receive copies of article/papers from journals, conference proceedings, or pages of books not own by Cornell.

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FINDING PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Periodical Indexes and Abstracts

Periodical indexes and abstracts identify and locate articles in magazines, journals and newspapers. Periodical indexes provide the authors, titles, and sometimes abstracts, of relevant articles, along with the name of the periodical, volume, pages and date. Some online periodical indexes also provide the full-text of the article. When full-text articles are not provided, use the Cornell Library Catalog to determine which library owns the periodicals you need.

General Periodical Indexes

Academic Search Premier
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

EBSCO Academic Search Premier provides full text for nearly 4,650 academic multi-disciplinary serials, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. This database is updated on a daily basis.

Proquest Research Library
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

Research Library, formerly known as Periodical Abstracts, is a comprehensive database available through the ProQuest online system. It indexes and abstracts over 1,500 periodicals covering general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences.

Specialized Indexes

Historical Abstracts
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

This historical periodical database includes annotated references to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the U.S. and Canada which are covered in "America: History and Life"). Covers over 2000 journals, including historical journals from almost every country and selections of journals in the social sciences and humanities for researchers and students of history.

Humanities International Index
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

A comprehensive database covering journals, books and other important reference sources in the humanities. Provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting for over 1,700 journals and contains more than 1.5 million records. Humanities International Index includes deep backfiles for some of the most important journals in the area of humanities. The database includes all data from American Humanities Index plus bibliographic records from a multitude of international journals, books and reference works. This database provides citations and abstracts for articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations.

MLA Bibliography
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

An index to scholarly articles from over 4000 journals dealing with languages, literature, folklore and linguistics. Search tip: Enter the author's name on one line and a word from the title on the next line. Set language or document-type limits, if desired.
Note: MLA also provides links to full-text articles in JSTOR & Project Muse.

PsycINFO
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

Contains citations and summaries of the international literature in psychology and related behavioral and social sciences, including psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, education, pharmacology, and linguistics. Includes applied psychology, communication systems, developmental psychology, educational psychology, experimental human and animal psychology, personality, physical and psychological disorders, physiological psychology and intervention, professional personnel and issues, psychometrics, social processes and issues, sports psychology and leisure, and treatment and prevention.

Full-text Collections

Ethnic NewsWatch
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

Full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press from 1960.

JSTOR
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

A full-text collection containing the back issues of hundreds of scholarly journals.

Project MUSE
Available online through Find it!: Databases, or the Library Catalog

A full-text collection of recently published articles in the social sciences and humanities.

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EVALUATING SOURCES

Evaluating the sources you find is a crucial step in the process of library research. The questions you ask about books, periodical articles, or multimedia sources are similar whether you're looking at a citation to the item or have the item in hand.

How to Critically Analyze Information Sources lists some of the critical questions you should ask when you consider the appropriateness of a particular book, article, media resource, or Web site for your research.

Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria shows how to evaluate periodicals by looking at their format, intended audience, and appearance.

Evaluating Web Resources lists ways to analyze the web sites you find.

Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites offers a table of suggestions.

For additional suggestions specific to Web sites, see Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools.

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography

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CITING SOURCES

APA Citation Style
(American Psychological Association)

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.)

Africana, Hotel, Management, Olin, and Uris Libraries
BF 76.7 .P83x 2001x
(located at the Reference Desks)

Also in ILR and Mann Reference at
BF 76.7 .A51 2001

APA Citation Style (CUL Gateway Help pages)

APA Reference Examples for Electronic Source Materials (Excerpted from the 5th edition of the Publication Manual)

APAStyle.org (APA's web site)

MLA Citation Style
(Modern Language Association)

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
(6th ed.)

Olin and Uris Libraries Z253 .M68 2003
(located at the Reference Desks)

MLA Citation Style (CUL Gateway Help pages)

MLA Style (MLA's web site)

 

RefWorks is a web-based program that allows you to easily collect, manage, and organize bibliographic references by interfacing with databases. RefWorks also interfaces directly with Word, making it easy to import references and incorporate them into your writing, properly formatted according to the style of your choice. RefWorks workshops are offered at Uris Library, Mann Library.

EndNote allows you to build your own database of bibliographic references from a variety of resources, including library catalogs and periodical indexes. EndNote interfaces with several standard word processing programs and provides direct connections to resources, making it easy to import references and incorporate them in your writing. EndNote (or RefWorks) is highly recommended for researchers. EndNote workshops are regularly held on campus at Uris Library, Mann Library.

Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity

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RESEARCH AND REFERENCE HELP

  (Online chat/I.M. provided by Cornell staff 10am - 5pm Mon - Fri)

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

Reference Desk Schedules in Olin Library

Olin Library Reference phone number: 255-4144

OKU Research Consultations

OKU Workshop Schedule

Writing Walk-in Service (Knight Institute) -- available in Olin Library

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7 November 2008 (nm)
Tony Cosgrave, ajc5@cornell.edu
Reference Librarian
Cornell University Library
URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/english1134cs.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, okucirc@cornell.edu