Research Guide for English 1158:
Blue-Collar and Blues
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/english1158jh.html
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
- Choose your topic
- Find background information
- Find books on your topic
- Find periodical articles
- Find networked resources or relevant Web sites
- Evaluate your sources
- Cite your sources
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The Cornell University Library
provides access to library resources and services.
- Catalog
is used to identify and locate almost everything the Cornell University Library owns,
including journal titles as well as books, in print, electronic, and other formats.
This catalog reflects the majority of our collections, representing the holdings of 18
Cornell libraries plus the CISER Data Archive.
- Articles and Databases
provides access to over 1000 online indexes and abstracts, almanacs, catalogs, dictionaries,
directories, and encyclopedias. You may search a specific database, or locate article
citations in more than one database simultaneously. In some cases, these citations will
provide links to the full-text of the article online.
- E-Journal Titles
links to over 20,000 electronic journals licensed by Cornell University Library.
-
Ask a Librarian lists numerous ways you can ask us your questions.
See
Help to read about Frequently Asked Questions.
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Encyclopedias
The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: the Black Experience
in the Americas
Palmer, Colin A., ed.
6 Vols. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006.
Also in print,
(Olin Ref E185 .E54 2006)
Published with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public
Library. Articles cover the historical and cultural development of people of African
descent in the Americas at the beginning of the twenty-first century, including the black
experience in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the United States and Canada.
Encyclopedia of American Social History
Cayton, Mary Kupiec, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams, eds.
3 Vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1992.
(Olin Ref HN57 .E56 1992, also Uris Ref)
A monumental synthesis of American social history. Contributions by historians and
scholars from ethnology, geography, literature, religion, anthropology, and sociology
discuss the major issues such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, and
sexual and political orientation.
Encyclopedia of the Blues
Komara, Edward, ed.
2 Vols. New York: Routledge, 2006.
(Music Library Ref ML102 .B6 E53 2006 +)
Covers the blues as a musical form while also exploring its historical and cultural
foundations. The 2,100 entries, written by 140 scholars and musicians, are listed
alphabetically and range in length from brief definitions (a couple of sentences) to long,
analytical articles (5,000 words). Provides an alphabetical and a thematic list of entries
as well as a comprehensive subject, people, and song-title index.
Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History
Ameson, Eric, ed.
3 Vols. New York: Routledge, 2007.
(ILR Ref HD8066 .A78 2006)
Encompasses labor history from the colonial era to the present. Articles focus on states,
regions, periods, economic sectors and occupations, race-relations, ethnicity, and religion,
concepts and developments in labor economics, environmentalism, globalization, legal history,
trade unions, strikes, organizations, individuals, management relations, and government agencies
and commissions. Articles cover such issues as immigration and migratory labor, women and
labor, labor in every war effort, slavery and the slave-trade, union-resistance by
corporations such as Wal-Mart, and the history of cronyism and corruption, and the mafia
within elements of labor history. Labor history is also considered in its representation
in film, music, literature, and education. Important articles cover the perception of
working-class culture, such as the surge in sympathy for the working class following
September 11, 2001. Written as an objective social history, the Encyclopedia encapsulates
the rise and decline, and continuous change of US labor history into the twenty-first century.
Folk & Blues: The Encyclopedia
Stambler Irwin and Lyndon Stambler
New York: St. Martin's, 2001.
(Music Library Ref ML102 .F66 S74x 2001)
Covers America’s rich roots music, pioneered by African Americans and European immigrants,
which has influenced almost every facet of today’s popular music around the globe. This
encyclopedia provides insight into why folk and blues are distinct fields of their own but
interact in many ways to provide important additions to America’s musical heritage. This is
a unique and highly readable reference that belongs not only on library shelves but also on
the desks of music critics and music lovers everywhere.
Work in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society
Van Horn, Carl E and Herbert A. Schaffner, eds.
2 Vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003.
(ILR Ref HD8066 .W637 2003)
The first comprehensive analysis of work and the workforce in the United States, from
the Industrial Revolution to the era of globalization.
Reference Sources
Literature Resource Center
Literature Resource Center is a literature reference database designed for the
undergraduate student. LRC combines biographical, bibliographical, and contextual
information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history,
and journalism). Draws from Gale Group's core literary databases, including
Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and Contemporary
Literary Criticism.
Oxford Music Online
Oxford Music Online is the access-point for Oxford music reference subscriptions
and products, including Grove Music Online, The Oxford Companion to Music,
and The Oxford Dictionary of Music. Articles from The New Grove Dictionary of
Opera and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed., are also available.
Reference Universe
A searchable database of back-of-the-book indexes to subject encyclopedias and other
reference works in a wide variety of subject areas. Search the contents of more than
6,000 reference titles.
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Connect to the Cornell Library
Catalog
The Cornell Library Catalog currently includes all items from all Cornell
libraries, and items on order or in process. Included in the Cornell Library Catalog
are books, periodicals and government documents, as well as some other materials
located in the libraries at Cornell. The catalog provides the call number, the name
of the library, and the circulation status for most materials.
Help Using the Cornell Library Catalog
Understanding Library of Congress Call Numbers
Additional Services available through the Catalog
PATRON INFO -- To manage your Library account, renew materials.
REQUESTS -- To recall books, request delivery from the Library Annex,
request Library to Library Book Delivery.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN -- To borrow materials -- books, dissertations, journal
articles, DVD's, etc. -- from other libraries, when item is not listed in the Library
catalog.
BORROW DIRECT -- Specialized rapid loan for BOOKS only, if title
not available in the library catalog, or already charged. Delivery takes about 4 business
days.
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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.
Academic Search Premier
A general periodical database that provides citations and abstracts for articles from
over 4,100 journals and includes the full text from over 3,170 journals. You can limit
your search to peer-reviewed articles (scholarly articles).
America: History and Life
America: History and Life is the definitive index of literature covering the
history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.
With indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to present, this database is without question
the most important bibliographic reference tool for students and scholars of U.S. and
Canadian history. The database also includes citations and links to book and media reviews.
Strong English-language journal coverage is balanced by an international perspective on
topics and events, including abstracts in English of articles published in more than 40
languages.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Ethnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of
the ethnic, minority and native press from 1960.
MLA International Bibliography
An international index and database providing references to scholarly articles from
over 4000 journals in literature, folklore, literary theory, semiotics, and linguistics.
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.
Music Index
Topics concerned with every aspect of the classical and popular world of music are
carefully categorized and organized according to the framework of an internal Subject
Heading List. A broad range of subjects are indexed, covering musicological or
organological topics, plus book reviews, record reviews, first performances, and obituaries.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
A searchable full-image database covering three major American newspapers from the
beginning: The New York Times (1851 to 2003), The Washington Post (1877
to 1990), and The Wall Street Journal (1889 to 1989).
ProQuest Research Library
Indexes and abstracts over 2000 general interest magazines and scholarly journals.
It also includes citations and abstracts to selected television and radio programs.
Many articles are available in full text electronic formats. The database can be divided
by subject (general or business), format (newspaper or magazine and journal articles),
or by date.
SocINDEX
Contains citations and full text articles from over 300 journals dating back to 1895,
over 500 books and monographs, and over 6,000 conference papers. Also provides additional
citations and abstracts from more than 600 fully indexed and over 1,000 selectively indexed
journals. Covers all subdisciplines of sociology, including anthropology, criminology,
cultural sociology, demography, economic development, ethnic & racial studies, gender
studies, marriage & family, politics, religion, rural sociology, social psychology, social
structure, sociological theory, sociology of education, substance abuse, urban studies,
welfare, and others.
Sociological Abstracts
Provides citations to articles from over 1,800 journals, serials, conference papers,
books and dissertations from 1963 onward. Abstracts of the articles have been included
since 1974. Covers sociology and related disciplines including community development,
culture, social structure, demography, human biology, environmental interactions, family
and social welfare, health and medicine, law, religion, social psychology and women's
studies. It is international in scope and also contains all of the citations from the
Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts. In addition to keyword searching,
retrieval is enhanced by subject searching based upon the Thesaurus of Sociological
Indexing Terms. Links to the full text of many articles are provided.
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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.
Critically Analyzing 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 Journals from Other Periodicals shows how to
evaluate periodicals by looking at their format, intended audience, and appearance.
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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Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity
Give credit where credit is due. Cite your sources using the style listed below or
another style approved by your instructor. A handout summarizing the MLA style is available
at Uris and Olin Reference.
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
Gibaldi, Joseph
5th ed. New York: MLA, 1999.
(Uris Ref Z 253 .M68 1999, also Olin Ref)
See Cornell University Libary Citation Management help page.
This handbook is based on the MLA Style Manual and is intended as an aid for college students
writing research papers. Included here is information on selecting a topic, researching the
topic, note taking, the writing of footnotes and bibliographies, as well as sample pages of
a research paper. Extremely useful for the beginning researcher.
Managing information using RefWorks
RefWorks is web-based software 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. For more information and to set
up an account go to
http://refworks.cornell.edu.
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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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17 February 2009 (nm)
Tony Cosgrave - ajc5 AT cornell.edu
Reference Librarian
URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/english1158jh.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
