The new catalog does not yet have all of Cornell's holdings, but it does search other libraries and some periodical articles. For more information, ask a librarian.

[EBSCO] Academic Search Premier.

A general periodical database that provides citations and abstracts for articles from over 4,100 journals and includes full text from over 3,170 journals. You can limit your search to peer-reviewed articles (scholarly articles).

Google Scholar.

Although still in the beta test stage, Google Scholar provides access to many scholarly journal articles. Remember to look up the journal title in the Cornell Library Classic Catalog if access to the full text of the article is not directly available in Google Scholar.

The Philosopher's Index.

Indexing and abstracts of journal articles, books, contributions to anthologies, and book reviews published worldwide since 1940. Topics covered include aesthetics, axiology, philosophy of education, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of history, philosophy of language, logic, metaphysics, philosophical anthropology, metaphilosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of science, social philosophy, and the philosophy of religion.

ProQuest Research Library.

Indexes and abstracts over 2,000 magazines, news sources, and scholarly journals. It also includes citations and abstracts to selected television and radio programs. Many of the articles found by searching in this database are available in full text electronic formats. The database can be divided by subject (general or business), format (newspaper or magazine and journal articles), and by date.

These resources can also be found by searching Databases Names in the Library Gateway.

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.

Periodicals are aimed at a wide variety of audiences. For help evaluating the articles you find, see Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals.

The Internet is a democratic tool: anyone can write or say virtually anything they wish 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? See Five Criteria for Evaluating Web pages.

Using MLA Style

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition. Copies in Olin and Uris Libraries are shelved behind the reference desks at Ref LB 2369 .G53 2009.

MLA citation style (recently updated and linked from the Library's Citation Managment page)

Managing Citations using RefWorks

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. For more information and to sign up for an account: http://www.refworks.cornell.edu .

Reference Desk Phone Directory

A research consultation with a reference librarian can be arranged when you need in-depth, personalized research help.