DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY

Our 7-step strategy helps you will find the information you need quickly and efficiently and cite it properly.

FINDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Use Reference Universe, a database you can search to find subject encyclopedias on any topic. Be sure to click the "Restrict Search to Titles in your Library" checkbox to limit your search to titles that we own. Click on the open book icon to get the Cornell call number and location. Amaze your friends with your erudition.

Selected Individual Reference Titles and Collections:

Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 19000-2003. Edited by Daniel Balderston and Mike Gonzalez. New York Routledge, 2004.
(Olin Reference PQ 7081 .A1 .E558 2004)

A companion volume to the next title, focused specifically on writers, novelists, poets, playwrights, critics, and journalists. Solid bibliographies of further reading with each entry.

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures. Edited by Daniel Balderston, Mike Gonzalez and Ana M. López. 3 volumes. New York Routledge, 2000.
(Olin Reference F 1406 .E515x 2000)

Short entries on all aspects of recent Latin American culture, including many article on promtnent artists, writers, and other culturally active persons. Solid bibliographies of further reading with each entry.

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Edited by Verity Smith. 2nd ed. 6 vols. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s, 2008.
(Olin Reference F 1406 .E53 2008 and online)

A comprehensive, multidisciplinary view of Latin American history and culture from prehistoric times to the present. Covers cultural issues and includes numerous biographical profiles of important figures in politics, letters and the arts.

Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature.. Edited by Verity Smith. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
(Olin Reference PQ 7081 .A1 .E56x 1997)

Contains entries on writers, works, and topics relating to the literature of Latin America, including survey articles on all the continent's individual countries. Quite comprehensive for a single-volume subject encyclopedia.

Gale Virtual Reference Library Gale Group.
(online)

Search across dozens of authoritative subject encyclopedias for articles on mysticism and ecstasy including
The Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed.
The Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 4th ed. 4 vols. Detroit: St. James, 2000.
(Olin Reference and Uris Reference PN 1993.45 .I61 2000 + and online)

Written for film students and film buffs alike, this set features thorough coverage of legendary films, actors, actresses, directors, writers, and other production artists through detailed essays and commentary by experts. Entries include biographies, filmographies, comprehensive credits, production information, major awards, and bibliographies. Article on Fritz Lang

Literature Resource Center. Gale Group.
(online)

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.

Credo Reference

In the General Reference : Bilingual Dictionaries section there is a useful online Collins Spanish/English dictionary.

You can find materials owned by the Cornell University Library in the Cornell Library Catalog. This includes books, journals, magazines, newspapers, videotapes, audiotapes, music CDs, CD-ROMs, DVDs, manuscripts, microfilm, microfiche--in short, anything the library owns.

You can search by author, title, subject heading, call number, or journal title. You can also search by keyword--any combination of words in the author, title, subject, contents, and notes fields. Words are combined using the Boolean operators AND, OR, or NOT. You will have an opportunity to practice this searching in class.

This Web-based catalog also allows you to recall or put a hold on items that are currently checked out by other library users. Clicking on the Requests button and logging in allows you to see what you have checked out; you can also renew your books from this page.

FINDING MOVIES: Films and other video materials can be searched in the catalog by title, director, and performer. Set the Quick Limit in the catalog's Basic Search page to Visual Materials to limit to video. Or you can add "videorecording" to a keyword search. The Media Center on the B level of Olin Library houses a large film collection on DVD and VHS tape. More detailed help searching for videos in the catalog here.

For more information about using the catalog, click on the Help button on the catalog home page.

Things to remember about the Cornell Library Catalog:

• The online catalog lists the holdings of all twenty Cornell libraries.

• You cannot find journal articles in the catalog. Only the titles of journals, magazines, and newspapers are listed along with the years and volumes that we own. See the next section for more information about finding periodical articles.

Library of Congress Classification Outline
(Online at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html)

Your online guide to the call numbers we use and what they mean.

Distinguishing between Reviews and Criticism

The simplest criterion for distinguishing book and film reviews from criticism is the time of publication of the review/critical article compared to the original publication date of the book or release of the film. Book reviews are generally written around the time the book was originally published; literary criticism appears in later years. For example, reviews of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby that appeared in 1925 or 1926 (right after the novel was published) are book reviews, while literary criticism about the novel continues to be written today. The same general distinction applies to film reviews and film criticism.

[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).

FIAF International Filmarchive Database.

A database of film criticism and information about film that contains the International index to film periodicals, 1972- ; the International index to television periodicals, 1979- ; an international directory of film and TV documentation collections; and a bibliography of FIAF members’ publications.

Internet Movie Database [IMDb].

A searchable, free database of movies and films. To see full text reviews, use the "external reviews" link in the left column at the record for a specific title.

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.

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 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), or 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, 6th edition. Copies in Olin and Uris Libraries are shelved behind the reference desks Ref Z 253 .M68 2003.

MLA citation style (Library Gateway Help)

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.