CST 7101:  Public Matters I
Research Resource Page
Professor Love Brown

Librarian: Ken Frankel
September 17, 2007

Objectives:

Following this session you should know how to:

1. Use the new FAU Library Catalog to locate books and other materials owned by the Library
2. Log into EZproxy (when, how and why)
3. Understand the difference between electronic journals and databases
4. Become aware of and use the most important databases for conducting literature reviews in the social sciences and humanities disciplines.
5. Use SFX to connect to full-text articles in different databases
6. Determine if a periodical is peer-reviewed
7. Locate other authors that have cited an article of interest using Web of Science
8. Cite your sources
9. Get additional help

I. Locating Books and Other Library Materials:

FAU Library Catalog

The Library Catalog allows you to search for books, government documents, DVDs, electronic books, and other materials in the Library's collection. The catalog will tell you if the library owns a particular periodical (journal or magazine) but does not include the articles found in periodicals. To find these you must use a different database (see below).

The Advanced search screen allows you to combine terms using “and, or, not” as well as limiting a search by location, date, format, or language.

II. Electronic Journals:

Use this link to determine if the Library provides electronic access to a particular journal title. Click on the letter corresponding to the journal's title or type the title in the box next to "Title begins with." This box may also be used to search keywords in an electronic journal's title. The Citation Linker near the bottom of the page can be used to search for a specific article.

Note: when using the electronic journals from off-campus you must first log in through the EZ-Proxy link. You will need to enter the 14-digit number from your Owl Card in order to do this.

Selected Arts & Humanities Electronic Journals

III. Searching  For Articles in  Databases:

To search for articles click on "Indexes/Databases" or "Articles". There are both alphabetical and subject listings of databases. The Library provides access to numerous databases containing indexes and abstracts, and in many cases full text content, of arts-related materials. A selection of these databases, as well as some additional useful tools is provided below.

Note: when using these databases from off-campus you must first log in through the EZ-Proxy link. You will need to enter the 14-digit number from your Owl Card in order to do this.

Anthropology Plus

Comprises the highly respected Anthropological Literature from Harvard University  and Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute from the UK. Anthropology Plus provides extensive worldwide indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies. 

Anthrosource

Provides digital access to current issues regarding 11 of the AAA's most critical peer-reviewed publications, and a complete electronic archive of all AAA journals through the present.

Humanities Full Text

Subject areas include archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, communications, dance, film, folklore, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, literary and social criticism literature, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion and theology. Full-text coverage begins in January 1995.

JSTOR

A database of full text scholarly journals covering subject areas that include art and art history, architecture and architectural history, archaeology, classical studies and philosophy. Includes complete back runs of journals, but usually not the most recent five years.

Social Sciences Full Text
Coverage includes a wide of interdisciplinary fields covered in a broad range of social sciences journals.

MLA International Bibliography

Provides a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations. The indexed materials coverage is international.  Subjects consist of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included.

Sociological Abstracts

Abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.

PAIS International

Public Affairs Information Service contains references to more than 553,300 journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more.

WorldCat

The world's most comprehensive bibliographic database, includes over 48 million records in over 400 languages worldwide. Includes records for books, documents, audiovisual materials, etc. Does not include citations for journal articles.
 
ProQuest Digital Dissertations

Covers every doctoral dissertation completed in the U.S. at accredited institutions for the last 150 years. It includes some master's theses and foreign language dissertations. The full-text of most recent (1997 to present) dissertations is available to download.

Web of Science

Three unique citation databases which allow searching cited references as well as traditional searches independently of in combination: the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Sort search results by "Times Cited" to determine most influential articles.
 
RefWorks

With RefWorks, users can create their own personal database by importing references from online databases.  They can use these references in writing their papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds.

Ulrichsweb.com

An international periodicals directory that identifies special features, such as: the presence of reviews or indexes; whether a journal is refereed; and which indexing/abstracting services cover the periodical.

IV. Interlibrary Loan:

Use this service to order materials the Boca Campus library does NOT own. You may order books, Articles, videos, etc. Use this service to order materials at the Jupiter or Port St. Lucie libraries to have the materials delivered to the Boca campus circulation desk. To set up this free service, create an account for "first time users" here.

V. Citing Your References:

MLA style is the way to format research papers based on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (New York: Modern Language Association, 2003). This book is available in the Reference area (LB 2369 G53 2003). Many quick reference guides to MLA & other styles are available on the Internet. An example from Purdue University is:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

VI. Research Assistance:

Ask A Librarian Email and chat reference help

Reference desk phone number: 561-297-3785

Make an appointment with a librarian: One-on-one reference consultation

For Further assistance contact:

Ken Frankel, M.Ed, MLIS, (frankel@fau.edu), Reference Dept. (561-297-0079)