ENC1101
English Comp I
Instructor: D. Smith
Class Guide to Your Research Paper
Your
Assignment | Choosing a Topic |
Getting Started
Finding
Books
| Finding
Articles
| Internet
Resources
Getting
Assistance | Library
Home Page
Be kind to your instructor and yourself...
Choose a topic that will be interesting to you as well as your professor.
So... you have a really great topic. Now what?
Even if you do know quite a bit about your topic, it is a good idea to spend some time getting some background information on your subject.
Where do you
go, what kind of information should you collect?
You can search the encyclopedias for general information on many
topics. While your instructor may not allow you to use a general
encyclopedia as a cited resource for you paper, you can use the
encyclopedia to get yourself up to speed about many aspects of
your topic or events or issues that may have to do with your topic.
The encyclopedia is also a good place to get ideas for search
terms and keywords to use to find more information about your
topic.
The PCC Library has several General Encyclopedias:
See the PCC Library How To: Use Encyclopedias for more information.
There are many subject specific or "specialized" encyclopedias that you may find useful also:
You will find these titles in the Reference Collection.
You can find these titles, and many others, by using the Online Catalog (see online catalog description below).
Check the library
for availability of resources
Once you
have your great topic and you know something about it, make a
quick check of the library book catalog and database resources
to be sure that there will be enough material for you to write
your paper. Remember you can request books and articles (if you
can't find full-text articles via the databases in house) from
the other PCC campus and from other Florida Community College
Libraries or from other libraries around the USA - just make sure
you allow enough time for your materials to get here if you choose
to do that.
Take those great search terms that you found in your background research and use them to find books on your topic. If your having trouble finding books, you may need to broaden your search. For example: If you were doing research on Women in the Vietnam War you might not find a book on this campus specifically on that topic; however, if you broadened your search you would certainly find books on the Vietnam War or on Women's Issues and then you could check the index to see if there was a section on Women in Vietnam.
Also keep in mind that you may have to rethink your search terms - If you search for "Vietnam War" in the LINCC Catalog you will be out of luck because it comes under the heading of "Vietnamese Conflict". Basically, just don't give up. If you get no results for your search or you are just not finding what you need - ask the librarian, that's why we are here.
Where is the Catalog?
You will find the
Catalog on the Library Home Page
http://www.polk.edu/it/library
The Online Catalog is simple to use...
To find articles in newspapers,
magazines, and journals you can use a print index tool
or an electronic
indexing tool (a database).
 |
Print
Indexes - don't let them scare you. (you may appreciate them one day when the Internet Connection is down) |
 |
The print indexes are simple to
use
(you can even read the
page or two of instructions at the beginning of the indexes if
your really want a clue)
1. Pick the year you want to search
2. Look for your topic in the alphabetically arranged index
3. Copy down the complete citation information
Sometimes you may get redirected because what you may call "guns" they may call "fire arms" but basically it works out. The most important thing to remember about using the print indexes is to write down all the information completely (or make a copy if you like).
By using the print indexes you are able to get a feel for the subject headings (future search terms) that are used for your topic.
Another nice thing about the print indexes is they go back many years; the electronic resources are working on that, but generally they go back 5 or 10 years tops. If you have found some recent articles using the print indexes you may be able to find them and print them out for free - by using on of PCC's electronic resources.
And another nice thing about the print indexes... they work even when the Internet is down
On the Winter Haven Campus, the print indexes are located on the first shelf of the reference collection
The PCC Libraries have many databases that will help you search for newspaper, magazine, and journal articles about any subject. You can search by subject or by an article's title, or author, date or source of publication...
They all work in a similar fashion, like the Online Catalog (which is actually just another database) there is usually a box where you type in what-ever it is that you are looking for (you can adjust the dates or sources if you like) and then you click on search and the clever thing gives you a list of compatible results - it's kind of like computer dating only the computer is matching you to an article not a date.
Where are they?
You can access many of the PCC Library databases through the
Library
Web Site
http://www.polk.edu/it/library
Where to begin? Which resource to Choose?
There are databases for:
- Images
- Statistics
- Newspaper articles
- Literary Criticisms
- Websites
- General Resources for newspaper, magazine and journals
- Subject specific resources (articles on education, art, or science...)
So, what's a good general
resource for articles?
(you can always get more specific later if you like)
Try: EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier:
EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier offers full-text articles for over 1,250 journals dating back to 1990, and abstracts and indexing for nearly 2,880 scholarly journals dating back to 1984. Many of the journals are peer-reviewed. Academic Search Premier offers embedded images and provides journal coverage for most academic areas of study, including biological sciences, economics, communications, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts and literature, medical sciences and women's studies.
Do a quick search for your topic and see what you get.
1. Put your
search term(s) in the "Find" box
Omit little words like an, and, or the
2. Click on Search
You will receive a list of results in the form of
citations.
(Notice that at the top you will see how many records were found
- you may need to broaden or narrow your search?)
3. Choose what results you would like to see
Click on the title of an article and
you will receive more information about that article - a summary
To see the "whole enchilada" click on the link that
says " Full Text" or "Full Image"... and there's your article.
4. Print your article or save it to a disk.
You can print from the file menu or from your tool bar, or e-mail the
article to your e-mail account, or save the article to your floppy disk.
Databases you might find useful for this project:
ASAP
Provides magazine & journal articles on a variety of subjects
Biography Resource
Center
Provides articles from reference sources as well as articles and websites
Statistical
Universe: Lexis - Nexis
Search
for graphs and statistics
CQ Researcher
Provides background information, statistics, time-lines,
pro and con articles, and bibliographies for further research.
Custom Newspapers
Search for newspaper articles in the NY Times as well as many
other US papers including the Tampa Tribune
JSTOR
Full text scholarly journals
Net Library
Read e-books (electronically stored books) online or download files to your
personal computer
New York Times
Available through CD-ROM, Academic Search Premier, Academic Universe and in
print
You can find anything on the "Net" - right?
Well... maybe not.
Be
very choosy about resources you find on the Internet.
One of the great things about the Internet is that anyone -
ANYONE
can post information to the Web;
your sister, my sister (very scary), PHD's, a
very talented pet...
...anyone.
For example: Perhaps you are doing your paper on cloning (with some very interesting point of view because you know your instructor has read many many papers on cloning and yours will have to be extremely unique and exciting to keep him awake.) ...anyway, you do an Internet search for cloning and come up with this site about cloning: http://www.d-b.net/dti/. Would you use this site as a source for your paper?
This one? http://www.clonaid.com/english/pages/human_cloning.html
How about this one? http://lazaron.com/index.html
Try searching directories
for information on your topic
These resources
are reviewed by real live people for content, accuracy, and general usefulness...
Argus Clearinghouse
for Subject-oriented Internet Guides
Topical guides which identify, describe, and evaluate
Infomine
Scholarly
Internet
resource collections
Librarians
Index to the Internet
Searchable,
annotated subject directory of more than 7,500 Internet resources.
Many
Colleges and Universities have pathfinders, subject guides or bookmarks they
share
PCC's
Subject Guides
USF's
Selected Websites by Subject
You can stop by the library and
ask the Librarian for assistance. Library
Hours
You can call the librarian at the library and get assistance
over the phone. (WH 297-1040 or LK 297-1042)
You can e-mail the librarians. Staff
Directory
You can use the TLCC tutors for writing assistance
You can use any of the many tutorials and help screens available
from our college or others.
Looking for online assistance with writing, citing, or set-up?
You can link
to several sites through the PCC Library "How To" Pages
and the
PCC Library Subject Guide for English Comp
or...
check out
UC Berkley's page for Style Sheets for Citing Internet & Electronic
Resources
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Style.html
or
The University of Illinois' Writer's Workshop
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/bibliography/mla/mlamenu.htm
...and don't forget our very
own TLCC
