ENGL 150 - Webb
Where to find material at FLITE:
Paper 4: Year in History - Finding Your Topic
The easiest way to find what happened in your year is to search the year in Wikipedia or to go the American History Timelines in Facts on File Issues & Controversies in American History.Paper 4: Year in History - Exploring Your Topic
Once you have selected your topic, instead of starting with the Web or Wikipedia, use these FLITE resources to find more information:Credo Reference and
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Starting with Credo and Gale Virtual Reference Library gives you basic background information on as many topics as Wikipedia,
all cross-linked and reliable. Start here for your first look for information.
Contact a librarian if you are
having trouble using any of the resources mentioned in class.
American Periodicals series (1740-1900)
Search more than 1500 magazines and other periodicals published over nearly 200 years. More than 80 of the entries were published
between 1740 and 1800 when America was becoming a nation and another 120 titles cover the Civil War and Reconstruction.
World events of consequence may also be mentioned here.
(For example, an in-depth article about "Jack the Ripper" was written for the National Police Gazette in 1889. Be sure to use additional terms to target your search:
"Jack the Ripper" and London.)
Biography Reference Bank
Read essays and use the link to "Find Most Recent Articles" to find information about people from all historical time periods
and countries in this massive biographical resource.
Facts on File
Use the American History Timelines
link in the Facts on File database Issues & Controversies in American History
to find events that happened in your year. World events may be mentioned in passing. World news and events from 1940 to the present can be found in
the Facts on File database World News Digest.
Use the primary documents and essays in the databases for sources.
New York Times (Historical)
Full-text articles from this highly-regarded historical source of both primary and secondary materials are available here from
its first issue in 1851. Remember that world events are covered in the New York Times as well.
Finding Journal Articles
To find journal articles on a particular topic, use one or more of the databases available on the FLITE Web site. These databases provide indexing to thousands of journal titles.
Academic OneFile
A very large full-text database with over 50 million articles covering a wide variety of subjects, Academic OneFile indexes both newspapers and journals.
WilsonSelect Plus
This database is completely full-text and includes articles from subject fields including science, humanities, education and business. Coverage is from 1994 to the present.
- Access World News contains the full-text of nearly 1700 primarily English-language news sources from around the world.
Suggestions to retrieve better/more results:
- Search topic as both a keyword and subject
- Combine terms with AND or OR
- Set date ranges limit to a specific time
- Use quotes for phrases
- Subject searching: Search for the subject of your topic.
Example:
Topic: German Immigration
Subject: German Americans - Keyword searching: Search for keywords on your topic.
Example:
Topic: The invention of the car
Keyword(s): automobile history
Other databases are sorted by subject from the Database Access page.
Please read Off Campus Database Access for information on searching from home.
Getting the Article
If HTML or PDF full text options are available, click the link to go directly to the full text.
If full text is not an option:
Click the "Find It", link or button;
Select red GO button.
Finding Books at FLITE
For books and documents in the circulating collection (Main Stacks), use the Library Catalog. Search either using keyword or subject.
Book Locations
- Main Stacks, Call Numbers A-H - Lower Level
- Main Stacks, Call Number J-Z - Third Floor
- Reference - First Floor
- Government Documents - Second Floor
MelCat
Use MelCat to look up books in other Michigan Libraries. MelCat items will be delivered to the circulation desk and you will receive an Email when the items arrive.
Citing Sources
Citation Style Guide: MLA (PDF)
An online version of FLITE's MLA Quick Reference handout, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
MLA Format
More examples of how cite different types of sources using the MLA format.
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers - Complete MLA citation assistance in print
Copies of the MLA Handbook are found near the Oval Information Desk on the First Floor of FLITE, in the FLITE Reference section (also on Floor 1), and on Floor 3 in the Education section.
Citations - a FLITE guide
A guide to understanding citations, and a link to different online citation management tools that can help you input your sources and create your bibliographies.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism tutorials and self-help guides, plus a link to step-by-step citation assistance.
Online Information
Internet Evaluation
Are all websites created equal?
Internet Examples
Use one of these guides to help evaluate websites.
(Neither of these sites is the guide given out for this ENGLISH 150 course. Be sure to use your professor's evaluation form for all websites cited in your work.)
Internet Resources Evaluation
Web Page Evaluation Checklist from University of California at Berkeley
Test your skills:
- Which one is the official site?
World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization - Can you find at least five problems with this web site?
Let's Go Whale Watching!
Check out urban legends, hoaxes, and misinformation.
Snopes.com
Contact: Kristy Motz / Email / Phone: 231-591-3625 / Office: FLITE 140H
Don't forget, you are welcome to come to the Oval Information Desk and ask for help any time. You can also call us 231-591-3602 or chat with us.
If you would like to make an appointment for a one-on-one research consultation with a librarian, use this online form.
Last update: November 11, 2009