Ferris State University Library for Information, Technology and Education (FLITE).
ENGL 150 - Wheeler

American Consumerism Sources

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Reference Books

Reference cannot be checked out; these books should, then, be available when you need them.

  • Greenwood Guide to American Popular Culture - Reference (1st floor), call number E 169.1 .G7555 2002

  • St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture - Reference (1st floor), call number E 169.1 .S764 1999

  • Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns - Reference (1st floor), call number HF 5837 .E53 2000

  • International Directory of Company Histories (70+ volumes) - Reference (1st floor), call number HD 2721 .I63

  • Circulating Books

    For books that you can check out, search the Online Catalog for your topic, using either Subject or Keyword searches.

    FLITE Electronic References (Find under Databases)

    Gale Virtual Reference Library
    A great place for one-stop searching of all these sources online (and others) at the same time:

    • American Decades, 2001
    • Contemporary Fashion, 2002
    • St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 2000

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    FLITE Databases

    FLITE subscribes to several databases which provide articles originially published in magazines, journals, and newspapers that are not freely available on the Web. Remember that if you want to use FLITE databases from off-campus, click here for instructions on how to log-in. The following are the databases I recommend for this assignment:

    General OneFile

    A very large full-text database with over 50 million articles covering a myriad of subjects, General OneFile indexes both newspapers and journals. Coverage is from 1980 to present. A few journals, especially older dates, give only selective full-text.

    Wilson Select Plus

    This completely full-text database includes articles from a wide range of subject fields including science, humanities, education and business. Coverage is from 1994 to the present.

    Business NewsBank

    Business NewsBank includes full-text news articles from over 500 newspaper, newswire, and business journal sources from 1993-present. Regional business sources included in Business NewsBank are Grand Rapids Journal, Detroit Free Press, and Crain’s Detroit Business.

    Mergent Online

    Mergent Online allows you to find authoritative information on a public company's officers, history, and detailed financial information. It's a great place to verify information you may have found online.

    FLITE Newspaper Database

    Access World News

    A product of NewsBank, Access World News contains the full-text of nearly 1700, mostly English-language, news sources from around the world, with coverage for most beginning in the 90s or 00s. All titles may be searched at once or specific regions, countries, or states may be searched separately by clicking on the map.

    Guides to Searching FLITE databases

    Here are some helpful guides to searching the two of the four databases demonstrated as being most useful for this class. (The General OneFile guide is still in the development process.)

    Guide to Searching Business NewsBank

    Guide to Searching Wilson Select Plus

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    Citing Sources

    Avoid plagiarism by properly citing your sources. Please go to the Citations webpage to learn how.

    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.

    RefWorks Tutorial

    A guide to the new RefWorks Biliographic Management software now offered by FLITE. Use RefWorks to manage your citations and create your bibliographies.


    If you have any questions regarding using the library for research, Email Kristy Motz.

    Don't forget, you are welcome to come to the South Service Desk and ask for help at any time. You can also call us 231-591-3602 or chat with us.

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    Last Update: November 9, 2007

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