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Resources for Off-Campus Students
If you are enrolled as an off-campus student, you may wish to make use of some special services that the Library offers, including Document Delivery and remote access to our databases. See Distance Education Library Services for additional information.
Finding Books
To find books in FLITE, try using Subject searches in the online catalog. Most Subject Headings are intuitive, but if nothing comes up, either try a synonym as a Subject search or use a Keyword search.
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.
Finding Journal Articles
To find journal articles on a particular topic, it's necessary to use one or more of the databases available on the FLITE Web site. These databases cumulatively provide indexing to thousands of journal titles. A few of the databases provide full-text (content of the articles is found directly within the database), but most only provide citations (description of where the article originally appeared in print).
Using the Right Database
Most databases are subject-specific. The following is a breakdown of databases relevant to the several different majors in this class:
Allied Health / Life Sciences
Biological and Agricultural Index (FirstSearch)
Professional and popular journals covering many asepects of the biological and agricultural sciences are indexed in this database.CINAHL (EBSCO)
The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) provides comprehensive coverage of the professional literature in nursing, allied health disciplines, biomedicine, consumer health, alternative medicine, and health sciences librarianship. Coverage is from 1982 to the present. Selective full-text is available for research instruments, state nursing journal articles, and critical paths.Health Reference Center
This database provides access to a wide range of articles on health matters such as Fitness, Pregnancy, Medicine, Nutrition, Diseases, Public Health, Occupational Health and Safety, Alcohol and Drug abuse, HMOs, Prescription Drugs, etc. Also available are dictionary definitions, various pamphlets and clinical overviews. Full-text is available for many articles. Coverage is from 1980 to present.PubMed
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 15 million citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.
Education
Education Abstracts (FirstSearch)
Education Abstracts indexes over 550 journal titles which focus on education. Coverage extends from pre-school through higher education and includes such topics as educational technology, literacy, prayer in public schools, and vacational education. Citations are provided from 1983 to the present with abstracts available from 1994.ERIC (FirstSearch)
ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) indexes and abstracts 780 journals (EJ Accession Number) and ERIC documents (ED Accession Number) covering education and related fields such as counseling, psychology, and social sciences from 1966-present. ERIC documents are available on microfiche in the library. Full-text for selected ERIC Documents is available via E*Subscribe (click on the "Find It" button).
Optometry
Visionet
Visionet is a database of journal citations produced by the Southern College of Optometry. It is the only existing comprehensive index of optometric literature in the world. It also includes vision science articles from general medical journals and ophthamology journals.
Pharmacy
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (WebSPIRS)
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA) database provides summaries of articles published in more than 750 journals. Major areas of coverage include: drug reactions, toxicity, investigational drugs, drug evaluations, drug interactions, drug stability, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, preliminary drug testing, pharmaceutical chemistry, drug analysis, drug metabolism, pharmacognosy, and methodology. Coverage is from 1970 to present.
Technology
Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (FirstSearch)
Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (ASTA) contains abstracts for articles published in more than 600 English-language scientific and technical periodicals.
Getting the Article
Once you've found citations relevant to the topic you're working with and you need to get a copy of the articles, you'll need to verify whether FLITE owns the particular journal in which each article was published. Most databases now have a link labeled "Find It" for each citation. Clicking on "Find It" will bring up a new window with links either to the full-text of the article in another database, to the Ferris State Library Catalog, or to InterLibrary Loan. If only the InterLibrary Loan link appears in the "Find It" window, Ferris does not have the article in any format and you can request it on the online InterLibrary Loan request form.
In First Search databases (Educational Abstracts, ERIC, and Biological and Agricultural Index), the "Find It" button appears in the full citation. ERIC users remember that records with Accession Numbers that start 'ED' (ERIC Documents) are on Microfiche on Floor 2 in FLITE. If the Accession Number starts 'EJ' (ERIC Journal), use the "Find It" button.
In EBSCO and WebSPIRS databases (CINAHL, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts), the "Find It" link is beneath each citation.
Remember that the Find a Periodical database will tell you if the article is available online through another database, in print, or on microform by typing in the name of the journal.
To look up whether FLITE owns a particular journal if you're using a citation found in a source other than one of the online databses, use either the Online Catalog or the Find a Periodical database to search for the journal title. Remember to use the journal title not the article title for your search.
If FLITE Has the Journal . . .
If you have reached the record in the Online Catalog for a journal title, look at the boxes at the top. These will tell you which years (volumes) and what format. FLITE doesn't always have complete runs of journal titles, so be sure that the library has the corresponding volume number or year from your citation.
Journal Locations: All microforms (microfilm, microfiche, microfilm cassette), Current Periodicals, and Bound Periodicals 1997-present are on Floor 2. Bound Periodicals older than 1997 are in the Lower Level.
If FLITE Doesn't Have the Journal . . .
If the library doesn't own the journal or have the correct volume of the journal you need, you can request articles via InterLibrary Loan. InterLibrary Loan is a free service for students. Click on "Article Request" at the InterLibrary Loan Web page, fill out the form, and in 5-10 working days you will receive an email with a link to a scanned-in version of the article.
Citing Sources
Whenever you are quoting or using information from a source, you must credit or cite that source. Failure to do so is plagiarism which can lead to expulsion from the University. APA and MLA are two formats for citation. The following links provide information on how to use either APA or MLA.
RefWorks
RefWorks is an online research management tool that allows users to create personal bibliographic databases and use them for a variety of research activities. References are quickly and easily imported from text files or online databases and records can be formatted in hundreds of output styles from APA, MLA, Chicago etc.
Citation Style Guide: APA (PDF)
An online version of an APA Quick Reference handout which provides the citation style for several basic types of sources, requires Adoboe Acrobat Reader.
APA List of References
More examples of how cite different types of sources using the APA format.
Citation Style Guide: MLA (PDF)
An online version of FLITE's MLA Quick Reference handout, requires Adoboe Acrobat Reader.
MLA Format
More examples of how cite different types of sources using the MLA format.
If you have any questions about using the library for research, Email Paul Kammerdiner.
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: January 11, 2007