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RESEARCH TOOL LINKS

Library Home Page

Library Catalog 

Library Research Guides by Subject 

Interlibrary Loan

Quick Clips (Research Tutorials)

Boolean Searching
(from University at Albany Libraries) 

Evaluating Resources
(from Milner Library at Illinois State U.) 

Citing Sources

Understanding Call Numbers

Plagiarism:  How to Avoid It (from Indiana University at Bloomington)

 

COURSE RELATED RESEARCH INSTRUCTION

Course Name: ENG101 - Composition
Course Instructor: Prof. Dubrey
Session Librarians: Elin O'Hara & Karen Volkman
Session Date: March 7 & 14, 2008

About Plagiarism

What is plagiarism?

Quick quiz
http://www.uwec.edu/markgrjs/plagiarism/Plagiarism.ppt

What is the academic honesty policy at PSU?

Unsure about citations? 

Need Background Information? 

Use Reference Books!  There is free photocopying of reference books.

  • All music reference books start with ML

  • Examples: World Music: the basics 

  • Encyclopedia of World Pop Music

 Reference books are also available online in: Virtual Reference Library database 
and CREDOReference database (Formerly XReferPlus)

  • music and censorship- 37 results in Virtual Reference Library database

If you don't know where the Reference Room is, consult the Online Tour of Feinberg Library.

 

What do I do with my background information? What is my topic?

Make sure your topic isn't too narrow or too broad!  Click here for more information.

  • Too broad: Eminem

  • Too narrow: The 2001 Grammy Award show performance by Eminem and Elton John

Finding Books

The Feinberg Library Catalog ( called Search Feinberg on library home page) can lead you to books on your topic!

Examples: 

  • Parental advisory : music censorship in America

  • Hip-hop: beyond beats and rhymes (video)

  • Rap music and street consciousness

  • The copycat effect : how the media and popular culture trigger the mayhem in tomorrow’s headlines

If our library doesn't have what you want, go to WorldCat to search a worldwide library catalog of over 50 million books.  Our new ILLiad system lets you borrow anything you find in WorldCat.  Your request is delivered to you usually within 2 weeks for free!

Finding Journal, Newspaper, and Magazine Articles

Need journal or magazine articles?  Click here 

  • Remember you can also search databases in related subjects areas like Psychology, History, and Sociology!

Need newspaper articles? Click here 

  • Remember newspapers are especially helpful when researching current events!

  • Examples: "Dixie Chicks" and "Toby Keith" and politics

Need magazine articles on a "hot topic?" Click here 

  • Remember Opposing Viewpoints contains pre-prepared categories! or...

  • Examples: music and suicide, music and youth, music and violence, music and censorship, music and youth culture, etc...

Web Page Evaluation

Think A-A-O-C-C!  (Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency, Coverage)

lii.org: An index of web pages pre-evaluated by librarians

This page created by: Elin O'Hara
Email: oharaea@plattsburgh.edu
Last Updated: March 3, 2008