HIS
#181 East Asian History
Library Assignment
This
exercise is designed to assist you with your term papers.
Carefully read this assignment and make sure that you do each of the
steps required. First, you should
pick a topic that you find interesting in this class and do each of the steps
using that topic.
Describe Your Topic
In
one or two sentences write out the topic of your search. You should select
one topic and use it for all but the news and sites below.
The
WorldCat system is a service that allows you to look up virtually every book
held by libraries all over the country. Using
you computer links at home or at the SUNY Plattsburgh Library search for your
topic on WorldCat by looking up your “subject.”
Read and follow these steps and then answer the questions on a separate
piece of paper. Attach and hand in
all required material.
1)
Print out
a bibliographical listing for a single book from the WorldCat that you think
would be particularly helpful to your research (Tip: This service will give you thousands of titles on many
of the subjects you chose. Be sure
to limit your topic as much as possible and indicate that you only want book
titles that are in English and that were written after 1970.)
2)
Use the
“Libraries with Item” button to determine if SUNY Plattsburgh has the book
you were looking for.
3)
Write a
short explanation of what topic you chose.
4)
Write a
brief finding of your search: does our library hold any of the books you were
interested in?
5)
Write a
short description of how the WorldCat System works and want it can and cannot
do.
This search engine provides full-text readings of articles from select journals dating back to their origin (you might be able to get articles that are as much as 100 years old). Using JSTOR do the same search you did above (though I do not want a full print-out of an article). Attach and hand in all material.
1) Print out the first page from one article from JSTOR that you think might be useful for your research topic you have chosen.
2) Write a short explanation of how JSTOR works and what it can and cannot do.
This is a new search engine that does many of the same things JSTOR does but it provides links to different journals and allows you to view articles that are much more current. Using Project MUSE do the same search that you did above. Attach and hand in all material.
1) Print out the first page from one article from Project MUSE that you think might be useful for your research topic you have chosen.
2) Write a short explanation of how Project MUSE works and what it can and cannot do.
This
resource is unique in that it provides lengthy abstracts of the articles you
might be looking for. Using the
Historical Abstracts page, do the same search you did above.
Attach and hand in all material.
1)
Print out
one bibliographical entry from the Historical Abstracts that you think might be
useful for your research on the topic you have chosen.
2)
Write a
short explanation of how the Historical Abstracts page works and what it can and
cannot do.
Many
newspapers are developing internet sites that provide good information on the
issues of the day. Some, such as
Slate, are exclusively internet oriented and do not publish in any other
format. Also,
more and more people are creating Blogs, or personal political sites with all
sorts of info on them. Select a news-zine or Blog and find
an article that interests you (preferably one about Asia but it does not have to
be). Attach
and hand in all material.
Slate--News site similar to Time Magazine
The Nation--The Web Site of a long-standing Liberal Newspaper
The Weekly Standard--The Web Site of a Neo-Conservative Magazine
Real Clear Politics--A slightly conservative daily newspaper--good for following the election
Andrew Sullivan--Blog of a Conservative Gay man
Maine Owl--Blog of a Liberal Friend of Mine
1)
Print off the first page of a single article.
2)
Write a
brief finding of your search: What Site did you look at?
3)
What
kinds of information did it contain? What
kinds of stories did it leave out?
The World Wide Web is a rapidly developing service that may or may not prove useful for research. Go into the Web and locate one page that might be helpful for studying your topic (many topics will not be directly addressed by web pages—use your imagination to find something suitable.) You should probably begin by using Google to find your topic. If you are already familiar with Google then this might be a good time to try one of the other search engines. Attach and hand in all material.
1) Print off one page of the Web site you examined.
2)
Write a
brief finding of your search: What Web page did you look at?
3)
How did
you find it?
4) What information did it contain?