One purpose of this class is to learn to use some of the research tools accessible online through the Kennedy  Library to identify and obtain appropriate secondary sources (scholarly criticism) on your research topic.  Contrary to popular belief, reputable scholarly resources are NOT typically available for free over the Web to anyone.  They are found in expensive, subscription-only databases which take an increasingly large bite out of the Kennedy Library's Materials Acquisition budget each year -- so you owe it to yourselves to use them effectively!  To access restricted resources from off campus, you will be prompted to log in (using your PolyCard barcode, the 14-digit number beginning 20150 on the front of your PolyCard); or you can log in at MyPolycat each time you visit the Kennedy Library site.

Research tools available through the Kennedy Library can be used for two distinct functions: to identify resources on a given topic, and to provide access to these resources.  While many of the tools offer both functions to some degree, the single most powerful tool to identify sources on a literary research topic, the MLA bibliography, does not itself provide direct access to the items it indexes, but allows a user to check whether an item is available at Cal Poly through links to Polycat and some but not all of the library's subscription databases.  The Find It tab within an MLA bibliography entry can be used to check for an online full-text version of a given resource and will provide a "bridge" between the MLA database and some (but not all) of the Kennedy Library's subscription databases.

The present page offers a brief overview of some of the most important Kennedy Library tools for literary research.  The research exercises accessible from the class calendar will guide you as you learn how to use specific research tools to identify and access secondary sources on a literary research topic.  Before beginning these exercises, you should be familiar with the various types of resource that are available, the research tools that can be used to identify and access them, and the various modes of access that can be used to obtain them.  Use the following links to navigate the information on this page:
 
 

5 Types of Sources: -- Primary sources -- Secondary sources including: Single-author Books Journal Articles Essays in an Edited Book Collection Reviews How to locate: Single-author Books Journal Articles Essays in an Edited Book Collection Reviews MLA bibliographic citation formats for: Single-author book Journal Article Essay in an Edited Book Collection Review eBook or electronically accessed article from full-text subscription databases

4 Modes of Access to print and electronic resources: Hard Copy from Kennedy Library collections (includes circulating items and non-circulating items in the stacks, the Reference Room, Special Collections; also audio-visual materials and microfilm). Electronically accessed items from Subscription Databases which are part of the Kennedy Library's collections.  LINK+ (to obtain books from a consortium of lender libraries) ILL (to obtain journal articles not available in Kennedy Library collections in print, on microfilm, or in electronic form in one of Cal Poly's subscription databases; also can be used to order books that are not available from the Kennedy Library or through a LINK+ library) Find It is a linking technology used to check whether an item is available in the Kennedy Library's collections (both print and electronic subscription databases) and which facilitates the process of ordering items unavailable at Cal Poly (using LINK+ and/or ILL).   WARNING:  "Find It" is not infallible; follow the link for a cautionary word about Find It's limitations.  Please note that "Find It" is not itself a mode of access; it simply takes you into another database or tool through which a given item can be accessed or ordered.

Profiles of 5 Types of Research Tools Every English Student Should Know (and use to identify and/or access secondary sources on a given research topic): Polycat Link+ MLA Bibliography Subscription Journal Databases:   Academic Search Elite  Expanded Academic Index  Project Muse  JSTOR NetLibrary (eBooks) Follow link for some cautions about using general web search engines for literary research.

 

PRELIMINARIES I: TYPES OF SOURCES

A "primary" source refers to a novel, poem, short story, collection, play, essay etc. by the author who is the focus of your literary research.

A "secondary" source refers to a scholarly work (e.g. a book, journal article, essay in an edited book collection, or review) about the primary work, author, genre, technique etc. that is the focus of your research.  The secondary sources you are most likely to use in a research paper include:

1) Single-author book: a book-length scholarly work by one author (or several co-authors) published in book  form (but not an edited collection of essays by multiple authors).  A citation for a book includes the author, title, city of publication, publisher and year of publication. The basic MLA bibliographic citation format for a book citation is:

Author's last name, Author's first name.  Title of Book.  City of publication: Publisher, year.  Medium of publication (i.e. Print or Web).

[The above model presents the simplest form for a book citation; consult your MLA Handbook for specific rules that apply in different situations.  Note that the MLA bibliographic format in this and all other examples on this page should be followed exactly; pay attention to which information should be included, the order in which elements should appear, the punctuation (or lack of punctuation) between them, which elements should be underlined (or italicized), which elements should be enclosed in quotation marks, and the final punctuation.]

To locate a single-author book for which you have a citation, first check Polycat by doing an Author search on the author's name and/or a Title search on the title of the book (rather than Word searches for either of these search terms).  If the book is not available in the Kennedy Library collections, do the same searches to look for it in LINK+.  If the book is not listed in Polycat or LINK+, you can order it from ILL using an ILL BOOK Request form.
 

2) Journal article: a scholarly essay by one author (or several co-authors) published in a scholarly journal or review which appears periodically.  A citation for a journal article includes the author's name, the title of the article, the title of the journal, volume and issue numbers, year (or month and year), and inclusive page numbers on which the article appears. The basic MLA bibliographic citation format for a journal article citation is:

Author's last name, Author's first name.  "Title of Article." Title of Journal x.y (year of publication): inclusive page numbers. Medium of publication (i.e. Print or Web).

[In the model above, x=volume number in arabic numerals, y=issue number in arabic numerals; they are separated by a period.  For page numbers, indicate 1st and last page numbers with a dash between them.]  Note 1:  The title of the journal is found in an MLA Bibliography entry under "source."  Note 2: The above model presents the simplest form for an article citation; consult your MLA Handbook for specific rules that apply in different situations.

To locate a journal article for which you have a citation, search for the title of the JOURNAL in which the article appears (not for the author's name or title of the article itself) using Polycat's Journal Title Search AND Serials Solutions (an index of many of the e-periodicals available through the subscription databases in the Kennedy Library collections).  If the journal is available, check the listing to determine whether the specific issue you need is in the Kennedy Library collections; both Polycat and Serials Solutions will indicate the volumes/years covered, as well as the format (bound in the stacks, on microfiche, or electronic in a subscription database), provide a call number allowing you to locate a print copy of the journal in the stacks or on microfiche, or indicate the specific subscription database(s) in which an electronic version of the periodical is found. Citation Linker, a Find It function, can be used to search for a specific article in a number of full-text subscription databases (but may not be able to check all Kennedy Library Subscription Databases).  If an article is not available in the Kennedy Library collections in print or electronic form, you can order it from ILL using an ILL Article Request form.
 

3) Essay in an edited book collection: a scholarly essay by one author (or several co-authors) from an edited collection of essays published in a book rather than in a periodical.  A citation for an essay in an edited book collection includes the author's name, the title of the article, the title of the book in which it appears, the editor(s) of the book in which it appears, complete publication information for the book in which it appears (city, publisher and year of publication), and inclusive page numbers on which the essay appears. The basic MLA bibliographic citation format for an essay in an edited book collection combines the formats for a book and for a journal article:

Author's last name, Author's first name.  "Title of Essay." Title of Book.  Ed. Editor's full name (not in inverted order).  City of publication: publisher, year. inclusive page numbers.  Medium of publication (i.e. Print or Web).

[For page numbers, indicate 1st and last page numbers with a dash between them.] Note 1:  An essay in an edited book collection is called a "book article" in the MLA Bibliography; the BOOK TITLE is found in an MLA Bibliography entry under "source." Note 2: The above model presents the simplest form for citing an essay in an edited book collection; consult your MLA Handbook for specific rules that apply in different situations.

To locate an essay in an edited book collection for which you have a citation, search Polycat by title for the title of the BOOK in which the essay appears (not for the title of the essay itself; the BOOK TITLE is found in an MLA Bibliography entry under "source"); or, do an "author" search in Polycat for the EDITOR of the book in which the essay appears (not for the author of the essay itself).  If the book is not listed in Polycat, search LINK+ using the same search terms you used in Polycat.  If the book is also not available from LINK+, you can order it from ILL using an ILL BOOK Request form; under "author," be sure to put the name of the EDITOR of the BOOK IN WHICH THE ESSAY APPEARS (not the author of the essay itself); under "title," be sure to provide the title of the BOOK IN WHICH THE ESSAY APPEARS (not the title of the essay itself).
 

4) A review: a critical assessment of a literary work or works, film, performance etc., published in a periodical.  A citation for a review includes the author and title of the review (if applicable), the author (or editor/translator/director etc., as applicable) and title of the subject of the review, and publication information on the periodical in which the review was published.  See the MLA Handbook for specifics. The basic MLA bibliographic citation format for a review of a single book is:

Reviewer's last name, Reviewer's first name.  "Title of Review (if applicable)." Rev. of Title of Book Being Reviewed, by Author of Book Being Reviewed.  Periodical Title date of periodical: inclusive page numbers. Medium of publication (i.e. Print or Web).

[The date of publication immediately follows the underlined periodical title without any intervening punctuation.  For the date, use the order "day month year" followed by a colon and inclusive page numbers comprising the 1st and last page numbers with a dash between them.]
Note 1: for a review accessed electronically through a subscription database, follow the Subscription Database citation guidelines.
Note 2: see the MLA Handbook for format to use for reviews of more than one work or of a performance, translation, edition, etc.

To locate a book review for which you have a citation, follow the guidelines above for locating an article in a periodical.

5) Please note that the citation guidelines above cover only the simplest form of the four most common categories of secondary source and apply only to print versions of those sources  (not to electronically accessed versions).  For electronically accessed journal articles and e-books, see below; for variations upon these categories and for other types of secondary source (e.g. editions, translations, multivolume works, reprints, websites, etc.), consult your MLA Handbook.

PRELIMINARIES II: MODES OF ACCESS:

There are four ways to access an item for which you have a bibliographic citation:

• Hard copies of both books and periodicals may be available in the Kennedy Library collections.  For access, use Polycat to determine the location and call number needed to find the item in the stacks, reference room, microfiche collection, reserve room, current periodicals, or in Special Collections.
• Electronic access to some books and journals is available through the Kennedy Library's subscription databases.  E-books can be accessed from their listings in Polycat, or search directly for an e-book by topic or title in NetLibrary.  Likewise, electronic journals can be accessed through Journal Title listings in Polycat, or you can search directly for articles by topic, keyword, author or title in Kennedy Library's full-text journal databases. You can save time by using Citation Linker to check whether a full-text version of an article is available electronically in many (but not all) of the Kennedy Library's subscription databases.
• LINK+ combines the online catalogues of a consortium of academic and public libraries. Through LINK+, you can borrow books and multimedia items that are not available in the Kennedy Library Collections from another institution in the consortium.  Note: LINK+ cannot be used to borrow journals, journal articles, and certain rare books.  It is both faster and cheaper (for the library) than ILL, so check it first when looking for a book (single-author or an edited book collection) that is not listed in Polycat.  For more information, see the LINK+ profile below.
• ILL (interlibrary loan, exclusive of LINK+) is a Kennedy Library service allowing you to request items that are not available in the Kennedy Library Collections (either in print or electronic form) or through LINK+.  Submit an ILL Article Request for articles from periodicals that are not in the Kennedy Library Collections in print, microfiche or electronic form (in a subscription database); submit an ILL BOOK Request for books that are not available through Polycat or LINK+. For more information (e.g. borrowing periods, renewals, and late fees), consult the Kennedy Library page Interlibrary Loan Policies & FAQ.

1)Polycat

What it is: a catalogue listing all materials available in the Kennedy Library collections, including both print and some of the electronic resources accessible through one of the library's subscription databases.  Searchable by keyword, author, title, subject, author/title, call number, or journal title.

What it contains:

• bibliographic entries for all print resources in the library collections (hard copies of books, periodicals, documents and other source materials found in the stacks, Current Periodicals, Special Collections, or on Reserve for a course) with a call number allowing you to locate the item.
• bibliographic entries for resources in the library collections which can be accessed electronically from one of the library's subscription databases.  These include:

   -- Netlibrary for e-books (electronic versions of printed books of which the library may also have a hard copy);
   -- Full-text journal databases for periodicals. (NOTE: periodicals found in the Kennedy Library's full-text subscription databases may not be listed in Polycat; if they are, they will be listed by journal title only; Polycat does not contain author or title listings for the articles which are found within these periodicals.)
• bibliographic entries for videos and audio recordings in the library collections.

• as you begin research, to identify an initial (and far from complete) list of library holdings by or on a given author, title or topic.
• to check whether the library holds a specific item for which you have a bibliographic citation (e.g. from the MLA Bibliography Database, the notes or bibliography in another work you have consulted, or a citation provided by a professor in class).

allows you to connect directly to LINK+ to continue a search for a book that is not available from the Kennedy Library Collections.

allows you to connect directly to ILL to place an order for an article from a periodical that is not available at the Kennedy library (in hard copy or electronic form) or for a book that is not available at the Kennedy Library or through LINK+.

allows you to virtually "browse" the stacks to determine what items are shelved together in the Kennedy Library Collections, even if these items are currently misshelved or checked out to another borrower.  To do so, select "LC Call Number" from the pull-down menu of Polycat search types, and type in the call number of a book on your topic in the Kennedy our colletions.  From the Polycat entry for your book, click on the "previous record" and "next record" tabs to browse the stacks virtually.

allows you to look for specific resources by author or title (much more efficient than trying to find a specific work in the large number of hits which may be generated by a "Keyword" search); to do so, go to Polycat and use the pulldown menu (next to "Search by" on the main Polycat Search Page) to switch from a Keyword to a Title or Author search.  If the book you are looking for is not listed in Polycat, you can search for it in LINK+ by clicking on the "Find in LINK+" tab at the top of the screen.

allows you to unearth other potentially useful resources on your topic in Kennedy Library collections by clicking on the "Subject" listing links within a Polycat entry to see what other works in Kennedy Library Collections are indexed under the same subject headings; then, allows you to broaden this targetted search to the combined collections of all LINK+ consortium institutions by clicking on the "Find in LINK+" tab from the subject search results screen.

allows you to put a hold on (recall) an item that is currently checked out to another borrower.  NOTE:  it is courteous to inquire of classmates who may be working on a similar topic (and your professor!) if they have checked out the item in question prior to recalling it.  You can do so verbally in class or by sending an email to the class email alias.

• In theory, a Polycat Journal Title listing should identify all means of accessing a given periodical within the Kennedy Library's collections, whether as a hard copy (found in Current Periodicals or bound in the stacks), on microfiche, or electronically (through a full-text subscription database).  But in fact, Polycat journal title entries cannot keep up with the ever-changing list of periodicals in the databases to which the Kennedy Library subscribes.  It is therefore prudent to check for a given journal title both in Polycat AND in Serials Solutions, an index of all e-periodicals available in the Kennedy Library collections which lists the volumes/years covered and the subscription database(s) in which the periodical is found. You can also try Citation Linker to see if a full-text version of an article for which you have a full citation is available online -- but like all Find It tools, it is not completely reliable because it can't talk to all of Poly's subscription databases; full text of a journal article may in fact be available electronically from one of the Kennedy Library's subscription databases, even though clicking on the "FIND IT" tab produces the message "Full-Text isn't available here . . . But we'll get it for you!" (Follow link for more on the limitations of Find It).

 
• Polycat is at best an imperfect tools for bibliographic research due to the limitations on the subject listings that can be included.  Because it can't tell you what is found between the covers of the books and periodicals it indexes, it is best used in conjunction with a research tool such as the MLA Bibliography which indexes individual essays within edited book collections and journal articles within periodicals by author, title, keyword and subject.  After using the MLA Bibliography to generate a list of books, journal articles and "book articles" (essays in edited collections which have been published as books), go first to Polycat to determine whether the resource in question is available in the Kennedy Library's collections.  Only if it is not available at Cal Poly should you request the item via LINK+ or ILL.

2) LINK+

What it is: a union catalogue of the combined holdings of 50+ participating academic and public libraries in California and Nevada, searchable by author, title, keyword or subject.  Patrons from member libraries electronically request an item not available in their own library which is delivered for checkout from their home institution at no charge to the individual patron (although at some cost to the library).  Books may be borrowed for a period of 21 days with one renewal.  Patrons may request no more than 15 LINK+ items at one time.  Items typically arrive in 2-4 days and will be held for pick-up at the circulation desk for up to 10 days.  LINK+ may be accessed directly at <csul.iii.com> or linked to from Polycat.

What can be borrowed:  books which are not available in the Kennedy Library collections (or which are missing from the collections) and some other media, provided that the item is listed as "available" in Link+.  LINK+ cannot be used to borrow journals, journal articles, and certain rare books.

When to use it:

• as you begin your research, to identify and order a broader range of books on your research topic than can be found in the Kennedy Library collections using Polycat.
• when you have a bibliographic citation for a single-author book or an essay from an edited collection published as a book (e.g. in a citation from the MLA Bibliography, from the notes or bibliography in a work you have consulted, or a citation provided by a professor) and the book you need is not listed in Polycat.  Because LINK+ is faster, cheaper (for the library) and more reliable than ILL, always check it first when looking for a book (single-author or an edited book collection) that is not listed in Polycat.

you can connect directly from Polycat to LINK+ to continue a search for a book that is not found in Polycat.

offers quick access to a far greater number of books than are available in the Kennedy Library collections.

faster, cheaper (to the library), and generally more reliable than ILL.  Requested books usually arrive within 2-4 days and will be held at the circulation desk for up to 10 days.

• cannot be used to borrow journals, journal articles, and certain rare books, or to borrow titles available at Cal Poly (except for books that are missing from the Kennedy Library collections).
• patrons limited to 15 LINK+ transactions at a given time.
• fees for lost or overdue items are high.
• like Polycat, LINK+ is at best an imperfect tool for basic bibliographic research due to the limited number of subject listings that can be included in the record for a given book.  Because it searches multiple library catalogues, however, it can provide many more results than an identical search in Polycat.
• tiny differences in the way an item is catalogued at the different libraries in the consortium can result in the same book being listed multiple times.

3) The MLA Bibliography

What it is: the single most powerful tool to identify published works on a literary research topic.  The most comprehensive literary and language database available, it provides citations only (not direct access) for a broad range of secondary sources and some primary sources (e.g. scholarly editions of primary texts).

When to use it:

• to generate the most complete list of secondary sources on a given research topic.
• to identify a particular kind of secondary resource on a given topic, such as books, articles, "book articles" (i.e. essays in edited collections published as books), book collections, or dissertation abstracts.
• to generate the most complete list of secondary sources published within a given range of dates, e.g. within the last ten years. (By contrast, full-text databases and NetLibrary, which also can be limited by date, provide information only on the journals or e-books they contain.)

• Extremely comprehensive, it is updated ten times per year, with coverage from 1963 to the present.
• Extremely flexible, it is searchable by up to three search terms from a list of over twenty (including keyword, author, title, descriptor, subject, series title, publication date, etc.)
• Boolean search terms ("and," "or," "not") can be used to tailor a search
• Search results can be limited by language, by document type, by date range, or to include only peer-reviewed sources.
• While the MLA Bibliography does not itself provide access to any material, Find It can provide a bridge betweenMLA bibliography entries and either Polycat or many of the Kennedy Library's full-text subscription databases, allowing you to check for an item in Polycat, link to full-text versions available through some (but not all) of the Kennedy Library subscription databases, or place an ILL order starting from within the MLA bibliography listing.

• provides citations only; does not offer direct access to the items it indexes.  Users must know how to check for an indexed item in the Cal Poly collections (both print and electronic), and know how to order an item that is not available at Cal Poly using LINK+ and/or ILL.
• the Find It links in an MLA bibliography listing are not always reliable, since Find It does not know how to "talk to" all the subscription databases in the Cal Poly collection. Thus, full text of a journal article may in fact be available electronically through a Kennedy Library subscription database even when clicking on the "FIND IT for Links-Full-text Resources" tab in an MLA journal article listing results in the message "Full Text isn't available here, but... We'll get it for you!"

4) Subscription Databases offering full-text journal access

What's available: among the many databases to which Kennedy Library subscribes, the following four offer full-text, electronic access to a significant number of scholarly journals in the fields of language and literature:

• Academic Search Elite, indexing over 3,400 publications, including scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multicultural studies, as well as popular magazines. Full-text electronic access is provided for over 1,300 periodical titles. Where full text is not available, citations may include an abstract (summary of an indexed article). Coverage: from 1990 to the present.
• Expanded Academic ASAP, indexing over 1400 core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and general sciences as well as some popular publications (including the New York Times). About one-third of the indexed articles include full-text electronic access. Where full text is not available, citations may include an abstract (summary of an indexed article). Coverage: from 1980 to the present.
• Project Muse, offering full-text electronic access from a searchable database of over 100 scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. Coverage: from 1997 to the present.
• JSTOR, offering full-text electronic access from a searchable database of the back issues for more than 350 scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. Coverage for each journal begins with volume 1. Because JSTOR is an archival database, issues are not available for the latest 3-5 years.

• to "see what's out there," i.e. identify and browse through full-text articles on a given topic without a specific citation.
• to access a full-text article for which you have a specific citation which is found in one of the indexed journals.  (See also comments under Citation Linker, below.)

• full-text databases provide 24/7 electronic access from any web browser to a selection of full-text journal articles. (Note: because these subscription databases are available only to Cal Poly users, log-in is required.)
• full-text articles may be read online, printed out, down-loaded to your hard drive or emailed to yourself.
• Boolean search terms ("and," "or," "not") can be used to tailor a search.
• depending on the database, searches may be limited by date range, to include only peer-reviewed journals, or to exclude citations without full-text access.

• each of the four databases has specific quirks which must be mastered before they can be used with maximal efficiency.  For instance, full-text articles in .html format may lack pagination found in the print version of the same article. (To avoid this problem, choose a PDF file over HTML when the option is available.)
• much worthwhile scholarship is published in journals that are not available in full-text versions through these subscription databases.  Students who rely exclusively on electronically accessed full-text journal articles but neglect to consult the MLA bibliography will miss valuable resources on their topics.

TIP 2: Be sure that you cite a journal article accessed electronically through a subscription database correctly.   Provide a complete citation as you would for the print version of the journal article, but instead of indicating "print" as the medium of publication, add the following information:

• Title of the database (underlined or italicized and followed by a period).
• Medium of publication consulted (i.e. Web, followed by a period).
• Date of access (day, month and year).

Author's last name, Author's first name.  "Title of Article." Title of Journal x.y (year of publication): inclusive page numbers. Project Muse. Web. Date of access.

For fuller details, consult your MLA Handbook (in the 7th edition, see section 5.6, Citing Web Publications, in particular section 5.6.4, A Periodical Publication in an Online Database).
 
 

5) NetLibrary

What it is: a searchable subscription database offering access to e-books in the Kennedy Library Collections.  Also includes a number of e-books that are in the public domain.  E-books available through Netlibrary are included in Polycat records along with any print versions available. About half the collection consists of single-user titles, while the other half is licensed for 4 simultaneous users. If you access a title that is already in use, a message will appear to ask you to try the request later.

When to use it:

• to access a specific e-book from a citation found in Polycat.
• to search 1,400 subscription-only online book titles and 3,500 publicly available titles (primarily out-of-copyright literary classics) by keyword, subject, etc.
• to search or browse reference resources including encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, handbooks, and thesauri.

• NetLibrary provides 24/7 electronic access to electronic books which may be previewed with your browser or checked out for exclusive personal use for a specified period of time.  (Note: because NetLibrary is a subscription database available only to Cal Poly users, log-in is required.)
• The Reference Center Browse feature allows you to view a list of all titles in the reference center collection by subject; it includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, handbooks, and thesauri.
• The Basic Search lets you quickly perform a search in a single field (e.g. Keyword, Title, Author, or Full Text). Basic Search is featured on the home page and is available on the right side of every non-search page.
• Advanced Search lets you construct more complicated searches using multiple fields (e.g. Keyword, Title, Author, Full Text, Subject, ISBN), Boolean operators (and, or, not), and limits (year, publisher, language, format).
• Once you have generated a list of Search Results, you may choose to view an eBook immediately in the online reader; go to the Details page for additional information about the title and other viewing options; revise your search (or conduct a new one). Sort shows how the results list is arranged and allows you to re-sort using different sort options. The title listing includes the title, author, and publication information about each item. The bibliographic information (on the Details page) includes subject listings with links which can be used to search for other titles in that subject area.
• You may view an eBook for approximately 15 minutes. After a period of inactivity, the eBook may be made available for someone else to view.
• Page navigation options are shown at the top and bottom of every page. You may navigate through an eBook using the Previous and Next page links, the page number links, or the "Go to Page" option. When viewing an eBook in the online reader, you can navigate using the Table of Contents or search the full text for a given word or phrase.

• because of the limited number of e-books available in Kennedy Library collections, a given NetLibrary search may not yield any results for the topic you are researching.
• searching the database can be frustrating until you have mastered the best search techniques.  Consult the online help for guidance and pointers.

TIP 2: enclose search terms of more than one word in quotation marks to avoid false hits.

TIP 3: Be sure to cite an eBook accessed through NetLibrary correctly.  1) Provide a complete citation as you would for the print version of a single-author book (or, as appropriate, an essay in an edited book collection), but instead of ending with the medium of publication alone, provide the following information:

• Title of the database (underlined or italicized and followed by a period).
• Medium of publication consulted (i.e. Web, followed by a period).
• Date of access (day, month and year).

Author's last name, Author's first name.  Title of Book.  City of publication: Publisher, year.  Net Library. Web. Date of access.

A final word: Students of English literature should be aware that searching the Web with a standard search engine (such as Google, Lycos, etc.) will NOT typically turn up resources appropriate for citation in an academic research paper.  With the exception of genuine scholarly work made available on a reputable scholarly website  by a recognized, academic author (e.g. unpublished conference papers, previously published essays, book chapters or journal articles), material found online is HIGHLY UNLIKELY to be suitable for citation in your research paper.  If you DO choose to look for other resources on the web, be sure to consult Finding and Evaluating Websites for tips on how to evaluate the scholarly validity of a website or resource found online.  One sign of a reputable scholarly source MAY be a URL (web address) ending with ".edu"; but keep in mind that such web-sites may also be student-authored work (posted on his or her own or a professor's website) which is not typically suitable for citation in a research paper.
 

Contents of this and linked pages residing on this site Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 2004-2010

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