PRELIMINARIES: Review information on electronic modes of access and read carefully through the profile of NetLibrary on Dr. Schwartz's Guide to Kennedy Library Research Tools.  Be clear about what it is, when and how to use it, its strengths and its limitations.  Know what to add to the bibliographic citation of an ebook accessed through a subscription database like NetLibrary. 

NOTE 1:  While you can access this page of instructions and NetLibrary directly using any web browser, it may be most efficient to do so from within your course page in Blackboard, where you will be submitting your Research Progress Reports to the class Research Archive (click on "Discussion Board") and where you can access this assignment page, via the External Links section, from both our class home page and the Calendar of Assignments.  Within Blackboard, the Kennedy Library subscription database NetLibrary  can be accessed using the "Library Resources" tab, under "N" on the alphabetical list of "Article Databases." 

To access Blackboard, log in at MyCalpoly, go to "Blackboard Access" and select this class. 

If you're not a Blackboard fan, you can also access NetLibrary by clicking on the links on this page of instructions; from the main Kennedy Library website (select All Article Databases -- view alphabetically and look for "NetLibrary" under "N"); or through the "Library Services" tab on your My Cal Poly portal)(click on "Kennedy Library" to access the library website and proceed as indicated above).  If you choose to access NetLibrary outside of Blackboard, you can write up your Research Report using the word-processor of your choice and cut and paste it into the message screen which opens when you click on "Add New Thread" in your Research Report Archive.

NOTE 2: If no report screen appears when you click on "Add New Thread" in your Research Report Archive (within the Discussion Board section of Blackboard), your computer may be set up to block "active content" (e.g. script and ActiveX controls necessary for the Discussion Board to function properly).  Check to see if a security warning about "active content" has appeared on your web browser screen (e.g. "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer.  Click here for options. . .").  Click on the provided link and select "Allow blocked content"; at the next prompt ("Allowing active content such as script and ActiveX controls can be useful, but active content might also harm your computer.  Are you sure you want to let this file run active content?"), click on "YES."  When you reenter your archive and click on "Add New Thread," a report screen with editing and formatting tabs should appear. 

NOTE 3:  if your "Add new thread" report screen does not include editing and formatting functions (bold, underlining, etc.), you may have have to change web browsers. These functions are acessible from Internet Explorer, but not e.g. in Mozilla Firefox.

Did you know that the Kennedy Library provides online access to full-text e-books (currently, 2952 books that are not in the public domain, as well as 3457 publically accessible works, many of them primary sources) through another of its subscription databases?  Get to know what's in NetLibrary and you'll find it can be very handy.  

In this exercise, you will use NetLibrary to look for secondary sources on your topic in the Kennedy Library's subscription-only eBook collection.  Experiment with both the "Basic Search" and the "Advanced Search" functions, and try keyword, subject and full text searches for e.g. your author by name, your work by title (don't forget to search alternate titles and spellings, if applicable), as well as for broader topics (e.g. "medieval literature"; "tragedy"; "American literature"; "Renaissance poetry"; etc.).  (Recall that an "author" search on your author or a "title" search on your title will lead you only to editions or translations of works by your author or to works with the title you used as a search term -- primary rather than secondary sources.)  As you refine your search techniques, keep in mind that you can use "Boolean" search terms (a.k.a. "search operators," e.g. "AND"; "OR"; "NOT") for a more targetted search.  From the "Search Operators" help screen in NetLibrary:  

"Search Operators are query words that help limit your search results. Available operators for searching in NetLibrary are: 

AND: This operator will include both of the specified words in your search term. 
Example: Dogs AND cats 
Expected Results: eContent containing both Dogs and Cats. 

OR: This operator will include either Dogs or Cats: 
Example: Dogs OR cats 
Expected Results: eContent containing either Dogs or Cats: This may mean content that includes both words. 

NOT: This operator will include either Dogs or Cats: 
Example: Dogs NOT Cats 
Expected Results: eContent containing the word Dogs but not Cats 

NEAR: This operator will include either Dogs or Cats: 
Example: Dogs NEAR Cats 
Expected Results: This operator will include both words in your specified search term. But only when they are close in proximity to each other: (i.e. in the same sentence). 

*Note: Search Operators must me typed in all CAPITAL letters."

Experiment with different types of searches (keywords? subject descriptors? the full text of books?) to see which yield the best results.  If you don't find anything obvious -- or if e.g. a full text search generates too many sources that refer to your work or author only in passing -- try a subject search on a broader category (e.g. "American literature"; "medieval Literature"; "poetry").  Because there are relatively few titles in the library's electronic book collections, the number of resultant hits should be small enough that you can peruse the list of titles for likely sources and then "open" them electronically, checking out the table of contents and/or index for references to your author, work, genre, or a closely related topic or theme.  

As usual, keep detailed notes of what specific kinds of searches you tried, using what specific search terms and what (if any) search operators or limits.  Your report should include detailed descriptions of each search along with its results (the number of hits generated and how many of these are actually useful resources on your topic).  Play around until you can offer some useful search tips for your topic, as well as a comment on NetLibrary's strengths and weaknesses.  Note: you may not find any book that is specifically on your topic in NetLibrary -- but if you keep coming up blank, you may not be searching effectively.  COME SEE ME FOR ASSISTANCE!

Grouped under "literature":

• African-American Writers : A Dictionary
• Contemporary Novelists
• Contemporary Writers Series
• Modern American Literature
• Native American Literatures : An Encyclopedia of Works, Characters, Authors, and Themes
• Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature (St. James Reference Guides)
• Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Second Edition
• Reference Guide to World Literature (St. James Reference Guides)

• Acting : An International Encyclopedia
• Contemporary Fashion
• International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Fourth Edition
• The NPR Classical Music Companion : Terms and Concepts From A to Z
• VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
• World Cultural Leaders of the Twentieth Century, Vols. 1 and 2

• The ABC-CLIO Companion to the 1960s Counterculture in America (ABC-CLIO Companions to Key Issues in American History and Life)
• The African American Years: Chronologies of American History and Experience
• Dictionary of American History, Third Edition
• Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492-1890
• Encyclopedia of the American Civil War. Vols. 1-5: A Political, Social, and Military History
• Encyclopedia of the Great Depression
• Encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War
• Encyclopedia of the War of 1812
• St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
• Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States, 6th Edition

• British Political Leaders : A Biographical Dictionary
• Contemporary Poets, Seventh Edition.Contemporary Writers Series (Detroit, Mich.)
• Encyclopedia of Archaeology, History and Discoveries
• Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World
• Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War : A Political, Social, and Military History
• Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses
• Encyclopedia of World Biography
• Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Ed
• Europe 1450 to 1789 : Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World / Jonathan Dewald, Editor in Chief
• Making It in America : A Sourcebook on Eminent Ethnic Americans
• Notable Sports Figures
• The Renaissance : An Encyclopedia for Students
• Who's Who Among African Americans
• World Leaders of the Twentieth Century

Click on "Add New Thread" to create your report.  You should type (or cut and paste) your report directly into the message screen; it cannot be submitted as an attachment.  (If you don't get a message screen after clicking on "Add New Thread," follow the instructions under NOTE 3, above.)  Be sure to click on "submit" when you are finished (or to save a report you are working on).  You can edit or add to a report after submission by clicking on it and then on the "modify" tab; again, be sure to click on "submit" to save your work when you are done. Start a separate "thread" for each different report, using the subject line specified in the instructions. Using the "reply" tab creates a new message that is part of the same "thread"; for subsequent reports, start a new "thread" rather than using the "reply" tab.

Type up and submit to the class research archive a detailed REPORT of what specific searches you tried (types of search, search terms used, limits applied) and how sucessful each was (how many "hits" and how many of these hits actually seemed useful). Most of this information can be presented efficiently using a table format, but if you choose to do so, please include, also, a final comment or a paragraph or two where you sum up what you have discovered. 

Include in your report a Works Cited entry for the best source you found on your topic.  Be sure to use correct bibliographic citation format for an electronically accessed e-book (follow the link, or consult your MLA Handbook, 6th ed., section 5.9.7).  First, provide full publication information as you would if you were accessing the item in print.  If your source is a single-author book, follow the normal citation format for a book.  If your source is an essay in an edited book collection, follow the citation format for an essay in an edited book collection (in your MLA Handbook, follow guidelines for a work in an anthology).  Remember that an essay from an edited book selection should be cited by the author and title of the essay itself, after which you will provide the other pertinent publication information (including the editor and title of the volume in which it appears, etc.; for details, see citation format for an essay in an edited book collection). Note: while you can find what page an essay begins on by looking at the table of contents, you will need to browse the eBook to determine the final page of the essay, and, if applicable, page numbers where any endnotes appear.

Following the basic bibliographic entry for the book or essay itself, add the following information:  the name of the database used, i.e. NetLibrary (underlined and followed by a period), then the name of the "service if known" (followed by a period), then the name of the library through which you accessed NetLibrary (followed by a period), then the date of access (followed immediately by a period if there is no short "stable" URL; if you do know a short "stable" URL for the service's homepage, put it in <angle brackets> between the date of access and the final period).  Thus, you should complete your Works Cited entry with: 

NetLibrary. The Robert E. Kennedy Library, California Polytechnic State University. Date of access <http://www.netLibrary.com/index.asp>.

Note to Core Students: in addition to your research archive report, you should also submit in hard-copy a print out of the "show details" page containing a bibliographic citation for the work, to which the following print-outs should be stapled:

1. pages containing any addition publication information necessary for a complete bibliographic citation that is not included on the "details" page
2. if the book you have found is an edited collection of essays, also include a print out of the FIRST and LAST pages of the essay you are citing (these print-outs will allow me to verify that the pagination you have provided is correct).

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