Getting Help
Hi, I'm
Krista Knapp,
your friendly reference/instructional librarian, and I'm
here to help you!
How to get in touch with me:
-
In my office, BL129 (best to
make an appointment)
-
By email:
kmknapp@salisbury.edu
-
By IM on Facebook.
OR contact a Research Librariand uring our normal desk hours
by IMing "blackwellref" on any of the major chat
services: gtalk, yahoo,AOL, or MSN
-
At the Research Services
Desk: Monday 8am - 12pm, Wednesday 8-10am, Thursday 10am
- 2pm
Background Information
Why can't you just use Wikipedia?
Wikipedia can be useful for some
research, especially popular culture topics, and particularly
when the entries are well-documented with citations.
However, it should NEVER be cited in an academic paper. We
have so many authoritative, high-quality resources available
in the library and accessible online, that you have no
excuse not to use them.
If you need background information
on Sociology topics, try a
reference tool.
And to further drive home my point about Wikipedia not being a
valid source, please enjoy this clip from the
Colbert Report. Trust me, it's really amusing!
Scholarly v. Popular Sources: A Showdown!
Here are the basics: (Check
out this
handy dandy chart for more information!)
Popular Magazines/Newspapers:
-
glossy, pretty pages
with lots of advertisements and pictures
-
written by hired
reporters for a general audience
-
short, easily read
articles
Scholarly Journals:
-
somewhat dull
looking - very few pictures or advertisements
-
written by experts
in the field and reviewed by other scholars before
publication
-
long articles with
citations and bibliographies at the end
Why should you
use the library and not Google?
Most of the time,
scholarly publications are not
available to the general public, nor are they
available for free on the internet. Individuals or
organizations (such as a library) subscribe to these
publications. Because subscriptions are expensive, many
choose to access this content through libraries.
Often, content from
scholarly journals is indexed in databases that
the library subscribes
to. The content is on the web, but it is not accessible unless
you are affiliated with the institution that is subscribing. It
isn’t the same thing as just finding a website
through a regular Google search.
Sometimes the full text of the article is available through the
database; other times it is only a citation to the article and
you will need to find the print version of the article in the
library or order the article through interlibrary loan if we
don’t subscribe to it.
So, basically what
I'm saying is that the only way you can access this scholarly
information for free is by using the library databases!
Finding Articles
We have several databases
you can use to search for journal, magazine, or
newspaper articles. Some of them only give a citation
to the article, and some have the full-text. Here is a
list of databases you might want to try.
NOTE: If you are off
campus, you will be prompted to log in with the 14 digit barcode
from the back of your Gull Card and your last name.
MULTIDISCIPLINARY & NEWSPAPERS:
-
Academic Search Complete*
- a multidisciplinary database from EBSCO with a mix
of scholarly and popular resources, a lot of
full-text and Find It links when there is no
full-text available.
This is a great place to start your research. AND,
the EBSCO databases can be searched simultaneously.
Click here to see how!
-
JSTOR
-
scholarly full-text resources; the newest documents
are 3-5 years old. Lots
of Sociology journals in here! You can limit
to Sociology Journals in the Advanced Search Tab.
-
Lexis-Nexis Academic
- this database contains full-text world news, legal
and business information. Great
source for world newspapers!
-
National Newspapers
- a collection of full-text major newspapers
including The New York Times and
Washington Post.
SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:
-
America: History and Life
* -
covers United States and Canadian history, both full
text articles and citations for others with Find-It
buttons.
-
Columbia
International Affairs Online -
full text theory, research, and case studies on
international affairs.
-
Communication & Mass Media Complete* - An EBSCO
database covering communication and media topics.
-
CQ
Weekly - Congressional
Quarterly Weekly - your opportunity to find out
what's going on in Congress!
-
Military and Government Collection* - current
news of all branches of the military.
-
PsycINFO*
- the gold standard
database for psychology and related fields, also
from EBSCO.
-
Social Sciences Abstracts* -
articles and citations for interdisciplinary
fields such as addiction studies, anthropology,
corrections, economics, gender studies, gerontology,
minority studies, political sciences, psychology,
sociology, and more, from EBSCO.
*These EBSCO databases
can be searched simultaneously.
Click here to see how!
What does that cute little find it button do anyway?
It's a bit like
magic, really. The Find It button does three things:
-
Looks in all of
our databases to see if the document you want is
available full-text in another of our databases. If
so, it links you to it!
-
Links you to the
library catalog when we have the item you want in
print or microform.
-
Links you to
ILLiad (interlibrary loan) so you can borrow the
item from another library if we don't have access
electronically or in print.
The Find It button is
YOUR FRIEND!!! See the Find It Button in action
here!
Citing Your Work
Plagiarism is not cool. Of
course you want to make sure you give proper credit to
any source that you use to write your papers, whether
you directly quote or paraphrase.
This guide helps
students understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid
it.
Citation Help:
