Library First Year Seminar 127

Overview

This course guide lists resources that will be useful to you as you complete your research project for this class.  You can also access the library catalog, the Five Colleges library catalog, Discover, and other general searches by clicking on the "Library Quick Search" bar at the top of the course guide.

Databases: Find articles, book chapters, e-books

• PubMed (1966 to present)
  Premiere biomedical index, includes MEDLINE and links to molecular biology databases.
• Web of Science (1984 to present)
  Search thousands of journals across the sciences and social sciences and track cited references to locate more recent articles.
• PsycInfo (1887 to present)
  Covers the academic literature in psychology and related disciplines including psychiatry, sociology, education, and other areas.
• Global Newsstream (ProQuest)
  Search the most recent global news, including major US dailies, with archives that stretch back into the 1980s from over 2,700 news sources that include newspapers, newswires, television and radio transcripts, blogs, and more in full-text format.
• Academic Search Premier (date coverage varies)
  Full-text articles from over 3,600 journals in the social sciences, arts and humanities, and sciences.

Journals

Here are a few science journals that include articles written for a general audience. If you are looking for ideas about what topic to choose, you might consider searching here.

Scientific American
Nature
Science Magazine
Science News

Find Encyclopedias & Other Reference Works

• Reference Universe
  Searchable index of the library's entire reference collection, both print and electronic.

Citing Sources

Be sure to properly credit the ideas referenced in your academic work; clear citations also mean that your reader can locate the books, articles, and other sources you used. Don't leave your bibliography until the very end: collect, manage, and format information about what you find as soon as you start your research.

Zotero and bibliographic management
Zotero is a free plug-in for Firefox that helps you collect, manage, and cite your sources. It's available in all computer labs on campus, and you can download it on your own computer for free. Tutorials and documentation are also available. If you are an EndNote user, contact Kristen Greenland for help.

Guides
Writer's Handbook from the University of Wisconsin/Madison: How to cite sources; sample documents and forms; advice on grammar, etc.

Avoiding Plagiarism from the Dean of Students Office provides strategies for ensuring proper attribution of sources.

Style Manuals
MLA, Chicago, and APA formatting and style guidelines, from the OWL at Purdue
Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide online, from the full Chicago Manual of Style
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation 2012 edition
American Chemical Society's ACS Style Guide
BibTex is a format commonly used in Computer Science and Math