




Provides online access to over 500 reference books (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc.) in all subject areas. This is the premier place to look up a quick fact or to search for background information on a research topic.

Image source: NCSU Libraries
From Idea to Library
Video tutorial on how scholarly articles are written, published, and made accessible to researchers and students. From the NCSU Libraries.
Teach Yourself: Understanding Scholarly Sources
Compare and contrast the following articles. What makes one popular and the other scholarly?
- Reynolds, A., Sneva, J., & Beehler, G. (2010). The Influence of Racism-Related Stress on the Academic Motivation of Black and Latino/a Students. Journal Of College Student Development, (2), 135-149.
- Stephen, C. (2007). The Stress of Being Black. Crisis, 114(1), 10.
- Identify the main concepts of your topic
- Think of synonyms to describe each concept, where appropriate
- Combine synonyms with OR and enclose in parentheses
- Combine the different concepts with AND
- Use truncation (*) to find multiple endings of words
Sample searches:
"racial profiling" AND activis* AND "african american*
"racial profiling" AND (activis* OR resistance OR change) AND ("african american* OR black*)
"driving while black" AND (activis* OR resistance OR change)
"race discrimination" AND "law enforcement" AND ("african american* OR black*)
Begin by trying one to two search terms and revising your search based on your results.





Full-text articles in biology, chemistry, education, engineering, humanities, physics, psychology, religion and theology, sociology, etc. Tip: Click the check box to limit to Academic (Peer Reviewed) Journals.
Ethnic NewsWatch




Articles from over 200 newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Provides in-depth coverage of a wide range of current and historical topics. Limit the Source Type to "Scholarly Journals" for peer-reviewed articles.
Communication & Mass Media Complete




The main database for Communication Studies and Mass Communications. Searches over 600 journal titles that support research in communication, mass media, linguistics, language learning and related fields of study.
Business Source Complete





Premium full-text content and peer-reviewed business journals covering all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance and more.
PsycINFO



PsycINFO is the premier source for finding scholarly articles and other information relating to all aspects of psychology and related fields.
Limit to new materials on race (available on the Multicultural Resource Center shelves)
- Academic libraries contain materials that support the curriculum, or what is taught and studied at the college or university.
- Most academic libraries use the Library of Congress (LC) Call Number System to organize their physical items.
- When you search for books, videos, or other materials in the library catalog (MnPALS), you find information about each item. This information is displayed in what's called a "record." For instance, a record for a book looks like this:

To find the book, you must look for it in the library using its Call Number and its location. In our example, we can see that the item is Available and is in the Main Collection - Basement. The call number, LC67.62 .M58 2010, translates to...
- Subclass LC -- “Special aspects of education” -- Shelved in alphabetical order
- 67.62 -- “Social aspects of education. Economic aspects of education.” -- Shelved numerically as a whole number, sometimes with a decimal
- .M58 -- (a.k.a. the Cutter line) author’s last name, “Mullen” -- Shelved alphabetically by the letter, then numerically as a decimal
- 2010 -- the year the book was published -- Shelved in chronological order

Student Study Rooms
Reserve student study rooms for group work, available on the second and third floors of the Library.
Equipment Check Out
VIsit the Circulation Desk to borrow digital cameras, camcorders, projectors, and other equipment.
Write Place
Make an appointment with a writing tutor.
Multicultural Resource Center (MRC)
An academic center that supports those who are learning, researching, or teaching about the experiences of people of color in the United States. Books in the MRC collection are on Miller Center 1st floor, near MC 137.

Library Basement
HM = Sociology (General)
HN = Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform.
HT = Communities. Classes. Races.
First Floor
Choose a citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, etc) and follow the guidelines for formatting your paper and references.
APA Formatting and Style Guide (2010 update) (OWL at Purdue) Provides examples of formatting papers, in-text citations, footnotes and endnotes, and reference lists in APA style. Updated according to the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
MLA Formatting and Style Guide (OWL at Purdue)
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities, including English. This resource offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Jennifer Quinlan
Associate Professor, Student Success Librarian
MC 140G
(320) 308-5626
jmquinlan@stcloudstate.edu