ENGL 1309: Stretch Analytical Writing II (Wagener)

Research Guides (By Subject or Course Number)
Guides for doing research in a particular subject area (Art, Education, Social Work, etc.) or for a specific course.

Points of View Reference Center
Presents multiple sides on current controversial topics. Each topic may include topical essays, supporting articles, primary source documents, images, and videos.

Credo Reference
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.

SAGE Reference Online
Provides access to 90 full-text specialized encyclopedias that offer excellent background information on a topic.

Before searching the library databases, spend a few minutes brainstorming keywords and considering synonyms that describe the individual concepts within your topic. Developing a search strategy in this way can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your search results.

Academic Search Premier (all topics) from EBSCO
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.

LibSearch
Search the library's physical collection (books, movies, music, government publications, etc.) along with online journals and e-books to which the Library subscribes -- all in a single search.

Books and More Search (MnPALS Plus)
Search for books in the Library collection. Find the Call Number to locate the book in the Library.
 

Tips for Finding Books

• 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.

Husky Fetch
Place a hold on the books you want using the Library’s Books and More catalog, and Husky Fetch will fetch them for you.

Write Place
Make an appointment with a writing tutor.

Direct link: https://youtu.be/jaZUAHxSb9k

Scholarly vs. Popular Materials Guide (NCSU)
Guide to distinguishing between scholarly journals, popular magazines, and trade journals/magazines.

Popular vs. Scholarly Articles: A Guide and Tutorial
A guide, tutorial, and quiz that helps you determine if an article is scholarly or popular (University of Arizona).

Building Maps

• First Floor (Reference Books, Research Help Desk, Circulation Desk, Write Place)
• Second Floor (Books with A-D call numbers, computer lab)
• Third Floor (Books with M-N call numbers, children's books)
• Basement (Books with E-H, L, and P-Z call numbers)

Citation Styles Old
Choose a citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, etc) and follow the guidelines for formatting your paper and references.

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.

Shelly Wagener
mmwagener@stcloudstate.edu