HIS 265Locating Information SourcesShannon Kealey

Instructional Services Librarian

OUR GOALS FOR TODAY:

Use your thesis statement to form a research strategy

Find books using the Library CatalogFind articles in Library Databases

Understand the kinds of advanced features that databases offerNarrow by SubjectCitation generators

Send yourself at least 3 articles today!Know where to find information on

MLA citation style

FROM THESIS TO SEARCH STRATEGY

Did suburbanization change the character of America's cities?

We are looking for a relationship between two basic ideas: suburbanization and (American) cities

Search Tip: Boolean Logic Most electronic search tools allow you to combine

concepts using the Boolean operators AND and OR Use AND to combine concepts for fewer results

cities AND suburbanization

Use OR to search for a single concept using synonymous or related terms. Good for alternate spellings. (cities or city)

Combine AND and OR phrases to construct a complicated search string (cities OR city) AND suburbanization

suburbanizationCities AND

cityCities OR

ONLYTHE

OVERLAP

ANY/ALL

OR citiescities

AND

suburbanization

OVERLAP

SEARCH TIPS: Asterisk, Quotes, and Parentheses

Econom* Searches for any alternate endings:Economy, economics, economic, economies, etc.

“Clinton administration” Searches for the phrase—two or more words

together in that order (city OR cities) AND suburbanization

HINT: what do parentheses tell you to do in algebra? n (x + y)

Runs two searches in one: city AND suburbanization OR cities AND

suburbanization—gives more results, but still targeted on the topic!

Three Steps for Finding a Book

1. Pace Catalog—shared catalog with all Pace campuses

Request items from other Pace campuses with Portal Login—2 to 3 business days

2. Connect NY—consortium of academic libraries across New York State

Request items not at Pace with library barcode—3 to 4 business days

3. Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad)—register for an account with your library barcode

Can take 5+ business days

Sample Catalog Searches

To find materials on a given topic, start with a Keyword search Sample thesis: Did the Civil Rights movement have a deeper

effect in urban areas than in suburban or rural areas? “Civil rights” AND (urban or cities) AND (rural or suburban)

When you find a result you like, look at the bottom of the Library Record. To find related items, click on a relevant Subject Heading Suburban African Americans -- Social conditions -- 20th

century.

Not many books in the Pace collection that are tagged with your subject? Try ConnectNY!

Now try your topic

Using Pace Library Databases (Articles)

Databases provide access to articles (sometimes the full text) published in periodicals

Use a database that is appropriate to the subject area you are researching General Databases: Academic Search Premier,

JSTOR, OmniFile Subject Databases: America: History and Life,

ABI/Inform (business/economics) Databases are subscription products available on

campus or from home with your Pace Portal username/password

If full-text is not immediately available, click the icon to check for full text—if not,

request via ILLiad (takes 1-3 business days)

SAMPLE DATABASE SEARCHES

America: History and LifeQuestion: Did suburbanization have an effect on New York City,

1960s-1970s?

Search: suburbanization AND (“new york city” or manhattan or queens or brooklyn or bronx or “staten island”)

limit to historical period

Academic Search Premier:

Question: Did the Clinton Administration have a positive policy-making effect for those in inner-cities?

”clinton administration" AND (policy or policies) AND (“inner-city” or “inner-cities” or urban)

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MLA Citation Style

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is generally used in the humanities. Other styles include APA (American Psychological

Association) and Chicago. See the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research

Papers (on reserve at the Birnbaum Library Circulation Desk)

From Library Homepage, under “Library Services,” click: How do I…?, then Cite Resources, then Bedford Handbook In-text citations Works cited Sample papers

QUESTIONS?

Ask-A-Librarian on the Library Homepage (library.pace.edu)

OR

Contact me directly:Shannon Kealey

Instructional Services Librarianskealey@pace.edu

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