Research & Computing Help
Research Help |
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- What? Librarians
will help with research questions related to choosing a research
topic or question, finding background information, choosing and
searching within Library catalogs and subscription resources,
finding books and articles at Macalester, requesting materials
from other libraries, finding statistics, evaluating research
resources, etc.
- When? Monday-Thursday
8am-9pm, Friday 8am-4:30pm, Saturday 1pm-5pm, Sunday 1pm-9pm.
Librarians can also help through email, consultation sessions,
and chat. See More Help in this section for additional information
about these types of help.
- Where? The Reference
Desk is located just inside the main doors of the
Library and to your right.
- More Help
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Leslie Mollner
Reference & Instruction Librarian
mollner@macalester.edu
(651) 696-6502 |
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Rogan, Pete
Acad. Info. Assoc. - Social Sciences
rogan@macalester.edu
(651) 696-6180
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Computing Help |
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- What? CIT (Computing
and Information Technology) staff members and student employees
will help you with questions related to computer hardware and
software, the network, email, printing, passwords and online accounts,
etc.
- When? Monday-Thursday
8am-10pm, Friday 8am-4pm, Sunday 4pm-10pm.
- Where? The Computing
Help Desk office is located in the Humanities Building,
Room 310.
- More Help
- Find more information and help on the Computing
Help Desk Web page.
- Call the CIT (Computing & Information Technology)
Computing Help Desk at x6525 [Off Campus (651) 696-6525]
to speak directly to a consultant or leave a message.
- Email
the Computing Help Desk to report a problem or
ask a question.
- Use
CIT Documentation, instructional handouts explaining
systems and software, for help with computer, application,
program, and network questions.
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Reference Resources
- What? Reference
materials include resources like dictionaries, encyclopedias,
atlases, almanacs, handbooks, statistical materials, etc.
- When? Use resources
in the Reference Collection to find background information on
your topic area when you start your research projects.
- Where? Reference
Collection Library Map. Use the CLICnet
Catalog to search for resources in the Reference
Collection. Print books are shelved under Library of Congress
Call Numbers, including both letters and numbers, based on their
subject matter.
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Selected Reference Resources for this Course |
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Countries and their cultures
Location: MAC Ref GN307 .C68 2001
Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember, editors. New York : Macmillan
Reference USA, 2001.
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Encyclopedia of China : the essential reference to China, its
history and culture
Location: MAC Ref DS705 .P47 1999
Dorothy Perkins. New York : Facts on File, c1999.
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Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol empire
Location: MAC Ref DS798.4 .A88 2004
Christopher P. Atwood. New York : Facts On File, c2004.
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Encyclopedia of world cultures
Location: MAC Ref GN307 .E53 1991
David Levinson, editor in chief. Boston, Mass. : G.K. Hall,
1991-1996. (vol. 9: Africa)
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Europa world year book
Location: MAC Ref JN1 .E85
London, England : Europa Publications Limited, c1989-
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)
Resource Type: Electronic Reference Resource (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Oxford University Press
Description: Resource of reference materials
including about 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject
reference works published by Oxford University Press. Provides
database-wide searching, subject searching across sources, and
individual title searching.
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Political handbook of the world
Location: MAC Ref JF37 .P6
New York : Published for the Center for Comparative Political
Research of the State University of New York at Binghamton and
for the Council on Foreign Relations by McGraw-Hill Book Co.,
1975-
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Worldmark encyclopedia of cultures and daily life
Location: MAC Ref GN333 .W67
1997
Timothy L. Gall, Editor. Detroit : Gale, c1998.
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Worldmark encyclopedia of national economies
Location: MAC Ref HC15 .W675 2002
Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, editors. Detroit : Gale Group/Thomson
Learning, c2002.
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Worldmark encyclopedia of the nations
Location: MAC Ref G63 .W67 2001
[Gale Group staff--Shelly Dickey, project editor ...
Rita Runchock, managing editor]. Detroit : Gale Group, c2001.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)
Resource Type: Electronic Reference Resource (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Xrefer
Description: Resource of reference materials
providing access to about 150 online reference books including
encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and books of quotations
from a variety of publishers. Covers both general reference and
subject-specific reference titles for a variety of disciplines.
Allows cross-referencing across different books and provides a
unique, graphics-based Research Mapper for topic exploration.
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Finding Books & More: Catalogs
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Finding Articles & More : Indexes & Electronic
Collections
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Selected Indexes & Electronic Collections
for this Course |
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor Information: EBSCOhost, EBSCO
Publishing
Description: Provides full text for nearly 4,600
scholarly publications, including full text for more than 3,500
peer-reviewed journals. Coverage spans virtually every area of
academic study and offers information dating as far back as 1975.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Anthropology, Humanities
& Cultural Studies
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Tozzer Library, Harvard University,
RLG, Eureka
Description: Comprehensive index for the fields
of anthropology, archaeology, and related interdisciplinary research.
Includes articles, essays in books, reports, commentaries, and
obituaries.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities)
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Thomson ISI, Web of Knowledge
Description: Multidisciplinary database covering
the journal literature of the arts and humanities. It indexes
1,144 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, as
well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over
6,800 major science and social science journals. A feature of
this index is the inclusion of all cited references.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Asian Studies, History,
International Studies, Humanities & Cultural Studies
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor Information: Association for
Asian Studies
Description: Indexes Western language literature
including books, chapters from books, periodical articles and
pamphlets on Asian studies.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: International Studies,
Political Science
Resource Type: Ejournal & Etext Collection (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Columbia University Press
Description: Indexes articles, books, conference
proceedings and working papers in the field of public policy and
international affairs.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Education
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: U.S. Department of Education, Cambridge
Scientific Abstracts (CSA)
Description: Index to journal articles, educational
research reports, curricula, dissertations, conference papers,
etc. in the field of education.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: History, International
Studies, Humanities & Cultural Studies
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: ABC-CLIO
Description: Index to journal articles in the
area of world history. Covers topics from 1450-present and currently
includes over 2,000 journals published throughout the world. The
U.S. and Canada are excluded from coverage, but are included in
the America History and Life database.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)
Resource Type: Ejournal Collection (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: JSTOR
Description: Large collection of core scholarly
journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Fulltext back to their date of first publication to within the
current 2-5 years.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: LexisNexis
Description: Fulltext articles from newspapers,
trade magazines, legal resources, medical resources, and several
reference sources.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: OCLC Public Affairs Information Service,
Inc., OCLC FirstSearch
Description: Index to journals, books, government
and international publications covering global public policy and
social issues.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Arts
& Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)
Resource Type: Ejournal Collection (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Johns Hopkins University Press, Project
MUSE
Description: Searchable collection of fulltext
journals in the humanities, social sciences and sciences.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: Multidisciplinary (Social
Sciences)
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Thomson ISI, Web of Knowledge
Description: Multidisciplinary database with
searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of
the social sciences. It indexes more than 1,725 journals spanning
50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant
items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical
journals. A feature of this index is the inclusion of all cited
references.
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Discipline/Topic Areas: International Studies,
Political Science
Resource Type: Electronic Index (Subscription)
Publisher/Vendor: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA)
Description: Covers over 1000 journals that cover
political science related fields including law, public administration/policy,
and international relations.
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Web Research
- What? The Internet
is used to access information stored in files or documents on
another computer. When you use the Internet, you retrieve documents,
view images, programs, animation, and video, listen to sound files,
speak and hear voice, via the World Wide Web. (From the UC
Berkeley Library Web site)
- When? Use the
Web to start your research. Like Reference Collection resources,
Websites can help with finding background information for your
research project.
- Where? Use a Web
browser like Mozilla, Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape, Avant,
or Opera to access information via the Internet. No single search
engine can claim to even come close to searching the entire Web.
For best results, use multiple search engines.
- Google
- A great search engine to start with when surfing and searching
on the Web.
- Search
Engine Watch - Access additional search engines.
Also find information and reviews about these search engines.
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Selected Web Resources for this Course |
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Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Government
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Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, U.S. Government
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United Nations
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Evaluating Research Materials
| Evaluating research materials involves analyzing a resource
to determine its usefulness and appropriateness with respect to
your research project. Evaluation is important during all phases
of a research project. You must select the best and most appropriate
resources for your research.
Criteria to Consider
When Evaluating Research Materials:
- Accuracy
- Author(s) or Creating Body
- Authority
- Bias or Point of View
- Coverage
- Criticism or Reviews
- Currency or Date of Publication
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- Edition or Revision
- Intended Audience
- Level of Scholarship
- Organization, Structure, and Design
- Purpose or Function
- Scope
- Type of Material
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Borrowing Materials & Interlibrary Loan
- What? Interlibary
Loan, or ILL, is a DeWitt Wallace Library service that allows
current Macalester students, staff, and faculty to request materials
not available at Macalester.
- When? If Macalester
does not own, or subscribe to, the research material you need,
you can ask the Library to try and borrow the item from another
Library in the area.
- Where? The Library
uses a system called ILLiad that allows you to place requests
for materials and track the status of these requested materials.
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Citing Your Resources
- What? Giving credit
to the ideas of other scholars when you use their work or research
in developing your own project.
- When? You must
cite a resource whenever you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or
otherwise refer to the work of another.
- Where? Citing
a source usually includes parenthetical documentation or use of
a footnote within the text of your project as well as creating
a works cited reference list at the end of your project using
a specific citation style. See the Library's Citing
Resources Guide Web page for more information.
- RefWorks
- Service that allows you to download, organize, annotate,
and search citations you find during your research as well
as create in-text citations and works cited bibliographies
for your papers.
Common Citation Style Manuals
Chicago Manual of Style
Chicago : The Press, 1982-
MAC Ref Z253 .U69 2003
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
Joseph Gibaldi. New York : Modern Language Association of America,
2003.
MAC Ref LB2369 .G53 2003
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, c2001.
MAC Ref BF76.7 .P83 2001
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