2. Find background information. Consult encyclopedias, dictionaries, or handbooks in the Reference collection in the main library or online through the Libraries' home page.

Examples: Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences Ref H 41 .I58 2001

Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science Ref Q127 A5 E53

AccessScience (online)

Encyclopaedia Britannica (online)

Oxford English Dictionary (online)

3. Search InfoLinks, the U of A Libraries' catalog, to find books and other materials in the campus Libraries. Start with a WORD search if in doubt. Each book or periodical will have a location and call number which identifies it. Use a "Call Number and Location Guide" to find out where the item is shelved.

4. Use databases to find article references, abstracts or the full text of articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers. These databases are listed under Electronic Resources and Databases on the Libraries' home page. Some databases, such as ProQuest Direct and EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier, are interdisciplinary; therefore, they may be appropriate for a variety of topics. Both offer some articles in electronic full-text. Subject-specific databases include Agricola (agriculture), ERIC (education), MLA (literature and folklore), and PsycINFO (psychology), among others. Most offer abstracts; some have some electronic full-text.

Agriculture/Biological Sciences: Biological Abstracts, Agricola

Business: ProQuest Direct, Academic Universe

Humanities: Literature Resource Center, MLA, America: History and Life

Social Sciences: PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, ERIC, ProQuest Direct

Medicine/Nursing: MedLine, CINAHL, Health Reference Center Academic

Engineering: Compendex, Inspec, IEEE/ IEE Electronic Library

We do not own every journal or magazine indexed by every database. Search InfoLinks to see if we own or have access to issues of a journal, for what years, and in what format(s), e.g., in print, in electronic text, in microform, or in some combination of these formats.

5. Use newspaper articles for contemporary reporting and opinion. One important online index to newspapers is Lexis Nexis Academic Universe. The newspapers indexed in Academic Universe, including the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, have full-text available for at least some of the years indexed. Search terminology and techniques may be different from other databases.

We have indexes to other newspapers, including the Times (London), and historical titles, such as the Pennsylvania Gazette. Ask at the Reference desk for further assistance.

6. Use Internet search engines and sources, if the assignment allows and if you find reliable sources, such as association, education or government sites. Consult the help screens of search engines, such as Google, Alta Vista or Alltheweb- each will have its own best ways to search.

Look at the material you find carefully. Internet publishing is under far fewer controls than either popular or academic publishing.

• Is there an identified author? Does he or she have credentials (i.e., degrees or other expertise) in the subject? Are those credentials real?

• Is the material relevant? Is it of appropriate quality?

• Is it dated? Is it current?

• Is there a stated agenda for the web site? Is there an unstated agenda?

• Is there a sponsoring body or other named support or publisher? What are their aims?

Internet sources must be cited, as traditional sources must be, to support your research and prevent plagiarism.

7. Use a style manual to cite sources correctly. Many style manuals are available at the Reference Desk (MLA, APA, Chicago, CBE and Turabian style). There are links to abbreviated style sheets for MLA , APA, CBE and other styles from the Libraries' home page; to find them, type "style" in the Resource Finder search box on the Libraries' home page.

Keep your print-outs as a source of references for footnotes and other citations.

U of A Libraries

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