ENG 110 / HIS 113 Mortola Library

 Understand the nature and potential uses of a variety of secondary sources.  Locate books pertaining to your research topic using the Pace Library Catalog.  Find articles on your topic using library databases.  Cite resources correctly using MLA documentation style. Mortola Library

 Can you phrase your research topic as a question or thesis statement?  What are the key concepts in your research question or thesis statement?  What kinds of information will you need to answer the question you are asking, or support the thesis you are proposing? Mortola Library

 Can provide you with basic information about an individual or time in history.  Can help you focus your research topic.  Can lead you to other useful books and articles. Mortola Library

 Search the Pace Library Catalog…  …by keyword for “[subject area] and encyclopedia” (Civil war and Encyclopedia)  …by keyword for “[subject area]” with location limited to “Mortola Reference”  If you are unsure of the subject area that your topic falls under, try a general source like Encyclopedia Britannica. Mortola Library

 Most electronic search tools (library catalogs and databases, Web search engines) allow you to combine concepts using the Boolean operators AND and OR.  Use AND to combine concepts.  Use OR to search for a single concept using synonyms or related terms. Mortola Library

 Use the library catalog to find out what we have and where to find it.  To find materials on a given topic, perform a keyword search.  To find books about a person, perform a subject search for “last name, first name.”  i.e., King, Martin Luther Jr. Mortola Library

 Keyword searches target entire records in the library catalog. They look for words in the titles, descriptions, and subject headings of books and other materials.  Subject searches target only the Library of Congress subject headings that have been assigned to materials. Search terms must match subject headings exactly. Keyword: Vietnam War Subject: Vietnamese Conflict Mortola Library

 Databases provide access to articles (citations, abstracts and/or full text) published in periodicals.  Databases are subscription products available on campus or from home.  Recommendations:  Academic Search Premier  Research Library Mortola Library

 When you use the ideas of others to help create an argument of your own, you always need to give credit for those ideas.  Failure to do so is plagiarism of another person’s ideas. Mortola Library

 MLA (Modern Language Association) style is generally used in the humanities.  See the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (at the Reference Desk) for more information, or visit the guide to Citing Resources on the Library web site. Mortola Library

Article from a Library Database: Author, “Article Title.” Publication Title Volume#.Issue# (Year of Publication): page#- page#. Database Name. Database Vendor. Subscriber. Access Date. Mortola Library

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