General Education 111J:
What You Want: Consumption, Ideology, Desire

A Guide to Library Resources

Library Instructor: Ben Bruton

Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Best customers : demographics of consumer demand [R.R. HC79.C6 R87 2005 ]
Statistical handbook on consumption and wealth in the United States [R.R. HC110.C6 S73 1999 ]
Consumer culture : a reference handbook [R.R. HC79.C6 G665 2004 ]
The Advertising age encyclopedia of advertising [R.R. HF5803 .A38 2003 ]
Major marketing campaigns annual [R.R. HF5837 .M35 ]
Encyclopedia of environmental science and engineering [R.R.TD9 .E5 2006 ]
North America : a continental overview of environmental issues [R.R.GE160.N7 H55 2003]
Fast food /slow food : the cultural economy of the global food system [R.R.HD9000.5 .F29 2006]
Encyclopedia of international media and communications [R.R. P87.5 .E535 2003]

The Bridge: The combined catalog of St. Olaf and Carleton

Bridge offers subject access to individual materials on your topic held at both St. Olaf and Carleton -- items like books, journals (as a whole, not at the article level which is discussed below), musical scores, DVDs and videos, and government documents.

A good way to start is with a Keyword search -- trying general words for your topic to see what success you have. When you find a good match, immediately look at the record for the linked Library of Congress Subject Headings. Librarians have looked at this item and linked it to others on the same topic. Search by LCSH to correct for the hit or miss nature of keyword searching. These topic labels are used by most libraries across the United States (and often abroad) to describe your subject. In print, the collection of topics is lovingly referred to as the "big red books;" they are found in the reference area of each library on campus.

For instance, these subject headings may be of interest to you:

To request a Carleton title, click on the Request button at the top of the screen.

Magazine and Scholarly Journal Articles

T here are many indexes and databases which provide subject access and sometimes full-text of the actual articles. Before you plunge in, think about the search you wish to construct -- your keywords and synonyms and the ways in which you connect those ideas.

Academic Search Premier

Specialized Indexes and Databases:
These indexes are more narrowly focused but go into greater depth and are scholarly.

Business Source Premier

Communication Abstracts

Sociological Abstracts

EconLit -- Economics

PsychINFO -- Psychology

America: History and Life -- US and Canadian history

Finding Journal Articles:

Click on the "Find It" button. It will tell you if the article is available full text. If not, check under Bridge. If it's at St. Olaf's Rolvaag Library, you'll find journals on levels 3 1/2 and 4, shelved alphabetically by title. Science library journals are on level 2 of the Science Library, alphabetical by title. Music journals are on the south end of the Music Library collection. Print journals from Carleton can be requested from Bridge with the red Request button. Electronic journals from Carleton or journals which are not owned by St. Olaf or Carleton have to be ordered through Interlibrary Loan. Usually articles come in 3-5 days but you should allow up to two weeks to receive interlibrary loan materials. Be sure that you allow enough time.

Newspaper Indexes

Note that newspaper articles are not the same as scholarly articles. You will have to evaluate even more carefully. Use either of the following:

LexisNexis Academic Go to the Guided Search, choose general or world news, and then major papers or the region, respectively. All newspapers are in English and full text.

New York Times (1851-2003)

Citation Sources

KnightCite
Online citation generator from Calvin College

Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper
Multiple examples of citations in all style formats.



Got Questions?

Consult a reference librarian at any point during your research process. We are here to answer your questions and teach you how to do research successfully!!!

Contact Ben Bruton at: bruton@stolaf.edu