LIBRARY CATALOGS FOR BOOKS, VIDEOS, ETC.
Bridge: (St. Olaf and Carleton, combined) will offer subject access to individual books and US government document materials on your topic (but not individual journal articles -- see below for that). Use a KeyWord search if you do not know the subject heading or you wish to combine more than one idea. Then use the subjectlinks to follow the official subject headings.
INDEXES & ABSTRACTS
Given the plethora of indexes, you will need to consider whether you want broad, general indexes or specialized indexes.
General (Multidisciplinary) Index to both Scholarly and Popular Sources
Other specialized indexes and databases:
CURRENTS EVENTS & NEWSPAPERS
ProQuest Newsstand Complete
A source for a variety of contemporary newspapers
New York Times Index, 1851-2005 [RR AI21 .N45 ] is an indispensable starting point for primary source accounts of an event.
RESOURCES ON THE WEB
LIBRARIANS' CATALOGS OF WEBSITES
Librarians' Index to the Internet Aimed more at public library patrons but still useful for many topics
Infomine Websites "collected" by academic librarians -- full descriptions and subject headings
Scout Report Reviews of web sites; searchable by keyword and Library of Congress Subject Headings
Web of Knowledge/Web of Science Do a subject search on your topic. On the results page, in the upper right hand corner, click on "Scientific WebPlus, View web results."
EVALUATION OF WEBSITES
Remember to critically evaluate Internet resources before using them in your research. Use the guidelines included in the " Evaluating Web Sites " section of the Library Web Sites:
- Authority: Can the author of the page be readily identified and are his/her qualifications for providing the page clearly stated?
- Accuracy: Are there any spelling errors? Is the source of factual information clearly documented?
- Objectivity: Is the information relatively unbiased? What is the viewpoint of the site? Who is the intended audience? Is the material from an academic (scholarly publisher or .edu site on the web) or proprietary source (commercial publisher or .com site) or an organization (.org)? Is it funded by a particular organization?
- Currency: When was the page written or last updated?
- Coverage: Is the topic explored in depth? Is there considerable content on the page? Are entire articles or items provided or just excerpts from larger works? Does it lead you to other sites?
CITATION GUIDES
St. Olaf Libraries Citation Guides and Style Manuals Page
