Spring 2010 - Prof. Miller

Questions? Contact Sara Swanson (704-894-2157).

• Office Hours:
  • Wednesday, 3:00-5:00 pm
  • Thursday, 12:30-3:00 pm
• Also available by appointment.

Finding Reference Information

General Reference Resources | Government Information | Biographical Information | Statistical Information | General Works on Science & Technology | Other Resources

• General Reference Resources
  
  
  • AccessScience
    Contains the full text of the most recent edition of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, research updates from the McGraw-Hill Yearbooks of Science & Technology, and the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms as well as biographies of scientists and science and technology news.
    
    
  • Credo Reference
    An online collection of over 390 reference books covering all subject areas; contains dictionaries (including foreign language dictionaries), encyclopedias, atlases, and subject-specfic works. Useful for quick reference and basic information.
    
    
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library
    Contains the full text of over two hundred reference books - including many encyclopedias - covering a wide variety of disciplines and subjects. Articles can be downloaded in pdf format. The Davidson College Library has some of these books in paper format as well.
    
    
• Government Information
  
  
  • CQ Electronic Library
    Provides background information, current and historical coverage, and statistical data related to U.S. government, legislative history, politics, public policy, and current affairs.
    
    
  • LexisNexis Congressional
    Indexes congressional documents (1789 to present) and provides the full text of many recent congressional publications.
    
    
  • LexisNexis Statistical
    Provides indexing and some full text for the statistical publications of the U.S. Government.
    
    
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States
    (Volumes for the years 1995 to present) Provides the full text of this important title, which includes economic and social statistics on the United States. The Statistical Abstracts of the United States is particularly useful as a guide to statistical data generated and published by U.S. Government agencies and non-governmental organizations. Use the index to locate relevant data in each volume.
    
    
  • Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet
    From the Library of Congress. Provides the full text of major legislation, including bills (1989/90 to present), public laws (1973 to present), the Annals of Congress, Congressional Record and Congressional Record Index (1989/90 to present), roll call votes, and Congressional Committee reports (1995/96 to present). Also provides bill summary and status information from 1973 to the present and the full text of important historical documents.
    
    
  • USA.gov
    Homepage for the U.S. government's official web portal. Browse by topic or search by keyword to find information from many government agencies.
    
    
    
• Biographical Information
  
  
  • American National Biography
    Contains biographical information about more than 17,400 prominent American men and women from all periods of history. Excludes individuals who are still living. Also provides useful bibliographies as well as cross references and links to relevant Web sites.
    
    
  • Biography Reference Bank
    Indexes biographies of over 500,000 people from all time periods and countries; over 175,000 of the biographies are full text. Includes the full text of biographies from major reference works, such as The Grove Dictionary of Art, Current Biography, and The Dictionary of American Religious Biography, among others. Also includes Biography Index (1946-1983).
    
    
  • Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography
    Contains both the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie (18 vols.; New York: Scribner, 1870-1990) and the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Noretta Koertge (8 vols.; Detroit: Scribner's, 2007).
    
    
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2004.
    Reference R 920 N2111
    
    
• Statistical Information
  
  
  • Background Notes
    (Current edition) Provides concise political, demographic, economic, and social information about more than 170 countries, geographic entities, and international organizations. From the U.S. Department of State.
    
    
  • CIA World Factbook
    (Current edition) Provides concise information, including geographic, demographic, and economic data, for over 250 countries. Prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
    Some earlier editions are also archived online from the US GPO.
    
    
• General Works on Science & Technology
  
  
  • The Cambridge World History of Human Disease. Ed. Kenneth F. Kiple. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993.
    Reference R 610.9 C178
    
    
  • Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine. Ed. W.F. Bynum and Roy Porter. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 1993.
    Reference R 610.9 C737
    
    
  • Conn's Current Therapy. Ed. Robert E. Rakel and Edward T. Bope. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2004.
    Reference R 615.5 C752
    
    
  • The Cutting Edge: An Encyclopedia of Advanced Technologies. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2000.
    Reference R 603 C991
    
    
  • Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. Mary Kupiec Cayton et al. 3 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1993.
    Reference R 301.097 E56
    
    
  • Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Ed. Ruth Chadwick. 4 vols. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1998.
    Reference R 170.3 E561
    
    
  • Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues. Ed. Craig W. Allin. 3 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2000.
    Reference R 363.7 E56
    
    
  • Encyclopedia of Ethics. Ed. Lawrence C. Becker and Charlotte B. Becker. 2nd ed. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2001.
    Reference R 170.3 E56 2001
    
    
  • Encyclopedia of Global Change: Environmental Change and Human Society. 2 vols. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002.
    Reference R 363.7 E561
    
    
  • Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change. Ed. Ted Munn. 5 vols. New York: Wiley, 2002.
    Reference R 363.7 E563
    
    
  • Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 4 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1996.
    Reference R 973.03 E562
    
    
  • Environmental Encyclopedia. Ed. Marci Bortman et al. 3rd ed. 2 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2003.
    Reference R 363.7 E564
    
    
  • International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics. Ed. John Barry and E. Gene Frankland. New York: Routledge, 2002.
    Reference R 363.7 I61
    
    
  • The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science. Ed. J.L. Heilbron. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2003.
    Reference R 509 O98
    
    
  • Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia. Ed. Glenn D. Considine. 2 vols. New York: Wiley, 2002.
    Reference R 503 V269
    
    
• Other Resources
  
  
  • AP Images
    (1826 to present [photographs]; 1920 to present [audio clips]; 1990 to present [charts and maps]; 1997 to present [text]) A collection of over 2 million photographs, 1 million audio clips, 48,000 diagrams, charts, maps, and timelines, and 2.8 million news briefs from the Associated Press (AP). Updated daily.
    Note: Only one person can search this database at any one time; if you are unable to login because this limit has been reached, please wait a few minutes and try again.
    Photographs and graphics from the Archive cannot be sold, syndicated, loaned or used for advertising or for trade without the written consent of AP. In addition, users cannot republish any of the photographs on a Web page.
    
    
  • Historical Newspapers: New York Times
    (1851 - 2005) Provides the full text of the New York Times; page images can be viewed and downloaded as pdf files.
    
    
  • LexisNexis Academic
    (c. 1980 to present) Provides the full text of articles from local, national, and international newspapers, magazines, and trade journals as well as newswires, business information, patents, legal documents, and transcripts of radio and television broadcasts.
    
    
  • Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
    (c. 1935 to present) A collection of U.S. public opinion data. Includes:
    • iPOLL, a database of 500,000 questions and answers from surveys conducted by over 150 commercial and media survey organizations, including the Gallup Organization, Harris Interactive, Pew Research Associates, and more.
    • RoperExpress, a collection of data sets for bivariate and multivariate analyses
      
      
  • Westlaw Campus Research
    Contains full text news and legal materials. The "News & Information" section contains articles from magazines, national and international newspapers, and business, professional, and trade journals as well as newswires, newsletters, and transcripts of television broadcasts.

Finding Books

Use library catalogs to find books, videos, government documents, journals, magazines, and newspapers.  The Davidson College Library Catalog contains information about materials owned by Davidson.  WorldCat lists materials held in libraries around the world.  If Davidson does not have a copy of what you need, use Interlibrary Loan to request it.

To find reference books (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks) on a topic, do a keyword search and, in the "Limit by Material Type" dropdown menu, choose "Reference Resources."

You may also wish to do a subject search to find books on a particular topic. To locate appropriate subject headings, do a keyword search and then browse records. Helpful subject headings include:

• Automobiles - Safety appliances
• Automobiles - Safety appliances - United States
• Automobiles - Safety measures
• Automobiles - Seat belts
• Smallpox
• Smallpox - Vaccination - History
• Smallpox - Prevention - History

To see electronic books held by Davidson, see ebrary, a collection of over 38,000 e-books published by over 220 academic, trade, and professional publishers. It covers all subject areas and includes tools that allow you to create your own virtual bookshelf, bookmark pages, and add and save notes and highlights.

Finding Articles

• Starting Points
  
  
  • Academic Search Premier
    (1975 to present) Indexes popular and scholarly articles in a broad range of subject areas; also includes citations to book reviews and citations to articles in several national newspapers.
    
    
  • LexisNexis Academic
    (Approx. 1980 to present) Includes the full text of articles from local, national, and international newspapers, magazines, and trade journals as well as articles from law reviews and federal and state cases.
    
    
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega
    (1982 to present) Indexes articles from over 3,000 scholarly and popular periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; also includes the full text of selected articles from over 1,650 of these periodicals.
    
    
  • Westlaw Campus Research
    Includes the full text of news articles and federal and state court cases.
    Note: you will need to accept the terms of the Westlaw "Agreement" before you can search Westlaw Campus Research.
    
    
• Subject-Specific Databases
  Be sure to consult the indexes & databases pages too!
  
  
  • Applied Science & Technology Abstracts
    (1984 to present) Indexes articles in over 600 periodicals in a wide variety of applied science and technology fields.
    
    
  • General Science Abstracts
    (1984 to present) Indexes articles in over 250 English-language periodicals in a variety of science disciplines, including physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental science, mathematics, and medicine.
    
    
  • Historical Abstracts & America: History & Life
    (Time period covered: 1450 to present [world history]; prehistory to present [U.S. and Canadian history]. Publication coverage: 1954 to present). Indexes journal articles, book chapters, doctoral dissertations, and book reviews. (Each database can also be searched separately.)
    
    
  • Humanities Abstracts
    (1907 to present). Indexes articles in over 500 English-language journals in the fields of archaeology, art, classics, communication, film, folklore, history, languages and literatures, music, philosophy, religion, and theatre. Also includes citations for book, theatre, and film reviews as well as interviews, obituaries, and some original creative works. Includes the full text of selected articles from 1995 to the present.
    
    
  • JSTOR
    Includes pdf copies of scholarly articles from a core collection of journals; also includes book reviews. Note:JSTOR does not contain articles from the most recent 3-5 years.
    
    
  • Periodicals Index Online
    (c. 1665-1995) Indexes journal and magazine articles as well as book reviews in a broad array of humanities, social sciences, and science subjects.
    
    
  • Project Muse
    Contains full-text articles from journals published by university and scholarly presses.
    
    
  • Social Sciences Abstracts
    (1907 to present) Indexes journal articles and some book reviews on all social sciences subjects, including history, political science, international relations, law, economics, area studies, gender studies, anthropology, psychology, and sociology.
    
    
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
    (1975 to present) Indexes articles on a broad array of political science and international relations topics; international in scope.
    

Resources for Writers

To find handbooks, guides, and other resources for nonfiction writers, try doing a subject search in the Library Catalog. Useful subject headings include:

• Authors - Directories
• Authorship
• Authorship - Marketing
• Feature writing
• Feature writing - Handbooks, manuals, etc.
• Journalism - Authorship
• Nonfiction novel
• Publishers and publishing - Directories
• Reportage literature
• Writing and publishing

Some useful guides are listed below:

• Guide to Literary Agents. Ed. Joanna Masterson. 16th ed. Cincinnati: F&W, 2007.
  Reference 808.02 G946 2007
  
  
• International Literary Market Place: ILMP 2010. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2009.
  Reference Desk REF Z291.5 .I5 2010
  
  
• Literary Market Place: LMP 2010. Pub. Thomas H. Hogan. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2009.
  Reference Desk REF PN161 .L5 2010
  
  
• The Writers Directory 2009. Ed. Lisa Kumar. 24th ed. Detroit: St. James, 2008.
  
  
• Writer's Market 2010. Ed. Robert Lee Brewer. Cincinnati: F&W, 2009.
  Reference Desk REF PN161 .W83 2010