REFERENCE MATERIALS:

    Encyclopedia of the Renaissance         REF  CB 361 .E52 1999
    Medieval England : an Encyclopedia    REF DA 129 .M43 1998
   Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium             REF DF 521 .O93 1991
 

Library Catalogs

Use to find books, journals (not articles), videos etc... owned by different libraries

Library Catalog -- Our library's collection of books, videos, periodicals, etc...!

MOBIUS -- A consortium of 60 academic libraries in Missouri

WorldCat -- Libraries around the country. Available through FirstSearch.

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Interlibrary Loan

    There are three ways to request needed items through interlibrary loan:
            (1) Obtain forms at the Reference Desk or Interlibrary Loan Office
            (2) Use the form on the Library's Web site
            (3) Order directly through the databases on FirstSearch

   Cost:  Books=No charge    Articles=10 cents per page

   Things to remember:    Allow plenty of time--Don't wait until the last minute.  Make sure there are several libraries that own the item.

MAGAZINE AND JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Academic Search Elite (EBSCO).  1985+.  A multi-disciplinary database that indexes over 3000 periodicals, many scholarly journals and some popular magazines.  Includes full text of about 2000 of the periodicals.  You can limit your search to find only scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.

 ABC-CLIO History Databases

  America: History & Life.    
1964+    Historical coverage of the United States and Canada from  prehistory to the present.

Historical Abstracts.   
1954+  Historical coverage of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada)

Social Sciences Abstracts.  
1983+     Basic index which covers about 300 journals in sociology, political science, history, economics, etc.

Humanities Abstracts. 
1983+  Basic index which covers about 300 journals in art, music,
  history, religion, area studies, etc.
  1907-96   Print:  Ref AI 3 S6

JSTOR 
Years vary by journal title, but do not cover the most recent issues.
A collection of approximately 100 full text scholarly journals from most subject disciplines. These are primarily older periodicals.

Others available depending on your topic. Check the library's Subject List of databases and indexes.
 

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RELIABILITY OF WEB SOURCES

• Be Careful! Remember almost anyone can publish anything on the Web
• Web pages are unstable and easily altered
• Blur between information and advertising

When evaluating Web sites....

1. Know the Criteria:
 

Authority	Can you determine the author or sponsor of the Web site? What are the author/sponsors' qualifications?
Accuracy	How reliable is the information?  Almost anyone can publish on the Web  Many Web resources not verified by editors and/or fact checkers Web standards to ensure accuracy not fully developed
Currency	Is the content of the work up-to-date? What does the date on the web page mean, 1st created, last revised?
Coverage	What topics are included in the work? To what depth are topics explored? Often hard to determine extent of coverage on web sites.
Objectivity	Is the information presented with a minimum of bias? Are the goals/aim of the web site clearly stated?

More Information: Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask : by UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops

2. Use the Domain:

  The domain designates what type of agency is running the server.  For example:

.gov    is  federal government

.edu    is educational

.org     is organizational (not for profit)

.com   is commercial

.mil    is military

In the path, there may be a ~ (tilde) followed by a personal name to designate a person who is responsible for the Web site.

Use google's Advanced Search feature to limit by domain.

Let's look at a couple of sites.....

Saladin and the Crusades

Arab Period of the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids

Arab Spice Trade and the Spread of Islam

See who links to a site --in google search:

link:http://www.american.edu/TED/SPICE.HTM

3. Use Subject Directories

Some subject directories evaluate Web sites before including them in their database. Be sure to use those with higher selection standards. (Click for list)

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Citing Information from Web Sites

  As with any other source to which you need to give credit, Web sites also require proper citation.  Remember that the purpose of citing your sources is to:

1. direct your readers to the specific information you have used.
2. give the proper intellectual credit to the author of the information provided.

Use the FIND IT list on the Library home page, choose Reference Sources, then Citing Sources.

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