• Begin your research on the CSUDH Library home page (http://library.csudh.edu/).
  
• If you are a distance learner, or an Extended Education/Open University student, be sure to
  visit the Library's Distance Learning Services page to discover all of the services available to you.
  
• If you plan to borrow books from the CSUDH Library, take a close look at the regulations
  on the Circulation /Borrowing Books page. To borrow books, you will need your CSUDH
  photo identification card (it will also serve as your library card).
  
  

Finding Books

• Your CSUDH photo identification card allows you to borrow books from the CSUDH Library
  and from any other CSU library.
• Use the CSUDH Library's ToroFind catalog to search for books by author, title or subject.
• In addition to finding materials available in the CSUDH Library, you will find links on the Torofind page
  that allow you to directly request books from other libraries (LINK+ and "All CSUs Catalog" buttons).
  
  Links are provided below for the CSUDH Library and for other local libraries and libraries worldwide.
  
  • ToroFind: CSUDH Online Catalog
  • Southern California Libraries (includes links to academic, public and special libraries)
  • Library of Congress Online Catalog
  • LIBWEB (includes links to libraries in over 125 countries)
    
    
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Finding Journal Articles

To find journal articles when you don't already have a specific citation or reference to an article, try using one of the journal article indexes.

To use CSUDH databases off campus: 

1.  You must be a current CSUDH student, faculty member or staff member.

2.  Adobe Acrobat Reader software (v. 7.0 or later) must be installed on your computer.
      Many articles are available only in .pdf (portable document format) format,
      and you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and/or print them.
      Get Adobe Acrobat Reader free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

• For detailed information on how to log in to CSUDH Electronic databases, click here.
• For an overview of how to use CSUDH databases to find journal articles, click here.
  
• Many of your search results will have clickable links to the full text of the article, such as "PDF Full Text" or "HTML Full Text."
• This button will also appear in many search results. Click this blue button
  to see whether the CSUDH Library has the article in a different database or in print/microfilm formats.
  
  
• To limit your results to peer reviewed articles, look on the database screen for the
  words "scholarly" and/or "peer reviewed" and place a check in the box beside these words.
  (click here for a quick tutorial on the differences between newspapers, magazines and journals--
  --click the red "What's a Journal?" volume on the "Minute Modules" page )
  
  
• Click on a link below to access the database of your choice or use our comprehensive list of
  Article Indexes to see all available CSUDH databases:
  

• Business Source Premier: most comprehensive database for searching scholarly business publications; includes full text articles for more 1,100 scholarly publications.
  All areas related to business are covered.
  
  
• Communication & Mass Media Complete: includes full text of many articles on business writing, communication in organizations and other communication topics.
  
  
• ABI Inform Business Global: searches over 1,800 business journals for coverage on business and economic conditions, management techniques and theory, advertising, marketing, human resources and more.
  
  
• ABI Inform Trade & Industry: covers more than 750 magazines and newsletters with
  a trade or industry focus; includes latest industry news, product and competitive information, marketing trends, etc.
  
  
• Academic Search Premier: multi-disciplinary database with full text for nearly 4,500 publications, many of which are peer-reviewed journals; often used as a starting point for general research because it covers a wide range of subject areas.
  
  
• Ethnic NewsWatch: newspaper, magazine and journal and journal articles from the ethnic, minority and native press; often offers additional perspectives because of the unique resources it indexes.
  
  
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Thesaurus (locates correct subject headings to use in your search):             

• Locate a Thesaurus button, check box or link on the screen (it may also be called
  "Subject Headings" or "Subject Index", depending on the database you are using.)
  
• Type a word or phrase for which you would like to identify a subject heading
  into the appropriate box.
  
• Sometimes you can click on the suggested search term to see a note that defines the term
  as it is used in the database, as well as a list of narrower, broader and related terms.
  
• Either copy down useful subject headings or cut and paste them into the
  search screen where you are entering your search.
  
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Finding a Specific Journal Article or Journal Title

If you have a reference or citation to a specific journal article, or if you want find out if the CSUDH Library subscribes to a journal you need, use the CSUDH Journals List.
This list includes both print and online journals to which the Library has subscribed in the past and currently subscribes to (the CSUDH Library currently subscribes to over 25,000 journals online!).

For more detailed help finding a known article, visit our Find a Specific Article tutorial.

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Interlibrary Loan

    If the CSUDH Library does NOT own in any form a specific journal, magazine or book that you need:

      - use the online ILL form at http://library.csudh.edu/ill.htm  to submit an electronic request.

               A print or electronic copy of that article will be obtained from another library and
               emailed to you, but it may take 7 days or more longer to arrive.
               Note: books requested through LINK+ usually arrive at CSUDH Library within 2 to 4 days!

              OR

   - go to the Library Online Catalogs and Information page to look for holdings at other
         academic libraries you can visit in person (such as other CSU libraries).      
    
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Citing Your Sources

When writing a paper or completing a project for a class, you will usually be asked to provide a bibliography of the materials that you used.
Take a look at the Library's Citation Guide in advance so you'll know what information about each information source to write down before you begin your research.
It is much more difficult (sometimes impossible!) to retrace your steps than to make note cards as you are working to keep track of sources of information you use while doing your research.

The CSUDH LIbrary web page, How to Cite Your Sources in a Research Paper, has two links:
The first link takes you to a download page for the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you will need
to access the actual web page.
The second link leads to a document that shows you how to cite books, articles, and web resources in APA, MLA, and Turabian formats. To cite references in COM 300 papers and assignments, use APA
(American Psychological Association) style.

For further information on APA citation style:

• APA Style.org has free online excerpts from the latest print edition of the APA Style Manual.
• APA Formatting and Style Guide (from Purdue University OWL - Online Writing Guide) is a
  comprehensive guide to citing all kinds of resources using APA format.
           

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Website Evaluation

• You might have seen a cartoon published in the New Yorker magazine (July 5, 1993) that shows
  two dogs sitting in front of a computer screen; one dog says to the other, "On the Internet, nobody
  knows you're a dog."
  
• Remember: anyone can post anything on the Web , which leaves it up to you to determine the authorship, validity, timeliness, and integrity of every page you find before you cite it as a source in your academic
  work or make decisions based on the information it contains (be especially carefully with
  search results from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia !)
  
• For more help evaluating web pages, visit this excellent series of pages on this subject maintained by librarians at Johns Hopkins University: Evaluating Information Found on the Internet .
  

Useful Websites

• OWL Professional Writing Handouts and Resources: handouts provide practical information about various aspects of business, technical, and professional writing.
  
  
• Business Communication from WritersWrite(R): resources for business writing, copywriting, editing, marketing, public relations, proposal writing and other forms of business communications.
  
  
• William E. Strunk's Elements of Style : link to the original 1918 version, still amazingly relevant in our
  century!
  
  
• Good Documents -- Intranet Business Writing: help in creating good business documents in the linked,
  on-screen environment of Intranets and the Internet.

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