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| SUBJECT RESEARCH GUIDE |
To start your research, use the resources below or begin with the the CSUDH Library web page found at : http://library.csudh.edu/ .
The resources listed under the category of Online Article Indexes are available from on-campus computers or by remote access CSUDH students who are registered for access. Your barcode ID number (20550 immediately followed with your 98_ _ _ _ _ _ _ student ID number) on the CSUDH photo ID card is the number that provides access.
Books are located using the Library's ToroFind catalog. Here you can search for books by author, title or subject. In addition to finding materials available in the CSUDH Library, you will find links that allow you to directly request books from other libraries (All CSUs Catalog and LINK+ buttons). Links are provided below for other local libraries and libraries worldwide.
Use the 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 that allow you to directly request books from other libraries ("All CSUs Catalog" and LINK+ buttons). Links are provided below for other local libraries and libraries worldwide.
Ebrary is a growing collection of electronic books on a variety of topics geared to academic libraries and college students. Use the link to access this database. At the current time, books available in this collection are not listed in the ToroFind Catalog.
If you are unable to locate a book in the CSUDH Collection, try these links:
Link+ allows you to request a book using a union catalog of participating libraries in California and Nevada. If a book is found and available, this is the fastest method of having a book sent to the CSUDH Library for pick-up. You must be registered with the CSUDH Library to use this service.
ToroFind has an "All CSU's Catlog" button for books availabe in the 23 libraries of the California State University. Search for the book and click on this button. Highlight a library name and click on the "Request This Item" button. You must be registered with the CSUDH Library to use this service.
Interlibrary Loan a book using a request form. You supply us the information, and the Interlibrary Loan Department will search for the book. Since books may be requested from libraries in other states, this can be the slowest method.
Southern California Libraries (includes links to academic, public and special libraries)
LIBWEB (includes links to libraries in over 125 countries)
To find journal articles when you do not have a specific citation or reference to an article, try one of the article indexes. 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. For information on doing a literature review, read the file on "Doing a Literature Review."
For a review of how to use the databases to find journal articles, click here. To limit your results to peer reviewed articles, look for the words "scholarly" and/or "peer reviewed ' and place a check in the box beside these words. Although many of the databases have direct links for the full text or .pdf copy of the article included with the citation or abstract of the article, look for this button
to find out if the library has the article available in another database.
Academic Search Premier is a multi-disciplinary database that can be used to search for articles in a wide range of subject areas. If you want a scholarly, peer-reviewed article, be sure to check off the "peer reviewed" box..
JSTOR contains the full text for scholarly journals, including political science and related fields. The last 5 years are not included but the unique feature of this database is that it usually provides full-text from volume one up to approaximately five years ago.
LEXIS/NEXIS Academic Universe is a database that covers U.S. and world newspapers; legal news, laws and court cases; and business.
Los Angeles Times Historical is a searchable index of newspaper articles from 1881 to 1985. This database provides .pdf articles images of individual articles and the full page of the newspaper. It provides access to every page of all available newspapers, including for example, photograhs, advertisements, and obituaries not found in the databases containing more current newspapers.
Newpapers (Proquest) is a database of 150 local and international newspapers. It includes the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and London Times, to name a few. There is also a separate link to the Los Angeles Times database for articles from 1985.
WilsonWeb: Omni Full Text Mega includesindexing of journals with information on a wide range of subject areas. Note that the links to articles are placed above the entry for each article citation.
Locating a Specific Journal Title
If you have a reference or citation to a specific journal article, use the CSUDH Journals List to find out if subscribes to the needed journal. This list includes both print and online journals. The Library currently subscribes to over 24,000 journals online. When you click on the title, you will usually find a page that has separate links for the year of available volumes. Click on the year and then you will next be able to click on specific issues. CSUDH's list also includes links to the ToroFind catalog record for print subscription information.
Although the library provides access to over 27,000 print and electronic journals, the indexing databases provide citations to a large number of journals which are not available in our print and electronic holdings. If you would like to have the library find a copy of an article for you, you can transmit the request using the Interlibrary Loan Service . Please allow at least 10 days for the article to arrive. If at all possible, we will try to send the article to you via email. The files will be .pdf files and will require that you have space available to receive these large files. We are also able to request books through three different methods. Your options are listed on the Request Item from Another Library webpage.
When using information from the web for projects and research papers, you should evaluate the quality and reliability of the information. Here's a link to one of many websites which give you evaluation criteria: Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages. An outstanding search engine to use is Google. To find web sites which may be of value for research papers, use Google Advanced Search and set the domain to .edu. In addition, Google Scholar would enable you to search the scholarly literature, including peer reviewed articles, but note that you may not be able to access the full text of the article. For the scholarly literature, the databases listed above in the "Journal Articles & Newspapers" section will usually be a better option for beginning your research.
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. There are several standard guides available in the Library to help you. Please come to the Reference Desk for assistance. In addition, the CSUDH Library has a summary of the formats most commonly used posted on the Library website. Take a look at this guide in advance so you'll know what information you need to jot down before you begin your research. It may be more difficult to retrace your steps than to make bibliographic note cards as you are working on your project.
Citing Your Sources. This web page on 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 instruction 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. Always check with your professor to find out which citation format is preferred.