C H A P T E R

Using the Library

and the Internet

This chapter will

explain and illustrate
how to
• research topics using
the library
• research topics using
the Internet
• evaluate Internet
sources

Write a letter to a new student on campus in which you describe

the various uses of the college library.

This chapter provides the basic information you need to use your college
library and the Internet with confidence. You will learn that for most
research topics there are two basic steps you should take:
1. Find books on your topic.
2. Find articles on your topic.
400 Part 3 Special Skills

You will learn, too, that while the library is the traditional place for doing
such research, a home computer with Internet access now enables you to
thoroughly investigate any topic.

Using the Library

Most students know that libraries provide study space, computer workstations, and
copying machines. They are also aware of a library’s reading area, which contains
recent copies of magazines and newspapers. But the true heart of a library consists
of a main desk, the library’s catalog(s) of holdings, book stacks, and the periodi-
cals storage area. Each of these will be discussed in the pages that follow.

Main Desk
The main desk is usually located in a central spot. Check with the main desk to see
whether a brochure describes the layout and services of the library. You might also
ask whether the library staff provides tours. If not, explore your library to find each
of the areas in the activity below.

Make up a floor plan of your college library. Label the main desk, catalogs (in print
ACTIVITY 1
or computerized), book stacks, and periodicals storage area.

Library Catalog
The library catalog will be your starting point for almost any research project. In
most libraries, the catalog can be accessed on computer terminals. Increasingly,
local and college library catalogs can be accessed online, so you may be able to
check their book holdings via your personal computer.

Finding a Book: Author, Title, and Subject

There are three ways to look up a book: according to author, title, or subject. Sup-
pose you want to see if the library has the book A Tribe Apart, by Patricia Hersch.
You could check for the book through:
1. An author search, in which you would look under Hersch, Patricia.
2. A title search, in which you would look under Tribe Apart, A.
3. A subject search. In this case, since the subject of the book is “teenagers,”
you would look under that term.
 Chapter 21 Using the Library and the Internet 401

Here is the author entry in a computerized card catalog for Hersch’s book
A Tribe Apart:

Finding a Book: Author, Title, and Subject

Author Hersch, Patricia.
Title A tribe apart: a journey into the heart of American
adolescence / Patricia Hersch.
Published New York: Ballantine Books, 1999.
Edition 1st trade paperback ed.

Location Call # STATUS

RU Circ Top Floor HQ796.H43 1999 Available
Copyright © 2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Description x, 391, [13] p. ; 21 cm.

Note Includes index.
“Look for the reading group discussion guide at the
back of this book” –P. 4 of cover.
LC SUBJECT Teenagers – United States.
ISBN 034543594X (pbk.) :
OCLC# 42261321

Note that in addition to giving you the publisher (Ballantine) and year of pub-
lication (1999), the entry also tells you the book’s physical location and its call
number—each of which will help you find the book in the library. If the computer-
ized catalog is part of a network of libraries, you may also learn at what branch or
location the book is available. If the book is not at your library, you can probably
arrange for an interlibrary loan.

Using Subject Headings to Research a Topic

Generally, if you are looking for a particular book, it is easier to search by author
or title. On the other hand, if you are researching a topic, then you should search
by subject.
The subject section performs three valuable functions:
• It will give you a list of books on a given topic.
• It will often provide related topics that might have information on your
subject.
• It will suggest more-limited topics, helping you narrow your general topic.
Chances are you will be asked to do a research paper of about five to fifteen
pages. You do not want to choose a topic so broad that it could be covered only by an
entire book or more. Instead, you want to come up with a limited topic that can be
adequately supported in a relatively short paper. As you search the subject section,
take advantage of ideas that it might offer on how you can narrow your topic.
402 Part 3 Special Skills

ACTIVITY 2 PART A
Team up with a partner in class and answer the following questions about your
library’s catalog.
1. Is your library’s catalog an actual file of cards in drawers, or is it computerized?

2. Which type of catalog search will help you research and limit a topic?

PART B
Use your library’s catalog to answer the following questions.
1. What is the title of one book by Anna Quindlen?

2. What is the title of one book by Bill Geist?

3. Who is the author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? (Remember to look up the

title under Tree, not A.)

4. Who is the author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People?

5. List two books and their authors dealing with the subject of adoption.
a.
b.
6. Look up a book titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People or Silent
Spring and give the following information:
a. Author
b. Publisher
c. Date of publication
d. Call number
e. One subject heading
7. Look up a book written by Deborah Tannen or Garrison Keillor and give
the following information:
a. Title
b. Publisher
c. Date of publication
 Chapter 21 Using the Library and the Internet 403

d. Call number
e. One subject heading

Book Stacks
The book stacks are the library shelves where books are arranged according to
their call numbers. The call number, as distinctive as a Social Security number,
always appears on the catalog entry for any book. It is also printed on the spine of
every book in the library.
If your library has open stacks (ones that you are permitted to enter), here
is how to find a book. Suppose you are looking for A Tribe Apart, which has the
call number HQ796.H43 in the Library of Congress system. (Libraries using the
Dewey decimal system have call letters made up entirely of numbers rather than
Copyright © 2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

letters and numbers. However, you use the same basic method to locate a book.)
First, you go to the section of the stacks that holds the H’s. When you locate the
H’s, you look for the HQ’s. After that, you look for HQ796. Finally, you look for
HQ796.H43, and you have the book.
If your library has closed stacks (ones you are not permitted to enter), you will
have to write down the title, author, and call number on a request form. (Such forms
will be available near the card catalog or computer terminals.) You’ll then give the
form to a library staff person, who will locate the book and bring it to you.
Use the book stacks to answer one of the following sets of questions. Choose the
ACTIVITY 3
questions that relate to the system of classifying books used by your library.
system 1: library of congress system (letters and numbers)
1. Books in the E184.6–E185.9 area deal with
a. Benjamin Franklin. c. American presidents.
b. American Indians. d. African Americans.
2. Books in the HM–HN65 area deal with
a. sociology. c. economics.
b. history. d. psychology.
3. Books in the M1–M220 area deal with
a. painting. c. music.
b. sculpture. d. architecture.
system 2: dewey decimal system (numbers)
1. Books in the 200–299 area deal with
a. language. c. religion.
b. philosophy. d. sports.
404 Part 3 Special Skills

2. Books in the 370–372 area deal with

a. education. c. the military.
b. death. d. waste disposal.
3. Books in the 613 area deal with
a. wildflowers. c. drugs.
b. health. d. the solar system.

Periodicals
The second step in researching a topic is to locate relevant periodicals: magazines,
journals, and newspapers. They contain recent or very specialized information
about a subject, which may not be available in a book.
The library keeps a catalogue of the periodicals to which it subscribes. However,
to find a particular article in periodical you will need to consult a periodical index.
Following are some widely used indexes.
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature
One way to research is to use the volumes of the Readers’ Guide, found in almost
every libary. They list articles published in more than one hundred popular magazines,
such as Newsweek, Health, Ebony, and Popular Science. Articles appear alphabeti-
cally under both subject and author. For example, if you wanted to learn the titles of
articles published on the subject of child abuse within a certain time span, you would
look under the heading “Child abuse.” Following is a typical entry from the Guide.
Subject heading Title of article Author of article “Illustrated”

Parenting
The Case for Staying Home C. Wallis il
Time p51–9 Mr 22 ’04

Name of magazine Page numbers Date

Note the sequence in which information is given about the article:
1. Subject heading.
2. Title of the article. In some cases, bracketed words ([ ]) after the title help
make clear just what the article is about.
3. Author (if it is a signed article). The author’s first name is always abbreviated.
4. Whether the article has a bibliography (bibl) or is illustrated with pictures
(il). Other abbreviations sometimes used are shown in the front of the
Readers’ Guide.
 Chapter 21 Using the Library and the Internet 405

5. Name of the magazine. Before 1988, the Readers’ Guide used

abbreviations for most of the magazines indexed. For example, the
magazine Popular Science is abbreviated Pop Sci. If necessary, refer to the
list of magazines in the front of the index to identify abbreviations.
6. Page numbers on which the article appears.
7. Date when the article appeared. Dates are abbreviated: for example, Mr
stands for March, Ag for August, O for October. Other abbreviations are
shown in the front of the Guide.
The Readers’ Guide is published in monthly supplements. At the end of a year,
a volume is published covering the entire year. You will see in your library large
green volumes titled, for instance, Readers’ Guide 2000 or Readers’ Guide 2007.
Copyright © 2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

You will also see the small monthly supplements for the current year.
The drawback of the Readers’ Guide is that it gives you only a list of articles;
you must then go to your library’s catalog to see if the library actually has copies of
the magazines that contain those articles. If you’re lucky and it does, you must take
the time to locate the relevant issue and then to read and take notes on the articles
or to make copies of them.
The Readers’ Guide may also be available at your library online. If so, you
can quickly search for articles on a given subject simply by typing in a key word
or key phrase.

Online Databases
Most college and public libraries now provide online computer-search services
known as online databases or library subscription services. Using any of these
services, you will be able to type in key words and quickly search many periodi-
cals for articles on your subject. Some databases, such as General Science Index,
are discipline specific, but others, such as Academic Search Premier, are more
general.
Often, articles you find will be shown as “full text.” That means that you can
print out the entire article from your computer. In other cases, only an abstract
(summary) of the article will be available. However, abstracts are valuable too, for
they allow you to determine whether the article is relevant to your research and if
you should continue searching for the full text.
Finally, database articles appear in html or pdf format or in both. Articles in
.html (hypertext markup language) have been reformatted for publication on the
Internet. Those in .pdf (portable document format) are exact reproductions of a
print document. Note that some databases are among many compiled by the same
provider. EBSCOhost, Infotrac, and ProQuest are such providers.
Following are a few online databases that have proven useful for new student
researchers.
406 Part 3 Special Skills

Academic Search Premier covers a variety of disciplines and includes

full-text articles and abstracts of articles from over 4,400 periodicals.
Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL)
provides access to articles found in over 1,800 professional journals in the
health professions.
ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) makes available
articles from professional journals, reports, and speeches having to do with
education.
General Science Index lists articles on biology, chemistry, physics, and the
other physical sciences.
Wilson Humanities Index covers over 500 English-language periodicals
in disciplines such as archaeology, the classics, art, history, theater, music,
literature, philosophy, and religion.
JSTOR (Journal Storage) provides full-text articles found in back issues of
journals in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
CGP (Catalog of U.S. Government Publications) contains documents
published by the U.S. government.
New York Times Index lists articles published in this newspaper since 1913.
PsychInfo is published by the American Psychological Association. It includes
abstracts of books, articles, and doctoral dissertations in psychology. It also
provides access to full-text articles through PsycARTICLES.

At this point in the chapter, you now know the two basic steps in researching a
ACTIVITY 4
topic in the library. What are the steps?
1.
2.

1. Look up a recent article on nursing home costs using one of your library’s
ACTIVITY 5
periodicals indexes or online databases, and fill in the following information:
a. Name of the index you used
b. Article title
c. Author (if given)
d. Name of magazine
e. Pages f. Date
2. Look up a recent article on organ donation using one of your library’s
periodicals indexes or online databases, and fill in the following information:
a. Name of the index you used
 Chapter 21 Using the Library and the Internet 407

b. Article title
c. Author (if given)
d. Name of magazine
e. Pages f. Date

Using the Internet

Before you begin searching the Internet, find out what databases your local and
school libraries subscribe to. You may be able to do enough research using these
online resources and print sources available in your library. If not, you can search
for material on the Internet.
Copyright © 2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Finding Additional Books on Your Topic

To find current books on your topic, go online and search for one of the large com-
mercial online booksellers such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble. They will list help-
ful books that you might want to buy. Many of these are used and are, therefore,
discounted. However, if you dont’t want to buy the book, just jot down the author’s
name, the title, the publisher, and the date of publication. Take this information to
your college library and see if the book is on the shelves. If not, request an inter-
library loan. The librarian will forward your request to the nearest library that has
the book. Be aware, however, that it may take a week or longer to get the book.

A Note on the Library of Congress

You can also find additional books on your topic by visiting the Library of Congress
Web site ([Link]). Located in Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress
has copies of all books published in the United States. Its online catalog contains
about twelve million entries. You can browse this catalog by subject or search by
key words. The search form permits you to check just those books that interest you.
After you find a given book, click on the “Full Record” option to view publication
information and call number. You can then try to obtain the book from your college
library or through an interlibrary loan.

Other Points to Note

After you have found the books you think might relate to your topic, print out a list
of them. This way you can go to the library prepared to find just those you want
to borrow. In fact, since many libraries are now accessible online, you might want
to search your library’s electronic catalogs on your home computer even when the
library is closed. You can then go to the library as soon as it opens and start check-
ing out the books you need right away.
408 Part 3 Special Skills

Finding Articles on Your Topic

Online Magazines and Newspaper Articles
As already mentioned, your library probably subscribes to online databases such
as Academic Search Premiere or JSTOR, which you can use to find relevant ar-
ticles on your subject. Another online research service, one that you can subscribe
to individually on a home computer, is eLibrary. You may be able to get a free
seven-day trial subscription or pay for a monthly subscription at a limited cost.
The service provides millions of newspaper and magazine articles as well as many
thousands of book chapters and television and radio transcripts. After typing in one
or more key words on the eLibrary Web site, you’ll get long lists of articles that
may relate to your subject.

Search Engines
An Internet search engine will help you go through a vast amount of information
on the Web to find articles about almost any topic. As with other resources, choos-
ing the appropriate key words is important to beginning a search. For example, if
you are thinking of doing a paper on road rage, type “road rage.” Within a second
or so, you will get a list of over three million articles and sites on the Web about
road rage!
You should then narrow your topic by adding other key words. For instance,
if you typed “preventing road rage,” you would get a list of over one million ar-
ticles and sites. If you narrowed your potential topic further by typing “educational
programs for preventing road rage,” you would get a list of almost a half million
items. Some search engines, such as Google, do good job of returning hits that are
genuinely relevant to your search, so just scanning the early part of a list may be
enough to provide you with the information you need.
As discussed above, sometimes you get too much information. So, try making
your key words more specific, or use different combinations of key words. You
might also try another search engine. Finally, many search engines have an Ad-
vanced Search feature for tips on successful searching.

Evaluating Internet Sources

Keep in mind that the quality and reliability of information you find on the Internet
may vary widely. Anyone with a bit of computer know-how can create a Web site
and post information there. That person may be a Nobel Prize winner, a leading
authority in a specialized field, a high school student, or a crackpot. Be careful,
then, to look closely at the source in the following ways:
 Chapter 21 Using the Library and the Internet 409
Copyright © 2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Results from a key word search on Google using “educational programs for
preventing road rage” in the search box.

1. Internet address In a Web address, the three letters following the “dot”
are the domain. The most common domains are .com, .edu, .gov, .net,
and .org. A common misconception is that a Web site’s reliability can be
determined by its domain. This is not the case, as almost anyone can get
a Web address ending in .com, .edu, .org, or any of the other domains.
Therefore, it is important that you examine every Web site carefully,
considering the three points that follow.
2. Author What credentials does the author have (if any)? Has the author
published other material on the topic?
410 Part 3 Special Skills

3. Internal evidence Does the author seem to proceed objectively—

presenting all sides of a topic fairly before arguing his or her own views?
Does the author produce solid, adequate support for his or her views?
4. Date Is the information up-to-date? Check at the top or bottom of the
document for copyright, publication, or revision dates. Knowing such
dates will help you decide whether the material is current enough for your
purposes.

PART A
ACTIVITY 6
Go to [Link] and search for “education.” Then complete the items
below.
1. How many items did your search yield?
2. In the early listings, you will probably find each of the following domains:
edu, gov, org, and com. Pick one site with each domain and write its full
address.
a. Address of one .com site you found:
b. Address of one .gov site:
c. Address of one .org site:
d. Address of one .edu site:

PART B
Circle one of the sites you identified above and use it to complete the following
evaluation. Answers will vary.
3. Name of site’s author or authoring institution:
4. Is site’s information current (within two years)?
5. Does the site serve obvious business purposes (with advertising or attempts
to sell products)?
6. Does the site have an obvious connection to a governmental, commercial,
business, or religious organization? If so, which one?

7. Does the site’s information seem fair and objective?

8. Based on the information above, would you say the site appears reliable?
 Chapter 21 Using the Library and the Internet 411

Practice in Using the Library

and the Internet
Use your library or the Internet to research a subject that interests you. Select one of
ACTIVITY 7
the following areas or (with your instructor’s permission) an area of your own choice:
Acid rain Immigration-related issues
Alzheimer’s disease Interracial adoption
Animal rights movement Mind-body medicine
Animals nearing extinction New aid for people with disabilities
Antigay violence New remedies for allergies
Copyright © 2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Best job prospects today New treatments for AIDS

Cell phone use and health-related New treatments for insomnia
issues Noise control
Censorship on the Internet Nursing home costs
Child abuse Organ donation
Cremation Origins of Kwanzaa or other
Drug treatment programs holiday
Drug treatment programs for Pollution of drinking water
adolescents Prenatal care
Education-related issues Prison reform
Elections and voting Problems of retirement
Ethical aspects of hunting Recent consumer frauds
Everyday addictions Ritalin and children
Fertility drugs Seat belt laws
Food poisoning (salmonella) Self-help groups
Forecasting earthquakes Sex on television
Gambling and youth Sexual harassment
Greenhouse effect Steroid use in sports
Hazardous substances in the home Stress reduction in the workplace
Health insurance reform Sudden infant death syndrome
Heroes for today Surrogate mothers
Holistic healing Telephone crimes
Human rights Toxic waste disposal
Identity theft Vegetarianism
412 Part 3 Special Skills

Research the topic first through a subject search in your library’s catalog or
that of an online bookstore. Then research the topic through a periodicals index
(print or online). On a separate sheet of paper, provide the following information:
1. Topic
2. Three books that either cover the topic directly or at least touch on the topic
in some way. Include the following:
Author
Title
Place of publication
Publisher
Date of publication
3. Three articles on the topic published in 2009 or later. Include the following:
Title of article
Author (if given)
Title of magazine
Date
Pages (if given)
4. Finally, write a paragraph describing just how you went about researching
your topic. In addition, include a photocopy or printout of one of the three
articles.