Franklin & Marshall College Library

ENG 105: AMERICAN CULTURAL MYTHS





PRINT REFERENCE SOURCES ON THE UNITED STATES

GENERAL & STATISTICAL INFORMATION
The Peoplepedia
Ref E 156 .K74 1996

American Chronicle
Ref E 169.1 .G664 1999

The Columbia Chronicles of American Life
Ref E 169.1 .G667 1995

American Culture After World War II
Ref E 169.12 .A418 1994

Atlas of Contemporary America
Ref E 169.12 .D69 1994

American Decades
Ref E 169.12 .A419

Dictionary of American History
Ref E 174 .A43 1976

The Oxford Companion to United States History
Ref E 174 .O94 2001

The Almanac of American History
Ref E 174.5 .A45 1983

The Chronicle of America
Ref E 174.5 .C47 1995

Encyclopedia of American History
Ref E 174.5 .E52 1996

Encyclopedia of the United States in the 20th Century
Ref E 740.7 .E53

A Statistical Portrait of the United States
Ref HA 214 .S84 1998

Encyclopedia of American Social History
Ref HN 57 .E58 1993

Encyclopedia of Social Issues
Ref HN 57 .E59 1997

TOPICAL INFORMATION
Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Researcher
Ref H 35 .E35

WOMEN

ABC-CLIO Companion to Women in the Workplace
Ref HD 6095 .S34 1993

American Womens History
Ref HQ 1115 .W4 1994

Where Women Stand
Ref HQ 1154 .N39 1997

The Encyclopedia of Womens History in America
Ref HQ 1410 .C85 1996

Statistical Handbook on Women in America
Ref HQ 1420 .T343 1996




ECONOMIC/CLASS ISSUES

Statistical Handbook on Consumption and Wealth in the United States
Ref HC 110 .C6 S73 1999

The Official Guide to American Incomes
Ref HC 110. I5 R8 1993

Report on the American Workforce
Ref HD 8051 .R45 1999

Working Americans, 1880-1999
Ref HD 8066 .D47 2000

Bridging the Gap: Examing Polarity...
Ref HN 57 .B83 1995

EDUCATION

Encyclopedia of American Education
Ref LB 17 .U54 1996

Class, Race and Gender in American Education
Ref LC 213.2 .C52 1988

Fact Book on Women in Higher Education
Ref LC 1756 .T68 1991

THE FAMILY

The Encyclopedia of Marriage, Divorce, and the Family
Ref HQ 9 .D38 1989

Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family
Ref HQ 9 .E52 1995

Encyclopedia of Family Life
Ref HQ 534 .E53

Statistical Handbook on the American Family
Ref HQ 536 .S727 1999



THE LIBRARY CATALOG (Where to find BOOKS)

A. F&M’s Library Catalog

Search the catalog to find out what books, journals, newspapers, videos, maps, CDs, music, etc., the library owns.

NOTE: Library Catalogs do not indicate the contents of journals!

To find a book, begin by conducting a Keyword search on your topic.

Analyze your topic or research question and break it down into its key concepts, which becomes the Keyword search. Once you have found a record for an item that looks useful, click on a Subject Heading to retrieve other items with similar content.

EXAMPLE:

Topic/Research Question:The myth of obtainable "perfect" female beauty as perpetuated by images in advertising.

Search Statement:women and (advertising or advertisements or ads)

Subject Headings:
Women in advertising
Advertising--Social Aspects

B. WorldCat

A catalog of library holdings worldwide. Search here if you are having difficulty locating BOOKS on your topic, and you have a lot of time before your work is due: obtaining books found in WorldCat requires the use of Interlibrary Loan (ILL).


INDEXES & ARTICLE COLLECTIONS

America: History and Life (1964- )
Comprehensive bibliography of articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from pre-history to the present.

Social Sciences Full Text (1983- )
Indexes over 300 English-language periodicals covering anthropology, economics, psychology, social work, sociology, and related fields.

Sociological Abstracts (1963- )
Comprehensive database of over 1500 journals covering sociology, social work, and other social sciences.

PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service (1972- )
Index to policy-oriented literature (books, journal articles and U.S. and foreign government documents). International coverage of information about political, economic and social issues and events in specific countries.


REMEMBER:
Search Journals at F&M to find out if the library has the journals that contain the articles you found in the databases.

If the library does not have the journal, and you have the time, you can submit an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request for the article. Allow 5-10 days for the article to arrive.





INTERNET RESOURCES

A. Search Engines/Portals

1. Yahoo!
2. HotBot

B. Criteria to consider when evaluating Web sites:

1. Authority: Who is responsible for the content? Are they an expert on the topic? Does the author identify her/him/them-self?

2. Objectivity: Why was the site created? Is the information presented with a minimum of bias? Is the site meant to persuade the reader?

3. Content: What is presented? Is the content focused, or does it stray all over the place? Is the site appropriate for research/scholarly purposes? Is the design of the site more important than the content?

4. Accuracy: Does the site feature a list of sources, or bibliography, or links to other similar sites? Are other authorities cited?

5. Currency: Is the web site current? Is it currently being maintained? Is there indication of when it was last updated anywhere on the page?


TIP: When using a web site for research,
print a copy of the first page for verification.
Web sites come and go easily!




For assistance, contact Lisa Stillwell, Reference Librarian,
by phone: 291.3844, or by e-mail: lisa.stillwell@fandm.edu



Last updated: ls, 10/01