ENGLISH 98/198: The Chernin Program

Style Manuals

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:25:12 -0700

When preparing a bibliography, you’ll want to establish which style sheet your professor wishes you to use. For undergraduate English classes, the preferred style sheet is often the Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. This publication also contains valuable information about the entire research process from choosing a topic, to avoiding plagiarism, to formatting the paper.

MLA handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
Doe Reference Reference Hall LB2369 .G53 2009
Main Gardner Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab created the MLA Formatting and Style Guide, which is quite useful.

Other common style manuals:

Columbia Guide to Online Style (UCB-only access)
Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. 2nd ed. NY: Columbia Univ. Press. 2006.

The Chicago Manual of Style (UCB-only access)
15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003. Searchable, online version of the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition).

Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More (UCB-only access) Charles Lipson. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006.

Library Workshop: Research 101

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:27:35 -0800

Unsure how to start a paper or research project? Think maybe you could stand to brush up on search strategies?

If this sounds familiar, Library Workshop: Research 101 has you covered. This interactive tutorial explores six stages of the research process. You can view it from start to finish, or focus on specific sections as needed:

1: Begin Your Research

Starting strategies from choosing a topic to search keywords.

2: Knowledge Cycle

The publication timeline, scholarly v. popular sources, and differences in academic disciplines.

3: Finding Books

Search for books and other items in OskiCat, Cal's local library catalog.

4: Finding Articles

Locate and access articles in library research databases.

A good place to start is Academic Search Complete.

5: Basic Search

Common techniques for constructing searches that yield useful results.

6: Advanced Search

Speclialized search strategies for targeting specific topics.

For a really helpful guide to college writing, see the University of Chicago's Writing in College, which has advice on planning and drafting a paper, .analyzing and revising a draft, crafting the introduction and conclusion, and what to do when you're at a loss about what to do.

Citation Management Tools

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:08:47 -0700

Citation management tools help you manage your research, collect and cite sources, organize and store your PDFs, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but all are easier than doing it by hand!

Zotero: A free plug-in for the Firefox browser: keeps copies of what you find on the web, permits tagging, notation, full text searching of your library of resources, works with Word, and has a free web backup service. Zotero is also available as a stand-alone application that syncs with Chrome and Safari, or as a bookmarklet for mobile browsers.
- Zotero help from the UCB Libraries
- Zotero help from zotero.org
RefWorks - web-based and free for UC Berkeley users. It allows you to create your own database by importing references and using them for footnotes and bibliographies, then works with Word to help you format references and a bibliography for your paper. Use theRefWorks New User Form to sign up.
- RefWorks help from the UCB Libraries
- RefWorks help from RefWorks
EndNote: Desktop software for managing your references and formatting bibliographies. You can purchase EndNote from the Cal Student Store.

Tip: After creating a bibliography with a citation management tool, it's always good to double check the formatting; sometimes the software doesn't get it quite right.

Off-campus access to library resources

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:14:39 -0700

You can access UCB Library resources from off campus or via your laptop or other mobile device using one of two simple methods:

Proxy Server
After you make a one-time change in your web browser settings, the proxy server will ask you to log in with a CalNet ID or Library PIN when you click on the link to a licensed resource. See the setup instructions, FAQ, and Troubleshooting pages to configure your browser.

VPN (Virtual Private Network)
After you install and run the VPN "client" software on your computer, you can log in with a CalNet ID to establish a secure connection with the campus network.

Ask a Librarian 24/7 Chat

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:46:06 -0700

Reference Desks

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:03:32 -0700

Skilled professionals are available at the Doe and Moffitt Reference Desks. Really--we can do more than tell you where the bathrooms are located and how to use the scanners. Just ask us to help you locate a book or start you on the process of getting those 6 scholarly articles you need for a paper.

Check Library hours for reference desk schedules. Click Info for phone numbers.

Interlibrary Loan

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:19:10 -0700

When Berkeley does not have what you need (in the way of research materials, that is) or when our copy is on search or missing, Interlibrary Loan will come to your rescue and borrow the material from another library. This process can take some time, so the earlier in the semester you ask, the faster will be the response.

You can use the form located on the Interlibrary Loan page or use the Request button in Melvyl records to initiate your request. Or visit the Interlibrary Borrowing office in 133 Doe.

Research Advisory Service

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:56:39 -0700

Research Advisory Service for Cal Undergraduates

Book a 30-minute appointment with a librarian who will help refine and focus research inquiries, identify useful online and print sources, and develop search strategies for humanities and social sciences topics (examples of research topics).

Schedule, view, edit or cancel your appointment online (CalNetID required)

This service is for Cal undergraduates only. Graduate students and faculty should contact the library liaison to their department or program for specialized reference consultations.

Searching Library Catalogs

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:50:25 -0700

Use OskiCat to locate materials related to your topic, including books, government publications, and audio and video recordings, in many of the libraries at UC Berkeley. OskiCat will show you the location and availability of the items. Some campus libraries, such as the Law School Library, are not represented in Oski; to find what they have, you will need to check Melvyl.

Use Melvyl to locate materials related to your topic located at other campuses in the UC system. Melvyl also allows you to expand your search to libraries worldwide. Clicking on the REQUEST button in the detailed view of a catalog record prompt you to fill out a form to request the item through our Interlibrary Loan office.

Find Course Reserves

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:12:51 -0700

Department and Course Number
- chem 1A
- Chemistry 1A
- Music 75

Instructor Name
- Smith
- smith j
- Smith, Jane

Journal Tips

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:47:24 -0700

Use E-Journal titles A-Z for the widest coverage of electronic journals. Most are licensed and some are open access, that is, freely available.

When checking OskiCat or Melvyl to see if Berkeley subscribes to a journal, use the journal's title in the search and not the author or title of the article you want. Oski does not list individual articles, and Melvyl has only a few.

When the Oski record indicates that the library has e-access through several sources, that information lets you know that the title is important.

Older issues of paper journals are stored in NRLF; use Request in Oski to ask that journals be brought back to campus for you to use or to have NRLF staff scan the article you need and email it to you.

To find articles about your subject, use indexes. The key index for literature is the Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLAIB).

JSTOR is a large database of over a 1000 scholarly journals, but publishers are allowed to embargo new issues from a time period of 1-10 years, so the newest issues may not be available.

Project Muse offers newer issues of articles published in nearly 400 not-for-profit and scholarly journals. Some journals offer all issues published while others offer only the newer ones.

Citation Linker

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:17:51 -0700

Have a citation? Go directly to the article! Use Citation Linker.

Get immediate access to journal articles, books and other publications (or request them when they are not available) by entering a title and other citation information.

When a publication is available online: The UC-eLinks window will provide a link to the publisher's web site that should contain the full text of the publication if UC (systemwide or your home campus) subscribes to the electronic version of the publication.

When a publication is not available online: The UC-eLinks window will offer other options such as the ability to check campus library holdings in the Melvyl Catalog (and where you can sometimes find that items ARE available online), or to Request the item via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) if UC (systemwide or your home campus) does not subscribe to the electronic version of the publication.

Find an Article from a Citation

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:18:45 -0700

Here's a citation for an article...how do you find the whole article?

Gaultney, J. F. (2010). The Prevalence of Sleep Disorders in College Students: Impact on Academic Performance. Journal of American College Health, 59(2), 91-97.

This citation is for an article published in 2010 in the Journal of American College Health, a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal. There are several ways of determining if the article you're looking for is available at Berkeley:

Option 1: Look up the journal title in OskiCat or Melvyl.

You can also search for the title of the journal (NOT the article title!) in either OskiCat or Melvyl. They will tell you:

if we subscribe to the journal you're looking for

which years we have

whether our subscription is print ("hard-copy") or online

what the call number is (for print journals)

where to find the journal online (for online journals)

what's the latest print issue we've received (OskiCat only)

Click this link for a 45-second demo.

Indexes

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:52:54 -0700

Most databases offer help screens with information about structuring your search and other tips. Often the links to help are in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Familiarizing yourself with the database's protocols is a good way to produce successful searches.

Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLAIB) (UCB only) The MLAIB is the largest index of critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore, containing over 2 million citations. The online version starts with the 1926 annual bibliography, but coverage of JSTOR titles goes back to the first issue published.

until 1956, most of the items included in the bibliography were written by scholars in the U. S.
subject indexing expanded dramatically in 1981; entries before that time usually have only the subject author’s name, national literature and century as descriptors.
does not include book reviews and did not index most monographs, especially collections of essays, until recently. Users must consult catalogs to ensure finding monographs or collections of essays.
use the layout of the advanced search box to create a Boolean search: (1) put synonyms in the rows (across)—the search results will have to have at least one of those words (2) words in different rows will be ANDed together and the search results will have to include words from all the rows.
use truncation symbols: * for variant endings and ? for internal truncation—for example, dickens* will yield Dickens, Dickensian, Dickens’s, etc. The search wom?n will bring results with woman and women. When you get no results from a search, try truncating the term(s).
author searches bring the work of scholars, not of literary authors. Use key word or descriptor searches to get scholarly items about an author
UC e-Links will lead you to full-text of articles or to the Melvyl catalog, where you can see if Berkeley or another UC library has the item. If Berkeley does not own, use the orange request button to bring up an online interlibrary loan form.

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) (UCB only) Published by the Modern Humanities Research Association, ABELL indexes materials about works originally written in English. Should be searched in conjunction with the MLAIB since the two indexes have only about 60-70% overlap in coverage. ABELL began in 1921 and does include book reviews of scholarly books.

Academic Search Complete (UCB only) A multidisciplinary index to articles in thousands of journals with full-text for many.

sometimes indexes newer articles before the MLAIB
indexes book reviews of scholarly books and of fiction, poetry, drama, movies
can search several indexes at once by clicking on “Choose databases” above the search box(es)
good place to start doing research for topics that go beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries

America: History and Life Index to scholarship about U.S. and Canadian history.

Historical Abstracts Index to historical scholarship about the rest of the world.

Black Studies Center (BSC) Includes The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, The International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP), and the full text backfile of The Chicago Defender (1910-1975).