Welcome
Welcome to the Course Guide for COMP 100. Below you will find a selection of information and resources that will be helpful when completing assignments for this course.
A helpful hint to remember is that research is exploratory process. Good research means that you will be searching different resources (databases, online, catalog, etc.) and you will search each one multiple times with different keyword combinations.
Background Knowledge
When you begin a research project, it is a good idea to take a moment to reflect on your prior knowledge of the topic area. How much do you already know about this topic? How confident are you in moving forward with this topic? In most cases, you will need to do a bit of research to get some general information on your topic.
A great way to gather background information is through searching reference materials. Reference materials such as Encyclopedias and Dictionaries are arranged alphabetically and contain a general overview of a term or subject matter.
The library has access to encyclopedias and dictionaries in print and online through particular databases.
Online Encyclopedic Databases:
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Britannica Academic EditionProvides reference sources in almost all disciplines. Also includes historical timelines, multimedia, selected magazine articles, notable quotations, and a dictionary and thesaurus.
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Gale Virtual ReferenceA collection of full text electronic reference books covering many subject areas. Can be searched by keyword, source, subject, image caption, full text, and audience. Individual books can be combined for cross-title searching.
Locating Print Sources at Milne Library
One way to locate print resources is through the Milne Library Catalog. To access the library catalog, click on the “library catalog” tab on the library’s homepage. You will then use the Call Number to locate the item in the library. If you need help finding the item, please do not hesitate to ask.
The second way is through Worldcat. To access Worldcat, click on the Databases Tab. Then click on the W. Then scroll down until you see “Worldcat (OCLC First Search Legacy Interface). By searching through Worldcat, you have the ability to see books that Milne Library and other libraries worldwide own. If you would like a book that Milne library doesn’t own, you will request it through ILLiad.
***You can also check out items at Hartwick College with your SUNY Oneonta ID card.****
Locating Online Resources
Electronic articles can be searched through our databases. There are some general databases and some subject specific databases. To access the databases, click on the database tab on the library homepage. You can then browse through them alphabetically, or browse by discipline (i.e., gender studies, history, etc.).
Below you will find a list of databases that will be helpful for your current assignment. It is not an exhaustive list, but it is a good place to start.
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Academic OneFileProvides over 54,000,000 articles, most full-text, from about 13,000 scholarly journals across most academic subject areas. Coverage is from 1980 to the present.
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Academic Search CompleteFull text for about 8,500 periodicals including over 7,300 peer-reviewed journals across most areas of academic study as well as indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 magazines and journals. Coverage is from 1887 to the present.
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CQ Researcher: 1923-presentCovers the most current and controversial issues of the day with summaries of the issues. Full text. Five simultaneous users.
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Humanities SourceIncludes both Humanities Full Text and Humanities International. Contains over 1400 full text journals with citations to over 3,500,000 articles.
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JSTORFull-text of over 1400 core scholarly journals and Books across most subject areas.
Can be used for course content: Titles from many university presses and other academic publishers -
MLA International BibliographyContains over 2.3 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series and 1,000 book publishers. Includes almost 60 titles from J-STOR's language and literature collection as well as links to full text. Coverage is from about 1920.
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Opposing Viewpoints in ContextContains about 2000 viewpoint articles, 1000 topic overviews, 700 court case overviews, and 30 full text periodicals and newspapers. The Research Guide provides tips on analyzing issues with opposing viewpoints, distinguishing fact from opinion, evaluating information sources, and recognizing deceptive arguments.
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Points of View Reference CenterContains full-text essays representing multiple sides of about 250 topics; in addition, the database includes political magazines, radio and television news transcripts, primary source documents, and reference books. Designed to provide a series of controversial essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. Essays provide questions and materials for further thought and study and are accompanied by thousands of supporting articles from the world's top political and societal publications.
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Project MuseFull text of over 100 scholarly journals and books from university presses in fields including literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, political science, gender studies, and economics.
Can be used for course content: Includes books from many university presses and scholarly journals -
ScienceDirectProvides full-text access to journals in the fields of science, psychology, medicine, and technology.
Help
Librarians are available to help in several ways:
- Visit the Research Help Desk in Milne Library
- Call the Research Help Desk at 607-436-2722
- E-mail a question to a librarian and receive a response within 48 hours
- Request a Research Consultation to meet individually with a librarian
Understanding the Lingo
Conducting research can be difficult when you are unfamiliar with the terms being used to describe certain types of items. If your instructor asks you to use a periodical, would you know what they meant? If you had to locate the call number in an item’s record, could you? It is important to familiarize yourself with what particular library words mean.
Pick A Topic
If you are stuck trying to decide on a topic for your paper, there are a few ways to generate ideas.
- Scan newspaper headlines
- Browse chapter titles in your textbook
- Check out what's trending
- Use a Topic Idea Generator
- Use the "Browse Issues" section in the Opposing Viewpoints Database
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Opposing Viewpoints in ContextContains about 2000 viewpoint articles, 1000 topic overviews, 700 court case overviews, and 30 full text periodicals and newspapers. The Research Guide provides tips on analyzing issues with opposing viewpoints, distinguishing fact from opinion, evaluating information sources, and recognizing deceptive arguments.
Interlibrary Loan
The ILLiad system enables current SUNY Oneonta students, faculty, and staff to obtain academic and intellectual materials from other libraries. Your ILLiad account will allow you to:
- -- borrow items from other libraries
- -- make online requests for periodical articles from other libraries
- -- review the status of your requests
- -- check due dates of outstanding loans
- -- ask for renewals
- -- and much more.
Citation
It is important to include appropriate citation in your paper. The library has a guide that can help you accurately cite your resources. You can locate it on the library homepage by clicking the "Citing Sources" link, or you can click on the link below.
Search Everything
The library has a search feature called "Search Everything". This is the default search on the library's homepage. Using this tool can be difficult and overwhelming because it searches nearly everything the library has access to, including items in the physical collection as well as resources in our databases.
To effectively search with this feature, use the limiters on the left hand side to narrow down your search results. You can also use the advanced search feature.
If the library does not have access to a particular article, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.