Research Guides: ENGL 100 Composition: Search Strategies for Everyone

Handout & Videos

Handouts

Steps to Research Handout - (Dr. P.'s Handout) Just starting out with research? Need a refresher about how to use the library? Like Step-By-Step instructions? This is your handout!
Steps to Research Handout - ADA PDF
Steps to Research Handout - ADA Word Doc
Steps to Research Brief (2pp) The 8 Steps summarized, with some helpful links for Interlibrary Loan.

Videos

Videos for the Steps to Research by Dr. P. A series of videos that explain the Steps to Research Handout and other research & library support.
All Library Tutorial Videos Dr. P.'s videos plus all the other videos created by CSULB librarians that are specific to your majors.

Videos + Tutorials & Assessment

Tutorials & Assessment for Steps to Research Videos
These are Dr. P.'s "How to Use the Library" videos with tutorials & assessment. Includes a How to Avoid Plagiarism Tutorial!

Supplemental Materials

Free Grammar Check A free grammar checker online. Always ask for further help from your professor and The CSULB Writing Center.
What Is a Scholarly Article? Brief explanation of scholarly articles and the peer-review process.
Identifying Types of Sources A brief guide to identifying primary and secondary sources.
Identifying Fake News Guide from the University of Oregon

Creating Keywords and Thinking Through Your Research - A Worksheet A step-by-step worksheet/guide to starting with a few words all the way through to evaluating the best sources for your assignment.

Get Help with Writing at the UWC The University Writing Center offers one-to-one and small group tutorials in writing essays and projects for your classes.

Find DVDs in the Library A search for physical DVDs in the Library

To see all options for streaming media, check out my video Accessing eMaterials and go to TimeStamp 11:18.

Library Spaces - a Video Overview A short video about the library's spaces and what they offer you.

Citation Help

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language; The Modern Language Association of America
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9781603293518
Publication Date: 2021-05-30

MLA Style 8th Ed. - Dr. P.'s Guide The 8th Edition is not that different from the 9th Edition. This guide offers basic MLA Style templates for articles and books.
MLA Style on Purdue OWL From webpage: "MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (8th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page."

There are more styles than just MLA, and you may use other styles often in classes outside of ENGL. Here are some links that can help!

APA Citations - 6th Edition vs. 7th Edition This handout makes a comparison between the differences in APA Style 6th Edition vs. 7th Edition.
APA 7th Edition Journal Article Reference Checklist

APA Style on Purdue OWL From website: "APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed., 2nd printing)."
APA Inclusive Language Guide
Chicago Style on Purdue OWL From website: "This section contains information on The Chicago Manual of Style method of document formatting and citation. These resources follow the seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, which was issued in 2017."
Purdue Univeristy's OWL Writing Help

CSULB's Citation LibGuide Overall information about citation style.

Access the Library

1. Chrome is the preferred browser for our Library website.

2. Sign-In to MYCSULB:

csulb.edu > Students > Single Sign-On (SSO) > Library Button

Databases: All Topics

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window Comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
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Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window Contains coverage for more than 2,300 journals covering a wide range of business topics. In addition, the databases includes access to company profiles, country reports, industry reports, market research reports and SWOT analyses.
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Ethnicity & Social Justice Resources In solidarity with the anti-racism #scholarstrike September 8 and 9, 2020, we have created this Research Guide. Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism Resources and Research highlights NEW Library resources that support scholarship and learning in these areas. In addition, we have listed other excellent resources that will be useful to all researchers.

Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window A collection of viewpoints from various sources on social issues, such as gun control, genetic engineering, censorship, abortion, endangered species, to name a few. Includes relevant articles, encyclopedia entries and opinions for each topic covered.
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Gale Literature Criticism This link opens in a new window Includes diverse literary criticisms: Contemporary, Twentieth and Nineteenth Century, from 1400-1800, Classical & Medieval, Shakespearean, and Drama Criticism, encompassing a wide range of periods and styles.
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Databases: Popular

Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window The full-text documents in the Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity: LGBTQ History and Culture include material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups since 1940. They present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century.
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Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window The Black Studies Center provides access to original articles, scholarly essays, timelines, images, and film clips, in addition to full-text access to The Chicago Defender, 1910-1975. Coverage: 1910 to date. Updated: monthly.
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CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new window Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature is a resource for finding nursing and allied health literature: journals, books, pamphlets, audiovisuals, software, research instruments, nursing dissertations, evidence based care sheets, etc. and provides full text for 391 journals, plus legal cases, clinical innovations, critical paths, drug records, research instruments and clinical trials. Coverage: 1937 to present.
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Communication Source This link opens in a new window Provides articles in areas related to communication and mass media. Originated with the acquisition and subsequent merging of two popular databases in the fields of communication and mass media studies -- Communication and Mass Media Complete and Communication Abstracts.
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Congress.Gov This link opens in a new window Provides U.S. federal legislative and agency information through the Library of Congress.
Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window U.S. Government publications U.S. Bills & Laws (1789-2013); House and Senate Hearings & Reports (1817-2018) and Miscellaneous documents (1789-2003); Maps (1789-2007); CRS-Congressional Research Service Reports (1916-2003); Executive Orders & Proclamations (1789-2017)
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CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window Find in-depth coverage of current political events. Each issue provides a summary, the pros-cons, a chronology, and a lengthy bibliography to more sources. 1991 to present.
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Environmental Issues Online This link opens in a new window Brings together multimedia materials around key environmental challenges, including climate change, water/air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, agriculture, deforestation and more.
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ERIC (via EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Education Resource Information Center, Find information about education, including journal articles, teaching guides, dissertations and theses, and books dating back to 1966.
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Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window U.S. and international news sources. More than 2,500 news sources including newspapers, newswires, news journals, television and radio transcripts, blogs, podcasts, and digital-only websites in full-text format from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Updated daily.
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Human Rights Studies Online This link opens in a new window Access documentation, analysis, and interpretation of major human rights violations and atrocity crimes worldwide from 1900 to 2010. Coverage of Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur, and more than thirty additional areas.
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Immigrations, Migrations and Refugees: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996 This link opens in a new window Primary sources covering 20th-century human migration, including firsthand accounts of post-World War II Jewish resettlement, South African apartheid, Latin American migrations to the United States, the first Gulf War and more. Sources include radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, and government documents gathered daily by a U.S. government organization that became part of the CIA. It covers issues such as xenophobia, religious movements, border issues, and the treatment of refugees.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window Archive of scholarly journals cover to cover. Interdisciplinary coverage of journals back to the first issue through to the last few years. Also includes over 2 million images originally from Artstor.
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Latin America in Video This link opens in a new window Original-language documentaries from some of the most important producers and independent filmmakers in Latin America. The videos were produced in Latin America, by Latin Americans, about Latin American issues, such as human rights, violence, immigration, illiteracy, popular culture, and political history. The first of its kind, the collection’s materials are presented in their original language with abstracts and indexing in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
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Latino American Experience This link opens in a new window The Latino American Experience contains over 200 full-text titles from encyclopedias and biographies, primary documents in English and Spanish, and images documenting the Latino American experience. The database includes treaties, speeches, timelines, classroom lesson plans, and access to vetted websites.
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LGBT Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window Rare archival content, including letters, court documents, periodicals, speeches, interviews and ephemera from local, national and international organizations, as well as notable individuals from around the world, to trace the history of LGBT political, social and cultural movements from the late 19th century to the present day.
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Nutrition and Food Sciences Database This link opens in a new window Covers the whole food chain from the raw ingredients to the physiological and health effects of nutrients. Key subject areas include public health, clinical nutrition, nutrition physiology, food safety, food security, consumer behavior, food science and technology, and food product groups such as functional foods.
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Project MUSE This link opens in a new window Provides the full-text electronic versions of more than 200 scholarly journals. Updated monthly.
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PsycARTICLES This link opens in a new window PsycArticles is a definitive source of searchable full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. The PsycArticles database covers general psychology and specialized, basic, applied, clinical and theoretical research. The database contains more than 40,000 articles from 53 journals - 45 published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and 8 from allied organizations. It includes all journal articles, letters to the editor and errata from each journal. Coverage: 1985 to present.
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Revolution and Protest Online This link opens in a new window Examines the most studied and important events and themes related to revolution and protest from the 18th century through the early 21st century. 30+ thematic units representing a variety of time periods, regions, and topics.
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ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window Full text of Elsevier's journals, covering sciences, health, and social sciences since 1995 as well as indexing of other publisher's journals.
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Slavery & Antislavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window This 4-part archive includes 5.4 million pages of history, including collections on the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery, the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system, and the dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions.
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Social Explorer This link opens in a new window Provides thousands of interactive and downloadable data maps, charts, and reports with built-in data indicators related to demographic, economy, health, politics, crime, and environmental information in the USA.
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SocINDEX Full Text This link opens in a new window Abstracts and links to articles in anthropology, criminal justice, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, politics, psychology, religion, sociology, social work & many others. Articles back to 1940.
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USA.Gov This link opens in a new window The U.S. government's official search engine to all federal, state, and local government information and services.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window Provides access to high-quality research from the world's leading arts, humanities, science and social science journals. Includes a Cited Reference search. Online coverage is 1993-present. Earlier print versions are in the library.
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Women and Social Movements in the U.S., Scholar's Edition This link opens in a new window Contains over 5,100 documents and 175,000 pages of full-text documents that focus on U.S. women’s history from 1600-2000. Includes documents related to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Woman Suffrage Movement, Civil Rights Movement, and others.
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Women’s Studies Archive This link opens in a new window Global archive of primary sources on the social, political, and professional aspects of women's lives. Includes records from Planned Parenthood, the Malthusian League, the Women Pioneers and Women Missionaries collections, the Women’s Labor League and Trade Union League collections, and others.
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FMD 357 - Dr. P.'s Tips

For those of you whom I've seen in FMD 357, here's my latest handout!

FMD 357 - Spring 2022
A Word Doc that has my tips for searching Fashion topics.

How to Find a Book on the Shelf
Remember, the numbers for Fashion Merchandising & Apparel Design are:

GT 500 - 2370

TT 490 - 979

They are located on the 2nd & 4th floors of the library!

Learn about Journals

Ulrichsweb (Ulrich's) This link opens in a new window Ulrich's often notes whether a journal is refereed/peer-reviewed. Their information may differ from other databases. Look at the journal's website directly (Google the name of it) to see what their review process is, and share what you learn with your professor.
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You can Google the journal title and look for the following information on its website:

How difficult is it to submit an article to be reviewed & published in the journal? How long will the review process take?
Who will review submitted articles? Google the people listed on the Editorial Board to learn about their level of expertise.

These elements help us determine who the "peers" are in the peer-reviewed process, if the journal has one.

If the journal does not have a clear structure to review articles published within it, or a clear list of people who will review articles for the journal, it may not have a strong review process. Show your professor what you find out to make sure the journal is useful for your assignment.

To FIND Journals, see my How to Find Journals Video.

Google Quick Tips

Google Search Tips - Site & File Searches YouTube video with easy tips to search Google and Google Scholar, looking specifically at searching with different kinds of sites and find particular file types, like PDFs.

Google & Google Scholar

Quick Tips

Want results that are only pdf files? Add to your search: filetype:pdf
Want only .gov websites? Add to your search: site:.gov
Want only .edu websites? Similar tip: site:.edu
Want to search within a website? Add the website to your search: site:usa.gov

Can't think of a topic?

Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window A collection of viewpoints from various sources on social issues, such as gun control, genetic engineering, censorship, abortion, endangered species, to name a few. Includes relevant articles, encyclopedia entries and opinions for each topic covered.
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CQ Magazine This link opens in a new window Nonpartisan news and analysis on bills and laws. 1993 to date
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CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window Find in-depth coverage of current political events. Each issue provides a summary, the pros-cons, a chronology, and a lengthy bibliography to more sources. 1991 to present.
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Library Instruction Survey

Library Lecture Assessment Spring 2024