• 24Feb

    Categories: Geography, History, Humanities, Religion, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts edited by Joseph R. Rudolph, Jr., Greenwood, 2003.

    Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 305.8 R83

    A one-volume guide concerning the study of global ethnic conflict during the 20th Century.  Each of the thirty-eight individual entries discusses the historical background of a particular ethnic conflict, how the conflict was managed, and the impact of the conflict.

    Examples include:

    • Canada: The Nationalist Movement in Quebec
    • China: Ethnic Conflict and the International System
    • France: The “Foreigner” Issue
    • Middle East: The Arab-Jewish Struggle for Palestine to 1948
    • Rwanda: Hutu-Tutsi Conflict and Genocide in Central Africa
    • United States: The United States – Puerto Rico Relationship

    Helpful for:  Literature of Witness, Middle Eastern Voices, Gender Studies, International Studies, Social History, World Politics, Humanities

  • 23Feb

    Categories: History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    Encyclopedia of Gender and Society edited by Jodi O’Brien, Sage Publications, 2009.

    Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 306.7 Ob6G

    A 2-volume set focusing on gender scholarship.  Articles cover many categories including: art, popular culture, sports, body image and health, economics, politics, race and ethnicity, relationships, religion, science and sexuality.

    Examples: Bachelors and Spinsters, Body Hair, GI Joe, Nuns, “Personal is Political,” Sports and Homosexuality, Tomboy/Sissy

    Helpful for
    :  Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, Humanities, Social History, U.S. History, Science

  • 18Feb

    Categories: Databases, History, Humanities, Literature, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    Humanities V students are hopeful about finding sources for their Romantic poets assignment.  Here are helpful tips and research strategies for accessing just the right information at Ohrstrom Library, outlined in the following five easy steps:

    1. Search the Library’s catalog to locate books:
    To find books that can be borrowed visit the Library’s homepage and click on the catalog link – or click HERE:

    Next, type in the name of your assigned poet.  Be sure to search by subject:

    Take down the call numbers and location of any items that are of interest to you.

    • Tip:  Any call number beginning with “Biog” is a biography.  All the biographies are located on the lower level of the library in the final stacks.
    • Tip: If your call number begins with 821, this is a volume of literary criticism.  Literary criticism is located on the main level of the library, half-way through the stacks.

    2. Use the database Biography Resource for biographical info:
    The Biography Resource database is powerful tool containing hundreds of reference texts. To access this database visit the library’s homepage and click on the databases A-J link, and then select Biography Resource – or click HERE.

    Next, type in the name of your assigned poet.

    Select, read, save, and/or print any reference article(s) of interest.

    3. Use selected sets from the printed reference collection for biographies and analysis:
    There are four main selections in the reference room that are very helpful for this assignment.  The sets are listed below in recommended order:

    • Ref. 920 Sco3 The Scribner’s British Writers series contains excellent articles on a variety of poets.  These articles focus on biography and analysis. While the articles range in length, they are often about 20 pages long.  The final volume of the set contains the cumulative index, which, as the articles are not arranged in alphabetical order, is really quite essential.
    • Ref. 821.9 M27 Magill’s Critical Survey of Poetry also contains biography and analysis. The last volume of this set does not contain the index, which is instead, trickily housed in volume 8.
    • Ref. 809.1 P13 World Poets is the library’s most current poet-related set.  Articles are usually not much longer than five pages.
    • Ref. 920 J16 v. 5 Volume 5 of the European Writers set focuses specifically on the Romantic Century.  Poets are listed in chronological order, not alphabetically, so the index in the final volume is once again essential.

    4. Use ARTstor to locate an illustration:
    Some assignments require an illustration representing the explicated poem.  Try ARTstor as a means of locating this illustration.

    To access ARTstor visit the library’s homepage and click on the databases A-J link, and then select ARTstor – or click HERE.

    Next, search for images.

    • Tip: Try searching by title or subject/theme of poem.  Searching by poet’s name will often return portraits.
    • Tip: To locate images created during the Romantic Era, use ARTstor’s advanced search to limit by date.  Add keyword(s) related to the subject/theme of the poem being studied.

    5. Use Noodlebib to complete the bibliography:
    Noodlebib is an excellent tool designed to help both create and store citations.  Click HERE for more information about using Noodlebib, or if you know your way around,  simply visit the Noodlebib website HERE to begin creating citations right away.

    Following these five easy steps will get you well along the way of gathering your research materials for a successful assignment.

  • 16Feb

    Categories: General Works, History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    The Measure of America written and edited by Sarah Burd-Sharps, Kristen Lewis and Eduardo Borges Martins, Columbia U. Press, 2008.

    Find it in Ohrstrom: REF 317 B89M

    A collection of data, statistics and interpretive text that reflects upon and measures the well-being of Americans.  The report focuses, using a variety of different measurements, on three main areas: health, education & standard of living.

    Chapter/Essay Titles Include: The Essential Conditions for Good Health, Health Insurance: The Policy That Unlocks Many Doors, Access to Knowledge: How We Fare Internationally, Factors That Fuel Growth in Earnings InEquality.

    Helpful for: Humanities IV, American History, Social History, Statistics, Gender Studies

  • 09Feb

    Categories: Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television by John Kenneth Muir, McFarland, 2008.

    Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 791.43 M91S

    A one-volume guide discussing superheroes from American film and television.  Each article focuses on a particular superhero, their history, creation and appearance in TV and/or film(s).  When applicable, a complete TV episode-by-episode synopsis follows each entry.

    Examples include:

    • The Amazing Spider-Man
    • The Ambiguously Gay Duo
    • The Bionic Woman
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • Doctor Strange
    • Swamp Thing

    Helpful for:  Humanities IV, Art, Gender Studies, Social History, Pop Culture, Superhero Fans

  • 02Feb

    Categories: History, Humanities, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    Encyclopedia of African American History: 1619 -1895 edited by Paul Finkelman, Oxford U. Press, 2006.

    Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 305.896 F49A

    Throughout three volumes this set discusses the history of African Americans from the earliest American settlements to the close of the nineteenth century corresponding with the death of Frederick Douglass. Entries focus on historical biography, politics, law, culture, religion, and economics.

    Examples include: African Americans and the West, Black Seafarers, Haitian Revolutions, Hair and Beauty Culture, Ida B. Wells-Barnett

    Helpful for: Humanities IV, American History, African American Studies, Social History

    Encyclopedia of African American History: 1896 to the Present edited by Paul Finkelman, Oxford U. Press, 2009.

    Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 305.896 F49A

    In five volumes and 1,250 entries, this set “reflects the trauma, tragedy, hope and accomplishments of black culture and life since 1896” (xxiii).  Entries focus on biography, politics, law, art, music, sport, entertainment, religion, and economics.

    Examples include: Astronauts, Blaxploitation Films, Sean Combs, Family, Oprah, Railroad Segregation, and United Negro College Fund.

    Helpful for: Humanities IV, American History, African American Studies, Social History

  • 21Jan

    Categories: Databases, History, Humanities, Library News, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    Ohrstrom Library is pleased to announce its subscription to American History in Video.  This database provides access to over 5,000 titles from the 1920s to 2008 including: newsreels, documentaries and government footage.

    Every video includes a complete and fully searchable transcript, readable alongside the video.

    Videos can be selected from the database by keyword searching, or by multiple categories, including: subjects, historical eras, years, historical events, people, places and topics.  Consider browsing by year to locate primary source videos created during the time period you are studying.

    Click HERE to access the database.

    To cite this source, be sure to give credit to both the creator of the video and to the database.
    Example:

    Burns, Ken, dir. Civil War. Episode 3, Forever Free (1862). PBS, 1990.

    American History in Video. Web. 12 Dec. 2009. <http://ahiv.alexanderstreet.com/Playlists/326964>.

  • 13Jan

    Categories: Humanities, Library News, Research, Web Resources Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lisa Laughy - Library Web Services
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    You’ve received your assignment and had your class with Ms. Sanborn in the library, but where do you go from there?  Go with the flowchart – the Fourth Form Paper Flowchart, that is.

    The Fourth Form Paper Flowchart was developed as a companion to the Fourth Form Paper Research guide – as an easy way to visualize the process of writing your Humanities paper.   The flowchart is available as a one page PDF document (click HERE) that can be downloaded, saved to your computer desktop, printed out for ready reference, and/or hung on the wall as a constant guide.  Hypertext links have been embedded into the PDF for the online elements, making it possible to click through to the resource described.  Following the flowchart step-by-step will help you see where you are in the research process and what still needs to be done – assisting with time management so you can avoid a last minute crunch.

    Save it, print it, post it, bookmark it, or favorite it, just be sure to take advantage of this great new reference resource!

  • 10Dec

    Categories: History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry 17th and 18th Centuries edited by Virginia Brackett, Facts on File, 2008.

    Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 821 F11B v.2

    This volume, the second of a projected four volume set, presents essays about poems and poets from Middle English and Early Renaissance British Isles. Examples include: Alexander Pope, A Hymn on the Seasons, Ballad, Carpe Diem, and Songs from The Beggar’s Opera.

    Helpful for: Humanities III, Humanities V, Enlightenment Studies, Poets

  • 03Dec

    Categories: History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences Click Here To Comment: 0 Comments

    By Lura Sanborn - Reference Librarian
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    Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

    The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture edited by Gary Hoppenstand, Greenwood Press, 2007.

    Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 306.03 G85W

    Each volume in this 6-volume set  discusses popular culture from a particular area of the world.

    Included are:
    • Volume 1 – North America
    • Volume 2 – Latin America
    • Volume 3 – Europe
    • Volume 4 – North Africa and the Middle East
    • Volume 5 – Sub-Saharan Africa
    • Volume 6 – Asia and Pacific Oceania

    Each volume then discusses the following topics:
    •    Architecture
    •    Art
    •    Dance
    •    Fashion and Appearance
    •    Film
    •    Food and Foodways
    •    Games, Toys and Pastimes
    •    Literature
    •    Love, Sex and Marriage
    •    Music
    •    Periodicals
    •    Radio and Television
    •    Sports and Recreation
    •    Theater and Performance
    •    Transportation and Travel

    Helpful for: Humanities III, Humanities IV, Humanities IV Research Paper, Humanities V, Humanities V Research Paper, Topic Finding, History, Middle Eastern Voices, Global Studies