eResearch Guides

Book Reviews
Library Research
and
Resources

Doing Library Research

A good research paper should include information from a variety of sources:

  • Books
  • Encyclopedias and other reference works
  • Magazines and journals
  • Newspapers
  • The Internet
    		•

    While the Internet may provide useful information, it may not be your best source.

    Print Resources
    MCC Library Catalog
    Use for books and audiovisual materials at all the libraries in the community college system. Titles at other campuses may be requested if “available.” Enter the word or words that best describe your topic.

    Search by:
    Keyword search     =book review
    Subject search      =literature criticism

    Reference and Circulating Books

    Materials about literature in English, including criticism are assigned call #’s PN, PR-PS & PZ. To find dictionaries, directories, almanacs, encyclopedias, statistics and other related reference books, browse the shelves in the above call number range.

    Databases

    Expanded Academic ASAP
    Use this general interest database to search through over 7 million articles from magazines and scholarly journals. Combine title or author information with terms like: Book Review or Reviews.

         Sample keyword search: Birth of Venus and book reviews
         Search results: 9 citations
         Sample keyword search: Mountains Beyond Mountains and reviews
         Search results: 24 citations


    Masterfile Premier
    Articles from over 2,700 publications! To locate reviews of books try using the Boolean operator AND with the author’s name and the term Book Review. You can also type the title followed by the word "book" to look only at review articles for a book.

         Sample keyword search: Da Vinci Code and book review
         Search results: 49 citations; 29 with full text
         Sample keyword search: Dreams from my Father and book
         Search results: 9 citations; 2 with full text.

    Literature Resource Center
    To find literary criticism and book reviews try an advanced search using the author’s name and the title of the book. Choose the “Literary Criticism, Articles & Work overviews” tab to view book reviews.

    		National News
    Online access to the five top newspapers in the United States including: The Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and L.A. Times in full text since 1999 to the present. Search using keywords such as a book title or the author’s name. You can narrow your search to get better results by using additional terms, e.g. Book or Review.
    An online encyclopedia that gives a basic introduction and reference help to many topics.

    Ethnic NewsWatch
    A collection of full text resources from small multi- ethnic presses, including Native American, African-American and Latino publications. You won’t find these articles in any other database. Searchable in English or Spanish.

    Select Publications Indexed:
         American Indian Quarterly
         Greater Phoenix Jewish News

    Internet Sites


    Nobel Prize in Literature
    http://www.nobelprize.org/literature

    Accessing Library Resources
    From Home
    If you have a computer with Internet access, you can make use of the library's databases from the convenience of your own home. Simply set your Internet browser to the library's main web page (shown below) and follow the links.

    Follow these steps:
    1. Go to http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/library/.

    2. To search for magazines or journals, click on
    "Electronic Resources." At the top of the Electronic Resources page, click the "Off-Campus Access" link.

    3. Make a selection of one of the databases listed.

    4. Log on with your MCC e-mail user name and password.

    Literature resources are in the “General Magazines/Journals” and “Communication/Literature” section.

    All databases listed may be accessed from your home or school computer.

    All Research Guides are available online at: http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/library/researchguides.html

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