English 494
Laptop Day: Finding Scholarly Sources
| Names | 1. | 2. | 3. |
Directions: You can work on your own, or you can work in a group of 2-3 other people. Write your name(s) at the top of this sheet, since you'll be handing it in at the end of class.
For today's laptop day exercise, you'll investigate and evaluate scholarly sources online. All the materials below are linked online at http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/findmla.htm .
As you look at sources, remember:
1. Begin with the most recent sources and work your way back, since recent sources will incorporate previous ones.
2. Not all web sources are created equal. How credible is the author or hosting site? What evidence of omissions or bias can you see? For example, if a site claims that Twain was an ancient alien placed on earth to make the human race laugh, what evidence does the site provide, and how credible is the author?
Please search these resources in order.
General Resources
1.First, identify the topic you wish to search (i.e., F.Scott Fitzgerald, etc.) and write it in the space below:
2. Try your search in Google, as you'd normally do anyway. How many hits did you get?
What were the top hits (Wikipedia, etc.)
How useful were they?
Did any of them look "unusual" (i.e., Fitzgerald inpsired Hitler, etc.)? How could you tell that they were sketchy sites?
3. Now try Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) and Google Books Advanced Search http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search. What did you find?
Scholarly Resources
4. The MLA Bibliography is the gold standard for literary studies. What did you find when you put your search terms in there? How many references?
How could you save those to a list and mail it to yourself for future reference?
How could you incorporate those into your bibliography?
How can you get an article if it's not at WSU?
Library Resources
The WSU library has a number of resources for finding books and articles.
5. Try your search term in the Griffin Catalogue (http://griffin.wsu.edu/). What resources do we have for your subject?
6. Try your search term in Summit (http://summit.worldcat.org/), where you can borrow books for free using your WSU ID card. What did you find there?
7. The library has an English and American literature research guide available at: http://libguides.wsulibs.wsu.edu/englishandamericanlit. Try the resources from that link or at least two of the resources below. What did you find?
What looks most useful for your project?
What 1920s resources might be useful for you?
http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/magazines.htm
Stack chart showing where books are in the library.
| Title | Call Number | Notes |
| American Mercury, The | 905 Am345 | Deweys (basement) |
| Atlantic Monthly, The | AP2 .A798x | First floor |
| Book Review Digest | Z1219 .C96 | Holland |
| Bookman, The | 805 .B6446 | Deweys (basement) |
| Colliers | B71 | Locked compact storage |
| Cosmopolitan | A231 | Locked compact storage |
| Crisis | 326.05 C868 | Holland and Terrell Microfiche (first floor) |
| Dial, The | Microfiche 805 D541 | Deweys (basement) |
| Harper's | Not available for the 1920s | -- |
| Harper's Bazaar | TT500 H3 | First floor |
| McClure's | AP2 .A4992 477-492. A2366 Locked Compact Storage |
Earlier issues are in 805.N42 (compact storage in basement)) |
| New York Times, The | Available through ProQuest | AN33.N4 N49x (Electronic resource) |
| New Yorker, The | Microfilm 805 N423 |
Issues from the 1920s are in the Microfilm Department (first floor) |
| North American Review, The | A2894 | Locked compact storage. |
| Redbook | Not available. | only one issue, not from the 1920s |
| Saturday Evening Post, The | AP2 .S2 | Bound volumes from the 1920s are available. WSU Holland & Terrell Current-Journals & Newspapers |
| Scribner's | 805 Scr31 | Deweys (basement) |
| Smart Set | Not available at WSU; order through Summit | -Be sure to specify that this is not available, since a similar publication is and Summit might reject your first request. |
| Time | AP2 .T37 | First floor |
| Vogue | TT500 .V7 | |
| Woman's Home Companion | B51 | Deweys (basement) |
Locked compact storage items must be ordered 24 hours in advance. Ask at the circulation or reference desk, or call 335-9671.
Summary: What resources seemed the most promising for your topic, and why?