ENGL202 Library Resources

Search in The CAT by LC Subject Heading

• The search statement is your discipline plus either “abstracts” or “indexes”. For example:
Chemistry – abstracts
Engineering – indexes
• The CAT doesn’t read punctuation, so you need to leave the dashes out.
• Potential problem with this method is that the list of resources that you retrieve may contain publications that index something other than the literature of the discipline.
• Not all disciplines have their own separate indexing and abstracting publications. You may have to use a resource that has a broader scope.

Subject	Print Title	Electronic Title
Science	Science Citation Index	Web of Science
Engineering	Engineering Index	ompendex
Physics	Science Abstracts	INSPEC
Mathematics	Math Reviews	MathSciNet
Astronomy		Astrophysical Data System
Chemistry	Chemical Abstracts	SciFinder Scholar
Biology	Biological Abstracts	Biological Abstracts
Medicine	Index Medicus	Medline; PubMed
Geology	Bibliography and Index of Geology	GeoRef
Agriculture	Agricultural Index	Agricola

You can use the same technique to find dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.

• Combine the discipline with the appropriate sub-heading. For example:
Chemistry – dictionaries
Physics – bibliography
Astronomy – encyclopedias
Biology – biography
Medicine – handbooks, manuals, etc.
• Remember, you don’t need the punctuation marks in your search string

Links to resources for separating professional journals from newspapers and magazines

• Minute Module: What’s a Journal?
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/minutemodule/minutemodules.html
• Types of Periodicals and Journals

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infolit/andyou/mod3/types.htm

Locating scholarly journals

• Ulrich’sWeb
http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/ERESOURCES/PSU01081

You’ve been asked to use two specific resources:

• Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications


• Statistical Abstract of the United States

Most of the US government documents are located in the Social Sciences Library on the 2nd floor of Paterno Library; however, selected resources may be housed in other libraries. You should check The CAT to get the exact location.

Social Sciences Library Government Documents Webpage
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/socialsciences/government/

Your assignment sheet has a nice list of style guides. Another important one in the sciences is the one published by the American Chemical Society.

• The ACS Style Guide, 3rd ed.; Coghill, A.M.; Garson, L.R., eds.; ACS: Washington, DC, 2006.
• The PAMS Library has a quick guide to ACS Style at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/pams/Quick%20Guide%20ACS.pdf
• Online Reference Shelf: Style Manuals & Writing Guides
  http://www.libraries.psu.edu/gateway/referenceshelf/writ.htm
• Research Guides by Format
  http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/format/citation.htm

How to evaluate internet resources

Webliographies

• Webliographies are basically bibliographies of websites


• They may be on the web themselves, or they could be published in books or journals

Literature guides to electronic resources, including websites

• Search The CAT using the discipline plus the sub-heading “computer network resources”
Engineering – Computer network resources

• Remember to omit the punctuation from The CAT search

Look at resources on one of our subject library websites.

• Science libraries at University Park

• Other University Park libraries

• University Libraries homepage
• Tutorials


• Information Literacy and You



• The Information Cycle
• Gateway Commons Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here is a printable PDF version of the handout