Will the Poor Always Be With Us?

Selected Reference Resources
These resources are shelved in the Reference Collection, located on Level A of Trexler Library. Use the indexes in these volumes to look up your topic. This may lead you to relevant articles that will give you background information, as well as a bibliography or list for further reading.

Encyclopedia of World Poverty
Reference 362.503 E56o

Encyclopedia of Sociology
Reference 301.03 E56of

Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints
Reference 362.50973 D328p

World Poverty
Reference 339.46 G464w

Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, and Policy
Reference 339.460973 M665p

Poverty in the United States During the Sixties: A Bibliography
Reference 016.3625 T662p

Statistical Handbook on Poverty in the Developing World
Statistics Reference 339.46 K21s

World Development Indicators
Statistics Reference 330.91 W927d 2006

World Development Report
Statistics Reference 330.91724 W927

Finding Books
Trexler Library's main collection of circulating books is located on levels B and C. When searching the catalog, you may notice government documents listed in your search results. These are located on level A.

Trexler Library Catalog
From the library home page (www.muhlenberg.edu/library), follow the path: Finding Books Our Catalog. Use the Quick Search to do a keyword search on your topic (e.g., "welfare reform"). If necessary, you can narrow your search by adding more keywords, or by soing a subject search based upon the subject headings attached to relevant titles located through your keyword search. (Use the Quick Search drop-down menu and click on "Subject".)

WorldCat
From the library home page (www.muhlenberg.edu/library), follow the path: Finding Books WorldCat.
To locate books and other documents that are not part of the Trexler Library collections, search WorldCat, an online catalog that will locate books owned by other libraries in the United States and around the world. If you find an item that you would like to use in your research, click on the link in the WorldCat record that says "Borrow this item from another library" and fill out the interlibrary loan request form. It may take up to two weeks to get your book, so place these requests as early as possible. If you need assistance, a librarian will be happy to help you.

EZ Borrow
From the library home page (www.muhlenberg.edu/library), follow the path: Finding Books EZ Borrow Catalogs.
Another way of obtaining books that are not owned by Trexler Library is through EZ Borrow, a consortium of over 60 Pennyslvania libraries (plus a few in West Virginia and New Jersey). Books requested through this service often arrive within 3-5 days.

Finding Articles: Searching the Databases
To find articles in academic journals, magazines, or newspapers, search any of the electronic databases listed below. Start at the library home page (www.muhlenberg.edu/library) and follow the path: Finding Articles Periodical Databases & Indexes Alphabetical List.

General / Interdisciplinary Databases:

Academic Search Premier
This database is a good place to begin your search for articles because it covers a wide range of topics and includes many articles in full-text.

Omnifile (WilsonWeb)
A group of databases covering a broad range of topics, with many full-text links.

JSTOR
Provides access to the full text of articles from back issues of journals covering a diverse range of subjects. This is a useful database if you are looking for articles from the past few decades.

LexisNexis Academic
A good source for news reports. Includes individual databases for news, business, legal research, and medical information. Full text.Coverage varies.

Project MUSE
Covers a broad range of topics in the humanities and social sciences, including philosophy, ethics, political science, and religion. 1990s-present. Full Text.

Specialized Databases:

America: History and Life
Indexes historical journals, dissertations, and book reviews from the 1960s to the present. Covers the history of the United States and Canada.

Business Source Elite
Full-text database covering many topics related to business and economics.

Economic Literature (EconLit)
Provides citations for dissertations, journals, books, and working papers on economics.

PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service)
A comprehensive political science database. Search here for the political aspects of poverty. 1970s-present.

Sociological Abstracts
Provides access to the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social behavioral sciences.

Journal Locator
If you are trying to locate a specific article, look first for the journal containing that article. From the library home page (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/), follow the path: Finding Articles Journal Locator. Type in the title of the journal (not the title of the article), click the Search button, and you will then be provided with information on whether or not the library owns that journal, and if so, in which format and for which years. If you need assistance, a librarian will be happy to help you.

 

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Interlibrary loan is a free service to Muhlenberg students, and you may submit as many requests as needed. ILL requests may also be submitted from your home (or another remote) computer. The form to request a book is different from the form to request an article. To access the interlibrary loan request forms from the library homepage, follow one of the paths listed below:

For books: Finding Books Borrowing from Other Libraries Interlibrary Loan or E-ZBorrow
After clicking on Interlibrary Loan (ILL), you will see a link to the ILL request form in blue at the top of the page. Simply click on the link, fill out the required fields, include your name and student ID number (without the dash), and submit your request. You will receive an email when your book arrives. It may be picked up at the circulation desk in the library.

For articles: Finding Articles Getting a Copy of an Article
After clicking on Getting a Copy of an Article you will see the blue link to the article request form at the top of the page. Follow the same procedures for filling out the form as described above for books.

In order to obtain the books and articles that you need in a timely fashion, place your requests as early as possible. See also the instructions (above) for EZBorrow, an alternative and usually faster service for borrowing books from other libraries.

 

Searching the Web

The Trexler Library home page (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/) can also provide you with assistance in searching the Internet. Follow the path: Finding More Searching the Web. Here you will find a list of search engines and Web directories. Proceed with caution when using a search engine; results will not necessarily provide accurate information. To access a checklist of criteria for evaluating web and print resources, follow the path from the library home page: Research Help Research Basics Evaluating Web and Print Resources.

Institute for Research on Poverty (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/home.htm
Here you can access the full text of Institute reports on diverse aspects of poverty. All reports have excellent bibliographies. Use the search function for quick location of articles on a specific topic.

National Poverty Center (Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan)
http://www.npc.umich.edu/
Also searchable, this site provides full text access to research publications, as well as audio and visual resources. A link to United States Poverty Facts may also be useful.

Center on Hunger and Poverty (Brandeis University)
http://centeronhunger.brandeis.edu/
Click on the publications link to access the full-text of numerous documents on the relationship between poverty and hunger / inadequate nutrition.

Rural Poverty Research Center (University of Missouri-Columbia)
http://www.rprconline.org/
Provides information on Persistent Poverty Counties in the U.S. and other data on rural poverty.

Census Bureau: Poverty
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html
A government site with a wealth of information on poverty, including an overview, definitions, recent reports, historical tables, and links to related sites.

Dept. of Health and Human Services: Poverty Guidelines, Research, and Measurement
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/
Another government website with lots of data on how poverty is measured, as well as links to other pertinent sites. See especially the Frequently Asked Questions.

Citing Your Sources
To avoid plagiarism, you must document the information and ideas of others that you use in your paper. Handbooks and handouts providing information on the correct way to cite both print and electronic sources are available at the reference desk. If you are having difficulties figuring out how to cite a source, a librarian will be happy to help you.

Librarians at Trexler Library have prepared a short guide to each of the major citation syles (APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian), and these include examples for citing various types of resources. These guides can be accessed from the library homepage by following the path: Research Help Citation Guides. A .pdf file of each guide is available for printing.

If you would like to try using an automated guide to create your citations, visit NoodleBib Express
(http://www.noodletools.com/noodlebib/express.php). This tool covers only the MLA and APA styles.

If you would like to learn more about what MLA or APA citation style is, visit the Drop-In Workshops page at http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/guides/libinst/workshops/index.html.

 

 

Need help ... ?

If you would like help with your research, please feel free to contact me at:

Lynne Kvinnesland
Reference Assistant
Trexler Library
484-664-3542
kvinnesland@muhlenberg.edu

or visit the library and consult one of the librarians at the Information / Reference Desk.
We are all here to assist you!