Gothic & Horror in Our Culture

Need help with your research? Contact:

Martha Stevenson
Reference Librarian
Phone: x3601
msteven@muhlenberg.edu

Reference Desk Hours:
Call or email to confirm
M 5-9 p.m.
T,Th 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
W,F 12-1 p.m.

Office hours (by appt.):
Call or email to arrange

FINDING BOOKS

    Trexler Library

    Search the Trexler Library Catalog (http://library.muhlenberg.edu) to find books the library owns. 

    A keyword search produces a broad list of results.  Use with Boolean Operators.
Use OR between like concepts or synonyms.  Use AND between different concepts.
		Example:  goth*

    	
A subject heading search produces a small, exact list of results.
	Library of Congress Subject Headings specifically for TLC
		Example:  gothic or horror
      Dictionary of Art
      Ref. Collection 703 T948d
      Extensive discussion of Gothic and Gothic revival architecture, art, and furniture.

      Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands
      Business Ref. 658.8343 E56o

      Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns
      Business Ref. 659.1 E560
      Notable ad campaigns.

      Man, Myth, and Magic
      Ref. Collection 133 M266m
      Includes sections on vampires, witchcraft, paranormal, etc.

      New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
      Ref. Collection 903 N532d
      Studies of selected pivotal ideas, including "gothic".

      Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
      Ref. Collection 016.8093876 B955r

      St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
      Ref. Collection 973.9 S143j
      Covers staples of American pop culture like "vampires".

    WorldCat

    To expand your journal search considerably, try WorldCat. Follow the path: Trexler Library Home Page - Find - Books,Videos,Music - WorldCat. WorldCat is a unified catalog of many libraries in the U.S. and other parts of the world. This is a powerful search tool for books, web resources, and other materials on any subject. It will list area libraries if there are any and their holdings for that journal title.

    Regional Libraries

    As a Muhlenberg student, you have access and borrowing privileges to a number of college libraries in the Lehigh Valley. The Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges includes Cedar Crest College, DeSales University, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, and Moravian College. The web page for Regional Libraries (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/find/booksvideosmusic.html) will give you online access to their catalogs. Follow the path: Trexler Library Home Page - Find - Books,Videos,Music - Regional Libraries.

ELECTRONIC DATABASES
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/articles/databases/index.html

    Academic Search Premier contains full text for more than 4,500 scholarly and popular journals covering academic areas like the medical sciences, ethnic studies, education, humanities, etc.

    Business Source Elite is a full text database of over 1,000 of the world's top management and marketing journals. Dates back to 1985.

    Communication & Mass Media Complete indexes over 600 titles with half being in full text. Areas covered are those related to communication and the mass media like television, radio, etc.

    JSTOR full text archival database that covers a wide variety of subjects.

    Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe is a full-text database of major newspapers, newswires, select trade journals and magazines.

    MLA is produced by the Modern Language Association and is a bibliography of journal articles, books, disserations from the 1920s to the present. The scope includes literature, language, linguistics, folklore, literary thoery and criticism, dramatic arts, etc.

    Omnifile is full text covering a variety of subject areas.

    Sage Journals Online is full text from 1999 to the present although citations can be from as far back as the 1890s. Topics covered include communication, business, psychology, political science, sociology, religion, etc.

    SocAbs (Sociological Abstracts) provides citations and abstracts of research in sociology and related disciplines in the social behavioral sciences.

INTERLIBRARY LOAN
Books and journals not found in Trexler Library can be ordered through Interlibrary Loan (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/more/ill/index.html).
Remember, start early to allow enough time to receive them. It could take anywhere from 7 days to 2 weeks.

SEARCHING THE WEB
When deciding to use information from the web look at the checklist on the library's webpage for Evaluating Resources.

CITING SOURCES
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/citations.html

No matter where your information comes from, you always need to cite your sources. This is necessary to give the author proper credit for his or her work, as well as so that you or someone else could retrace the steps you took doing your research. The following sources provide examples of how to cite a wide variety of types of materials in footnotes or a bibliography.

The most frequently used citations have been compiled by the reference librarians on a webpage and handout. These can be found by following the path: Research Help - Citation Guides.