The Road and the Street

Need help with your research? Contact:

Jen Jarson
Social Sciences Reference Librarian
phone: x3552
email: jarson [at] muhlenberg [dot] edu
IM (AIM, Yahoo, MSN): jjarson1 (add @hotmail.com for MSN)

Need help after hours?
IM the Library at TalkToTrexler (for AIM, Yahoo, and MSN)
Note: Add @hotmail.com for MSN.
Online Sunday-Thursday 2pm-10pm.
See Ask a Librarian for more information.

Finding Books

TREXLER LIBRARY

Search the Trexler Library Catalog to find out what books, government publications, journals, videos, etc. the library owns.

GETTING THERE: Use the shortcut search box on the Library Homepage or Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in the Quick Links box) -- Trexler Library Catalog

OTHER LIBRARIES

WorldCat. To find books held by other libraries, search WorldCat, a database of over 60 million library records from around the country and world. Use the ILL button to request a book from another library. (ILL can take 10-14 days.)

GETTING THERE: Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in Quick Links box) -- Other Library Catalogs -- WorldCat

Finding Articles: Databases & Indexes

SEARCHING FOR SCHOLARLY ARTICLES

To access these and other article databases from the Library Homepage, use the Databases A-Z (in the Quick Links box).

Academic Search Premier
Large and diverse database that covers most academic disciplines. Contains both scholarly and non-academic resources.

JSTOR
Full text of scholarly journals from most academic disciplines. Coverage is from the inception of the journal through three to five years ago.

OmniFile (WilsonWeb)
A full text "mega" database comprised of various smaller databases from separate academic disciplines.

Project MUSE
A full-text database with journal articles in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Sage Journals Online
Full-text access to over 500 journals published by Sage, providing wide coverage of scholarly publications in all disciplines, but particularly the social sciences.

Still can't find what you need?

Check the Subject Guides (linked from the Library Homepage) for other recommended databases by subject area.

Not sure which database will have the best results for your topic? Try Search Central to search across many of the library's databases at once to identify those with the most results for your search. From the Library Homepage, use the Search Central search box in the tab on the Search Central link in the Quick Links box.

SEARCHING FOR NEWS ARTICLES

To access these and other article databases from the Library Homepage, use the Databases A-Z (in the Quick Links box).

Academic Search Premier
Contains popular sources (major newspapers and news magazines), in addition to scholarly sources.

LexisNexis Academic
Major source for finding U.S. and international newspapers.

OmniFile (WilsonWeb)
Contains popular sources (major newspapers and news magazines), in addition to scholarly sources.

GETTING THE ARTICLES

When searching for articles in library databases, you may find the full-text of an article linked in the database.

If not, you need to search the Trexler Library Catalog to see if we own the journal in which the article is published.

Most databases have a Get It! link embedded. Click the link to check our holdings.

Otherwise, search the catalog by journal title or by ISSN . Verify that we have online, print, or microform access to the year/volume you need.

If we do not own the journal you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan.

Some databases have a Request on Interlibrary Loan link embedded. Click the link to fill out the form. Click Submit.

Otherwise, use the Interlibrary Loan Journal Article Request Form (Library Homepage -- Interlibrary Loan (in the Quick Links box) -- Articles request form). Fill out the form with as much information as possible. Ask for help, if you have questions.

Citing Your Sources

See Citation Guides (also linked directly from the Library Homepage) for help citing sources in APA, Chicago, or MLA styles.