Researching a Contemporary Issue
in the Birnbaum Library

This is a research guide to some of the print, electronic and Internet resources available in the Henry Birnbaum Library for researching a contemporary issue. Contemporary issues are current "hot topics" that appear in the news frequently and are controversial.  This guide attempts to follow the research procedures outlined in the Bedford Handbook by Diana Hacker (Birnbaum Reserve PE1408.H277 2002).

Choosing a Topic

Use some of these sources to help you find and refine  your topic ideas. These can also be used for background information.

• CQ Researcher: (Current year, Reserve Ref H35.E354) Weekly issues with one topic covered in detail.
• Issues and Controversies on File: (Reserve Ref D410.I86 2002) News Digest of current issues and controversies. 
• Social Issues: (Ref HM17.E5152 1998) Selections from Macmillan's Encyclopedia of Sociology (Ref HM 425 .E5 2000, Vols. 1-5).
• Reference Shelf series: Located upstairs in the circulating book collection. One topic per book. Perform a keyword search in the library catalog using the search terms "reference shelf".
• At Issue series: Located upstairs in the circulating book collection. One topic per book. Search the catalog by keyword, typing in "at issue".
• Opposing Viewpoints series: Located upstairs in the circulating book collection. One topic per book. Search the catalog by keyword, typing in "opposing viewpoints".

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Developing a Search Strategy

It is important to develop your search strategy before using the library catalog, electronic databases or searching on the Internet. Organizing your search terms will make your search more efficient and productive, and will save you time.

For example, if you search for the word "abortion" in the catalog, you will get 495 hits. But if you type in  "abortion and minority" in the catalog, you get five hits -- a much more manageable number of resources to review and evaluate than 495!

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Reference Materials for Background Information

"Academic research papers should be based to some extent on library sources, such as books and periodical articles, which meet at least minimal editorial standards." (Hacker, p. 525)  "Often you will want to begin by reading background information in an encyclopedia or a biographical reference. Later you may need to turn to other reference works such as atlases, almanacs, or dictionaries." (Hacker, p. 528).

• Encyclopedias: General encyclopedias are located on the first floor near the copy machines. They give objective information on a broad range of topics.
  • Academic American
  • Collier's
  • Encyclopedia Americana
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica (see also Britannica Online)
  • World Book
    
• Specialized Encyclopedias: Encyclopedias from a certain discipline or about a certain subject. These are some sample subject encyclopedias. You may search the Library catalog for others (try a keyword search using "[your subject area] and encyclopedias").
  • Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising  Ref HF 5803.A38 2003
  • Encyclopedia of Bioethics  Ref QH332.E52 1995
  • Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice  Ref HV6017.E52 2002 (v.1-4)
  • Encyclopedia of Education Ref LB15.E47 2003 (v.1-8)
  • Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations Ref JZ 1160.N62 2002 (v.1-4)
  • McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology  Ref Q121.M3 2002
  • West's Encyclopedia of American Law  Ref KF154.W47 1998
    
• Biographical Resources: Use these sources if you are researching a famous person.  Note that you can also find information on people in reference sources dealing with the person's field of endeavor.
  • American National Biography  Ref CT213.A68 1999
  • Biography and Genealogy Master Index available online from the library's databases page.
    
• Almanacs:
  • World Almanac and Book of Facts Ref AY67.N5 W7 2003; also online as part of the Lexis-Nexis Universe database.
  • Whitaker's Almanack (British) Ref AY754.W5 2003
    
• Specialized Almanacs
  • African-American Almanac  Ref E185.N385 2003
  • Hispanic American Almanac Ref E184.S75 H557 2003
    
• Statistical Sources
  • Social Statistics Briefing Room  http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/ssbr.html  
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States  Ref Desk and Reserve HA202 2002, or online at http://www.census.gov/statab/www/
  • Pace Library Internet Resources: Statistics  http://www.pace.edu/library/pages/libinfo/readyref.html, then choose "Statistics" as your subject area.
    
• Dictionaries
  • Oxford English Dictionary  Ref PE1625.O87 1989
  • American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Ref PE1625.A54 2000
  • Webster's New World College Dictionary  Ref PE1628.W5629 1999
  • Webster's Dictionary Online http://www.m-w.com
    
• Specialized Dictionaries: Use these dictionaries to check meanings of usages of terms used in specific subject areas or disciplines. The following are a few examples of specialized dictionaries. To find others, try a keyword search in the library catalog using "[subject area] and dictionaries".
  • Black's Law Dictionary Reserve Ref KF156.B52 1999
  • The American Political Dictionary Ref JK9.P55 1997
  • Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang  Ref PE2846.H57 1994
    
• Other Reference Sources:
  • American Attitudes: Who thinks what about the issues that shape our lives Ref HN90.P8 M58 2000
  • Bartleby.com http://bartleby.com Contains an encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, English usage, quotations, Oxford Shakespeare and full text of poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

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Books: Sources of In-depth Information

Books can be found by searching the library catalog using subjects or keywords. The "Subject" search uses Library of Congress Subject Headings, while the keyword search uses natural language, but not natural sentence structure! See the section on "Search Strategy" for more explanation.

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Periodicals and Newspapers: Sources of Recent Information

Should be used to update and supplement the information you find in books and on web pages. To find articles on a specific subject, use one or more of the library databases. The Pace University Library subscribes to over 100 databases that index journals, magazines, and newspapers. Many of these databases contain the full text of articles; other articles may be available in printed form in the library's periodicals section.

All of these databases are available from the Library Homepage (http://www.pace.edu/library). Click on "Databases" and then choose the database you want to use from the lists provided.  Some databases that might be useful are:

• Academic Search Premier: Includes articles in various academic disciplines; many are full text.
  
  
• Research Library: Good source for general interest periodicals and newspapers related to the social sciences, humanities, general science fields, and business.
  
  
• Lexis-Nexis Universe: Good for current event information from newspapers and magazines. All entries are full text.

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Internet Resources

Or "alternatives to Google and Altavista". There is nothing wrong with either of these search engines, except you may end up with quantity and not quality. Give these a try!

• Evaluated Sites:
  • Pace University Internet Resources http://www.pace.edu/library/pages/libinfo/readyref.html Choose by topic, all sites evaluated and annotated by a librarian.
    
  • Internet Scout Project's Archives  http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/archives Annotated sites chosen by librarians and educators.
    
  • INFOMINE  http://infomine.ucr.edu  Scholarly Internet Resource Collections from the University of California.
    
  • Librarian's Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org Organized by subject and searchable by keyword.
• Other Search Engines:
  • Pace University Internet Search Tools  http://www.pace.edu/library/pages/links/search.html

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Evaluating Internet Resources

Web sites can be very good sources of information, depending on the reliability of the page and the publisher. Remember that anyone in the world can publish a web page, and be sure to carefully evaluate the information that you find on the web.

• For some guides to web evaluating, please check the library's Evaluating Resources page.

• The Bedford Handbook (p. 553) covers similar material.

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Citing Your Sources

Once you have finished your research and written your paper,  you will need to prepare your bibliography and cite any items you have used. The library has prepared some information for you. Please check with your instructor regarding the appropriate citation style for your paper or project. We have given examples in both APA and MLA on the How to Cite Resources page.

Also, see Bedford sections 48 and 50 about avoiding plagiarism. MLA documentation begins on page 584 (Section 53), while APA begins on page 676 (Section 56).

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Still Need Help? Ask a Librarian!

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