Library Instruction for Graduate Assistants in English
Prepared by: Peggy Flaherty, Library 306C, 2/21/03
858/622-3068; Peggy.Flaherty@eku.edu
MLA Database
Project Muse
Ejournals List
MLA Database (First Search General)
§ The Basics
o Main database for literature, languages, folklore, linguistics
o International in coverage
§ Indexes journals, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies
o Dates: 1963-
o Updated 9 times per year
o No full-text; some links available (we have purchased linking software but don’t have it up and running yet)
o Can limit holdings to EKU
o Can limit search results by publication type
§ Each record gives a bibliographic citation
§ Each record includes information about libraries owning the resource and an option to initiate an interlibrary loan request
§ 24/7 (except for Sundays, 2–6 a.m. EST)
§ Scope
o Literature from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America
o Folklore, including folk literature, music, art, rituals, and belief systems
o Linguistics and language materials, including history, theory, and translation
o Literary theory and criticism
o Dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater)
o History of printing and publishing
§ Now includes listings on rhetoric and composition and on the history, theory, and practice of teaching language and literature at the college level
§ More Details
§ The #1 research tool for books and articles on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore
§ Electronic access to over 1.5 million citations from 1963 to the present covering literature, language, film, linguistics, and folklore
§ Also includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals (updated every 6 months), which provides information on more than 4000 journals and series, many of which are indexed in the database
§ International
o Material indexed comes from all over the globe
o Majority of entries are in English
o At least 60 other languages are represented
§ Indexing
o Done by specialists with advanced degrees in literature, language, folklore, and linguistics
o Thesaurus of over 45, 000 topical terms and 327,00 names that reflect the state of current research
o New concepts are regularly added to the thesaurus
§ Search Tips (After logging onto FirstSearch)
o Jump to Advanced Search and use the drop-down menu to select MLA
o Identify your search topic
o Isolate the key ideas in the topic
o Select key search terms (can enter up to 3 for each search)
o Use the thesaurus to find the best way to enter terms and names
o Can use the keyword option or select other options from the drop-down menu (subject phrase, author phrase, title phrase, etc.)
o Use + for plurals (e.g., character+ will index character or characters)
o Use * for truncation (nov* will retrieve novel, novels, novelist, etc.; have to type 3 characters before you can use this feature)
o Use # or ? as wildcards (use after 3rd character of word)
§ # single character (w#men)
§ ? from 0 to 9 additional characters
o Use Boolean operators (and, or, not) to combine terms
§ And: both or all concepts will be included in the retrieval (Focuses; narrows)
§ Or: one or more concept will be included in the retrieval (Broadens)
§ Not: one or more concept will be excluded from the retrieval
o Time-outs—the First Search system will prompt you; if you don’t respond, you will be logged off
o If you retrieve too many records
§ Add more terms to your search
§ Use Limit Results option to refine search:
· Document-type
· Language
· Year (not a good idea)
· Author
· Subject Headings (might want to give this a try—it’s probably the best you can do in terms of keyword searching)
· Limit to subscriptions held by library
o Eliminates books and book chapters
o Eliminates key articles available elsewhere
§ Sample Search:
o House of Mirth in keyword
o (And) Lily Bart in keyword
o Records found: 26
o House of Mirth in subject
o (And) Lily Bart in Subject
o Records found: 20
§ The Basics
§ Collection of electronic scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences and mathematics (International)
§ Full text for over 200 journals
§ Full text for more than 40 journals in literature!
§ All journals are peer-reviewed, scholarly
§ Includes all content from the print journal edition except for advertisements (basically a facsimile)
§ Keyword & Boolean searching
§ Basic and Advanced search options
§ Good Help screens
§ Available 24/7
§ More Details
§ Can limit results to a certain journal or subset of journals
§ Hypertext links for efficient navigation among article bibliographies, citations, endnotes, author biographies and illustrations
§ Page numbers from print edition embedded in electronic text for easy citation and referencing
§ LC subject headings following each article title in the table of contents and embedded in article files for highly accurate searching
§ Electronic version available earlier than print
§ Illustrations are larger and sharper than those in the print journal, and where possible, in color
§ Launched in 1995 by Johns Hopkins University Press to offer full text for their journals
§ Expanded in 1999 to partner with other scholarly publishers
§ 30 publishers in all now
§ Search Tips
§ To begin, click Search
§ Use the Basic Search for quick, simple searches or as a starting point
§ Use the Advanced Search for more sophisticated searches
§ Enter terms in search box
§ Use quotations to search for a phrase (e.g., “Paradise Lost”)
§ Choose which field you want to search
· All Fields (w/text) is the default field; it is very broad
· To narrow the retrieval, select another option such as Article Title or LC Subject (subjects of articles are classified by LCSH)
§ Citation Information: First author (only) if available; title; citation with journal title, volume, issue, year; whether article or review; abstracts (when available)
§ View Occurrences in Context link: displays lines extracted from the article with highlighted search terms
§ Sample Search (Basic)
§ The Great Gatsby (All Fields/with Text) 87 records
§ The Great Gatsby (LCSH) 6
§ The Great Gatsby (Article Title) 2
§ Film, Theater, and Performing Arts
· Asian Theatre Journal
· Camera Obscura
· Cinema Journal
· Discourse
· PAJ
· TDR/The Drama Review
· Theater
· Theatre Journal
· Theatre Topics
· Wide Angle
§ Folklore
o Journal of American Folklore
o Marvels & Tales
§ Language
o American Speech
o Linguistic Inquiry
o Rhetoric & Public Affairs
§ Literature
§ American Literary History
§ American Literary ScholarshipAmerican Literature
§ Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies
§ Biography
§ Boundary 2
§ Callaloo
§ Chaucer Review, The
§ Comparative Literature Studies
§ Configurations
§ Criticism
§ Diacritics
§ Early American Literature
§ ELH
§ Emily Dickinson Journal
§ French Forum
§ Henry James Review
§ Journal of Modern Literature
§ Joyce Studies Annual
§ Legacy
§ Lion and the Unicorn
§ Literature and Medicine
§ Manoa
§ Milton Quarterly (archive-only)
§ MLN
§ MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly
§ MFS Modern Fiction Studies
§ Modernism/Modernity
§ Narrative (new for 2002)
§ New Hibernia Review
§ New Literary History
§ Nineteenth Century French Studies
§ Philosophy and Literature
§ Poetics Today
§ Research in African Literatures
§ Resources for American Literary Study (archive-only)
§ SAQ- The South Atlantic Quarterly
§ SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
§ Shakespeare Quarterly
§ Southern Literary Journal
§ Substance
§ Symploke
§ Texas Studies in Literature and Language
§ Victorian Studies
§
Yale Journal of Criticism
§
Use link off library
web page at www.library.eku.edu
§
Click on Find Articles and then click on Full text
Electronic Journals
§
Type journal title in box or scroll list of titles
§
Follow links to full text
§
Click Publication Details to get more information about
the journal (address, coverage, etc.)
§
Embargo
o Publishers
sometimes restrict access to the most current issues
§
Available 24/7 on campus or off campus
§
Sample Search:
English Language Notes
o 6
month embargo