Resources for College Writing.

This guide is intended as a quick reference to library collections, databases, and services and is designed with College Writing students in mind. No single guide can cover all the library's resources, so keep in mind that this guide hits the high points and is by no means exhaustive.

The UNF Library provides researchers with a multitude of resources in print, media, and electronic formats. The library's main book collection, the General Collection, housed on the 4th and part of the 3rd floors, currently numbers around half a million titles. The library's reference collection, located on the 2nd floor and including specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and statistical and legal sources, numbers around 12,000 titles. The library's media collection of videos and music disks numbers around 40,000 titles. The library's government documents collection houses more than 42,000 publications of the federal, state, and local governments. Add to this a print periodicals collection of around 2400 current subscriptions, an electronic book collection of over 50,000 titles, and a database collection that provides access to multiple millions of full text magazine, journal, and newspaper articles online, and most researchers will find ample resources readily available to aid in the completion of nearly any research project. To help researchers complete extensive projects that require materials not owned by the library, the library offers interlibrary loan services through its ILLiad system, which effectively provides access to materials available at any library in the United States. In short, no research project should go uncompleted for lack of access to resources. If a researcher can identify the materials he or she needs, the library should be able to facilitate access to those materials, one way or another.

Getting Started

One of the most difficult things about doing research is finding a good topic. Finding an area of interest is usually no problem, but discovering a specific topic within that area can be challenging or even frustrating.

If your professor allows you to choose your own topic, begin with a subject that is of interest to you. For example, if you are a business major, choose an area of business about which you would like to learn more. If you are restricted to a specific area, say for example Mental Health, you might want to do some background reading on the subject in order to have more ideas for identifying an appropriate topic. Once you have selected (or are given ) a subject for your project, look for ways to sufficiently narrow the subject to a manageable topic. If, for example, you are limiting yourself to a couple of months for researching and writing the paper and you also need to restrict the length of the paper to a fixed number of pages, you will want a topic that can be covered in depth within those constraints. The above example, Mental Health, is much too broad to cover in anything shorter than a book. Your task, then, will be to discover some narrower aspect of this subject that you can develop effectively and completely in a project of limited scope.

Finding a Narrowed Topic:

FIND A REFERENCE ENCYCLOPEDIA OR HANDBOOK: One excellent way to quickly develop ideas for a narrowed topic is to locate a reference encyclopedia or handbook that covers the general subject area and to scan the topics covered in the book or set of books. For example, a quick search of the library's catalog for the keywords mental health, limited to the Reference Collection, produces a listing of 24 items. One of the items is a 2001 publication entitled The Encyclopedia of Mental Health, call number RC437.K34 2001.  This book alphabetically details key concepts related to mental health and provides further information on each. Additionally, at the end of the book is a bibliography arranged by major topics within the mental health field, such as eating disorders, grief, guided imagery, stress and stress management, and anxiety and anxiety disorders. Browsing this or a similar reference would likely provide a researcher with a wealth of ideas worthy of further research.

SEARCH A PERIODICALS DATABASE FOR CURRENT ARTICLES: Another way to discover a narrower topic is to search a general database or a database specific to a certain subject and browse through the articles that are currently being published. Since databases cover hundreds and even thousands of publications, a researcher can quickly get a feel for what researchers are currently interested in and likely develop his or her own ideas for a workable topic.

For example, a quick search of the library's ProQuest Research Library database on the keywords "mental health" turns up a listing of more than 12,000 articles on that general topic. Additionally, Research Library will suggest related or narrower topics automatically, thus helping a researcher zone in on a more specific angle. Research Library is listed in the library's subject listing of databases as one of the "General" databases. Once a researcher has a listing of articles on screen, he or she can easily scan the titles and hopefully come up with an interesting topic to pursue.

SCAN CURRENT ISSUES OF A RESEARCH JOURNAL IN YOUR FIELD: Yet another possibility for finding a focus is to identify the name of a key journal in the field of interest, determine if the library has it, and then peruse a couple of the current issues of that publication to see what other researchers are investigating. To locate journals available through the library, a researcher can search the library's catalog, more specifically the journals/serials catalog, by keyword to get a list of journals both in print and online within a certain discipline. For example, a quick search of the library's journals/serials catalog for the keyword phrase "mental health" results in a listing of 133 journals or magazines in that area. A couple of the online titles that come up in the listing are the Journal of Mental Health Promotion and Mental Health Today. Either of these publications would be good sources for browsing for topic ideas.

Finding Books, Documents, & Other Library Resources

The authority on what is physically located in the library's print and media collections is the library's public catalog. Available from the library's Web page, the UNF Library Catalog allows researchers to scan materials by keyword, by subject, by author, by title, by material format (book, video, sound, etc.), and by numerous other means. An advanced search screen provides researchers with the means for very specifically identifying materials using multiple criteria. For example, a researcher might combine a search of title keywords with author keywords to find books by a certain author that have a certain word in the book title. Becoming familiar with how the catalog works and what it can do is essential to the successful researcher.

Basic Keyword Searching

While keyword searching of the catalog is not the most precise way of locating materials in the library's collections, it does provide the researcher with a starting place and with a date organized listing of materials that match the researcher's chosen keywords. For example, if a researcher were looking for books, videos, government publications, and any other library materials that dealt with computer security, he or she could begin on the library's keyword search screen by typing in the keywords computer and security.

The result of the search is a listing of over 1100 resources available in the library that are described using the two keywords computer and security. The basic keyword search does not specify that the words are adjacent to each other or that they be the subject of the material or even a part of the items' titles, only that the two words appear somewhere in the description. So, the resulting list will include materials that really seem inappropriate or only minimally relevant. It is up to the researcher to review the listings and to choose those that are relevant.

By default, the catalog sorts the search results by relevance. In other words, the items that appear to be the best matches will appear at the top of the result listing. The problem with this is that these may not be the most recent items. The catalog includes an option to sort by date. To see a date ordered listing with most recent first, use the date sort.

One of the more recent publications in the date ordered result is a book entitled Introduction to Modern Cryptography. The book was published in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2008, by Chapman and Hall, and it is located in the library's General Collection (main book collection) on the third floor, call number QA76.9.A25 K36 2008. Since the library uses the Library of Congress call number system to shelve its books, following this call number to the 3rd floor will take the researcher to the exact location of this book and to books similar in nature to this book. Call numbers generally group materials on the shelves by subject.

Reviewing catalog descriptions of located items can help turn up additional terminology and other strategies for searching. For example, the catalog description of the book noted above,Introduction to Modern Cryptography, reveals two possible ways to search for related information. Materials cataloged into the library's collections are categorized by Library of Congress "subject headings." The description of Introduction to Modern Cryptography lists two subject headings: Computer security and Cryptography. Each of these subject headings is linked in the catalog, so clicking either link initiates a new search that focuses on the subject rather than just on keywords. The computer security link results in more than 300 matches in the catalog. The cryptography link results in more than 50 matches.

Narrowing a Search

Keyword searching by itself can be very sloppy at times. Once a researcher "finds" appropriate terminology to use in describing a narrowed focus, the catalog is capable of providing more specific matches. For example, a researcher might decide to focus on materials that cover both computer security and cryptography. To get a more precise match on the phrase computer security, a researcher would enter the two words in quotes ("computer security"). By also typing in the word cryptography, the resulting search will produce items that are described by both of the terms. Just as in the example above, the book Introduction to Modern Cryptography had both listed as subject headings, the resulting matches in this search will have both of the concepts somewhere. Choosing to search for the terms only as Subject Heading terms further reduces the number of matches so that the search ultimately results in considerably fewer matches. A researcher should use the Advanced Search option in the catalog to do a combined subject heading search.

While finding too many results can be frustrating, defining a search too narrowly might result in too few results, which can be equally frustrating. As a general rule of thumb, a researcher should choose a couple of key concepts to get started and then add concepts one by one until the desired result is achieved.

Finding Electronic Books Using NetLibrary

NetLibrary is the library's collection of online full text books. NetLibrary can be accessed anywhere on or off campus. Off campus access is restricted to current UNF students, staff, and faculty. As of July 2008, the library owns around 57,000 books in its NetLibrary collection.

Searching for eBooks in NetLibrary

To search NetLibrary, type in a word, a phrase, or any combination of words and phrases. By default, NetLibrary searches every word of every book in the collection for matches on the entered topics. To match two or more words or phrases, enter the search using the AND connector. For example, to find books that have the phrase "computer security" and "cryptography," enter the two topics joined by AND:  "computer security" AND cryptography. The result is a listing of all items in the NetLibrary collection that contain BOTH of the topics somewhere in the full text.

By default, NetLibrary organizes the result of the search according to most relevant first. Books with multiple matches on both search terms will rank higher than those with only one or two matches. Books can also be listed by title, by author, and by date (either newest or oldest). Once a book is selected, it opens in a divided viewing screen. The Table of Contents appears to the left. The actual content appears to the right. The Table of Contents is clickable and will allow a user to jump directly to any subsection of the book.

Some books are formatted as web pages. Some are formatted as Adobe Reader (pdf) documents. Those in Adobe format will include the Adobe Reader toolbar at the top of the content section.

Once a book is opened, a user can search inside of the book by using the "Search this eContent" option at the bottom of the Table of Contents viewing panel. For example, to search the book shown above for every occurrence of the word cryptography, a user would type the word into the "Search this eContent" area and click the Search button. The result is a listing of how many matches appear throughout the book with links to each page where the matches occur. The matches links appear in the Table of Contents viewing panel. To switch back to the Table of Contents, simply click the Contents tab at the top of the panel.

NetLibrary Strategies

NetLibrary supports four logical connectors to help facilitate better search matches. Logical connectors MUST be typed in all capital letters in order for them to work properly.

AND -- Use AND to narrow down a search to books that contain all of the terms entered. For example, to find books on the history of rocket science in the United States, enter the following:
                       history AND "rocket science" AND "united states"
OR   -- Use OR to expand a search to books that contain any of the entered terms. The OR search is useful for finding words that have synonyms. For example, to find books on kindergarten or primary education, enter the following:
                      kindergarten OR "primary education"
NOT -- Use NOT to exclude a term from a search result. For example, to find books on windows as an architectural feature of buildings but no on Microsoft's Windows operating system, enter the following:
                      windows NOT microsoft
NEAR -- Use NEAR to find words or phrases in close proximity to each other. For example, to find either the phrase "human resources management" or the alternate working "management of human resources", enter the following:
                      "human resources" NEAR management

To search a phrase, enclose the words that make up the phrase in quotes. For example, to find the phrase early gothic architecture, enter the following:
                      "early gothic architecture"
If quotation marks are omitted, the three words are searched as though they were entered as an AND search: early AND gothic AND architecture

NetLibrary Limitations

NetLibrary at the UNF Library works just like a regular book collection: if the library owns one copy of a book in NetLibrary and a library user has it "checked out," it is unavailable to other users until the current user checks it back in. To make sure that items are not just left open on users' computers when they are not being used, NetLibrary has a built-in inactivity time-out of 15 minutes. In other words, if a user opens a book and doesn't turn pages or otherwise indicate that the material is being used, the book automatically closes after 15 minutes.

The normal check-out period for a NetLibrary book is 4 hours. If a user needs the book for a longer period and there is noone else waiting to get into the book, once the initial 4 hours have expired and the book closes, the user can check out the book again.

Printing and saving is also limited in NetLibrary because these are all copyrighted materials. In other words, books in NetLibrary are not available for free on the Internet and would normally be purchased from a bookstore. Because of copyright restrictions, a NetLibrary book can only be viewed one page at the time and a user can only print or save one page at the time as well.

In spite of its limitation, NetLibrary offers a convenient, online book collection to UNF users who need the convenience of an online library.

Finding Articles in Research Databases

In addition to finding books, documents, videos, and other materials available in the UNF Library or via NetLibrary, a researcher will likely want to find articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers. These regularly and frequently published materials help a researcher to track historical changes in a topic and to find the very latest information available on any topic.

Magazines are popular publications that cater to a variety of interests (like Time and Newsweek) or to a particular interest (like Rolling Stone or Popular Science). Articles in magazines are written with the general public in mind: articles are typically fairly brief and written in language that is easily understood by the average reader. They frequently make use of numerous color photographs and illustrations and are often printed on glossy paper. Journals are specialized publications that contain articles written by scholars and researchers for the benefit of other scholars and researchers. Examples of journals include such publications as American Sociological Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Psychology of Women Quarterly. Articles published in journals tend to be lengthier and more involved than those published in magazines. Journal articles also normally provide references to other research that has been done on the topics being covered. Trade Journals are a special category of publications that are targeted to professionals in a particular field or line of work. Examples are Police Chief, which is published for those in the law enforcement profession, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, which targets professors and administrators of colleges and universities. While the articles in these publications are specific to their respective professions, they typically are not research articles of the caliber that are published in journals. Newspapers may be published daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or bi-monthly and report on a variety of topics of interest to a wide variety of readers. Articles tend to be fairly brief and may be illustrated with photographs. The Florida Times-Union is an example of a newspaper at the local level, while the New York Times is an example of a national newspaper.

Choosing an Appropriate Source

Of the above mentioned types of publications -- magazines, journals, trade journals, and newspapers -- the best choices for academic research at the college level are the journals. As mentioned above, journals publish articles written by researchers and scholars for other researchers and scholars and, thus, have the most detailed information and analysis to offer on the topics that they cover. A research topic that deals with the science behind the impact of climate change on penguins would be better fleshed out in scientific journals rather than in Time and Newsweek articles. While articles in magazines may be useful for general background, they are not likely to delve very deeply into scientific studies of arctic wildlife and how climate impacts wildlife.

This isn't to say that magazine articles can't be used for academic research; they can. The topic being covered and the end goal of the research should drive the material selection. For example, a researcher wanting to examine changes in feature articles on relationships in women's magazines over a period of fifty years would have to use articles from magazines in order to examine this topic. To examine the underlying social and psychological changes that might have contributed to changes in how relationships are reported in women's magazines, the researcher would need to look for research articles in sociology and psychology journals. A researcher wanting to look at how advertising has changed from the 19th Century to now would also likely use magazines and even newspapers to find examples of advertisements that would help the researcher see and understand the changes. To look at expert analysis of the psychological aspects of advertising, a researcher would need to include research articles from respected academic journals.

The selection of materials should be driven by the nature of the topic to be researched and by the scope of the project and not by the ease of finding the materials. A researcher should carefully examine materials being considered for use in a project for their usefulness and for their academic qualities. In most academic projects, journals are going to provide the best sources for completing the project.

Library Databases

The UNF Library currently subscribes to around 200 different research databases, covering everything from art to accounting to education to computer technology. Some of the databases have the full text of the articles available directly. Some databases provide subject and keyword searching for articles but only provide abstracts or summaries of the articles. A researcher's choice of databases will be driven by the extent of the project and the types of materials needed for completion of the project.

A category listing of library databases, organized by subject, is available from the library's website.

Searching a Database for Articles

Searching databases is very similar to searching the library's catalog and NetLibrary: a researcher will choose keywords or phrases to query the database for articles that match the terms. Most databases support the use of logical connectors like AND, OR, and NOT, and most databases support the use of quotation marks to limit search results to exact phrase matches. The rules for searching may vary from database to database, but each has its own in-depth help system that will prove invaluable to its users. A sample search for articles in the OmniFile database will provide an example of how most databases work and what results to expect.

OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition is one of the library's general purpose databases. Covering articles published in nearly 4000 different magazines and journals, OmniFile also provides the full text of more than half of the publications that it indexes. Articles can be searched by keyword, by title, by subject, by author, by many different ways. In addition to providing subject headings for the articles in the database, OmniFile also provides brief abstracts for the majority of the articles that are indexed.

The Advanced Search screen in OmniFile allows entering multiple terms and combining them using the logical connectors AND, OR, and NOT. OmniFile does accommodate phrase searching through the use of quotation marks. To search for articles on cryptography and computer security, a researcher will enter the phrase computer security in one fill-in-the-blank search box and the word cryptography in another. The Start button sends the search to the database and delivers a browsing list of articles that match both of the terms.

Clicking an article title from the result listing takes the researcher to further information about the article. In most cases, OmniFile provides an abstract, a short summary, for each article covered in the database. Additionally, further physical description of the article is provided to help the researcher better analyze the usefulness of the sources revealed by the search. Things to consider might include length of the article and the availability of illustrations and other supplementary material. The basic article description includes all the relevant information for citing the article as well.

If the article is available in full text directly from OmniFile, links to the full text will appear directly above the article title. Usually, there are two possibilities for getting full text: HTML formatted text (web page) and PDF formatted text (page images of the original print publication). The HTML formatted document is a quicker download, but it might contain scan errors and does not include images. The PDF formatted document is the best copy since it is a scan of the original printed article and includes all the original illustrations, tables, and other materials, as well as providing the exact page numbers for the article. Having page numbering from the original publication makes it easier to reference information used from the article. MLA in-text references require citing the author's name and the page where the information was retrieved. APA in-text references require author's name and date, but also the page number if a direct quote is used.

By and large, researchers will want to print or save the PDF copy of the article.

While not all databases provide subject or alternate search suggestions, a number of them do. OmniFile provides linked subject searches to the left of the results, thus enabling a researcher to drill down to a more focused search based on subject analysis of the articles. Recommended subject searches for the search done on computer security and cryptography include Computers / Security measures, Cryptography, and Computers / Access control. Clicking on one of the suggested new searches will deliver a new listing of results. For example, the following two screenshots show the result of a search on the subject cryptography. The search turns up over 400 matches and the results are listed by relevance with additional limits suggested to the left. The search result page also offers additional means for limiting the search, including by author, by subject, by publication year, and by document type.

Most academic research projects are best supported by academic journal articles. OmniFile and many other research databases provide the researcher with means for limiting their results just to scholarly or peer reviewed journals. In OmniFile, a researcher need just click the "Peer Reviewed" tab that appears above the search result listing. A researcher can further limit the results to show only those articles that are immediately available online in PDF format by clicking a tab. After selecting peer reviewed and PDF available articles, the search result drops to only 18 items, shown below.

OmniFile indexes and provides summaries for many articles that are not directly available online in the database. Those that are not directly available in OmniFile might be available in another of the library's databases. To check for availability, a researcher should use the ArticleLinker option that appears with the article description. ArticleLink helps to connect all the library's databases. If an article is available in any of the library's other full text systems, ArticleLinker will show which databases and provide links to the articles. If the article is not available online in any database, the researcher has the option to link directly to the library's catalog to check for print availability of the publication. If all else fails and there is no online copy and no print copy, the researcher can initiate an Interlibrary Loan request for the article. The library's ILLiad system allows researchers to request that the library find copies of articles that are not otherwise available at UNF at other libraries. This service is provided at no charge to UNF researchers and helps supplement the library's own article holdings.

OmniFile is only one of the library's research systems. If it does not provide the researcher with enough information on a particular topic, the library has other databases that might just do the trick.

Documenting Sources

Responsible researchers meticulously track sources that they have used in their own research and document those sources as part of the research process. While there are hundreds of documentation styles, including individual journal styles, the standard documentation style for English is MLA style, devised and published by the Modern Language Association in its MLA Handbook. MLA style governs how a research paper should be formatted, how references should be cited within the body of the paper, and how the references should be documented in the Works Cited page(s) at the end of the paper.

Other disciplines will likely use other style guidelines. For example, the most commonly used style for psychology is APA style, which is documented in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Many history researchers use Turabian or Chicago style. A researcher should determine what style to use before getting too deep into the project. Students producing research papers for their classes should consult their professors to determine which styles are acceptable.

RefWorks

The library subscribes to a bibliography management system called RefWorks. Available to all UNF students, staff, and faculty, RefWorks works with a majority of the databases and allows the easy transfer of source information into a researcher's personal RefWorks account. Once article references, web page references, book references, and other sources are stored in RefWorks, a researcher has the ability to generate a bibliography in any of around 1200 different styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago. A plugin for Microsoft Word helps a writer insert references as the paper takes shape. Write 'n' Cite can be downloaded from RefWorks and installed on any Windows or Mac workstation running Word. Once installed, Write 'n' Cite allows RefWorks to insert references into a paper and to format the references and the bibliography.

More information about RefWorks is available from the library's website at http://www.unf.edu/library.

Writing Tools Available in the Library

Reference Collection and Online Reference Sources

The following sources are available in the Reference Collection on the second floor of the library or via the library's databases. Reference materials cannot be checked out, so the materials should always be freely available. This is a very selective list and is intended primarily to show representative sources.

Dictionaries of the English Language

Ehrlich, Eugene H. Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
PE1460 .E196 1997

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (free version)
Available online: http://www.merriamwebster.com/

New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005
PE1628 .O865 2005

Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
PE1625.O87 1989

Oxford English Dictionary Online.
Available: http://dictionary.oed.com/
(Off campus access is restricted by login to UNF faculty, staff, and students.)

Oxford English Reference Dictionary. eds. Judy Pearsall & Bill Trumbull. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
PE1625.O86 1996

Dictionaries of Quotations

African American Quotations. comp. Richard Newman. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1998.
PN6081.3 .A36 1998
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=7607

Bartlett, John. Familiar Quotations; A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
PN6081 .B27 1992

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. ed. Elizabeth Knowles. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
PN6080 .C58 2003

Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations. ed. Ned Sherrin. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
PN6084.H8O94 2005

Quotable Women of the Twentieth Century. ed. Tracy Quinn. New York: William Morrow, 1999.
PN6081.5 .Q64 1999

Times Book of Quotations. Glasgow: HarperCollins, 2000.
PN6081 .T55 2000

General  & Specialized Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia Britannica.
Available online: http://search.eb.com

Gale's Virtual Reference Library
Available online: http://find.galegroup.com/gvrl/start.do?userGroupName=jack91990&prodId=GVRL&finalAuth=true
Includes:
Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations Dictionary , 35th Ed., 4v, 2005
American Men and Women of Science , 22 Ed., 8v, 2005
Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America , 6v, 2000
Biology , 4v, 2002
Child Development , 2002
Cities of the World , 6th Ed., 4v, 2002
Countries and Their Cultures , 4v, 2001
Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2004 , 2v, 2003
Dictionary of American History , 3rd Ed., 10v, 2003
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History , 2nd Ed., 6v, 2006
Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy , 2nd Ed., 3v, 2002
Encyclopedia of American Religions , 7th Ed., 2003
Encyclopedia of Black Studies , Vol. 1, 2005
Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice , 2nd Ed., 4v, 2002
Encyclopedia of Education , 2nd Ed., 8v, 2003
Encyclopedia of Food and Culture , 3v, 2003
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World , 2v, 2004
Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered History in America , 3v, 2004
Encyclopedia of Religion , 2nd Ed., 15v, 2005
Encyclopedia of Small Business , 2nd Ed., 2v, 2002
Encyclopedia of the American Constitution , 2nd Ed., 6v, 2000
Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion , 6v, 2005
Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine , 2nd Ed., 4v, 2005
Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer , 2v, 2002
Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law , 2v, 2003
Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders , 2v, 2002
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine , 2nd Ed., 5v, 2002
Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America , 2nd Ed., 3v, 2000
Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health , 5v, 2002
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia , 2nd Ed., 17v, 2004
History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide , 6v, 2001
Major Acts of Congress , 3v, 2004
New Catholic Encyclopedia , 2nd Ed., 15v, 2003
Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans , 22nd Ed., 2006
Social Trends and Indicators USA , 4v, 2003
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture , 5v, 2000
West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2 Ed., 13v, 2005
World of Earth Science, 2v, 2003
World Press Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed., 2v, 2003
Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, 11th Ed., 6v, 2004)

New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th ed. Chicago, IL: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2005.
AE5.E363 2005

(Also, remember to search the library catalog in "advanced" search mode for your subject area and limit to the Reference Collection.)

Grammar

Diamond, Harriet. Grammar in Plain English. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's, 1997.
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=52235

Ferguson, Don K. Grammar Gremlins. Lakewood, CO: Glenwood Pub., 1995.
PE1112 .F398 1995

Field, Marion. Improving Your Written English : How to Sharpen Up Your Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling for Everyday Use. Plymouth, U.K.: How to Books, 1998.
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=25217

Loberger, Gordon J. Webster's New World English Grammar Handbook. New York: Hungry Minds, 2001.
PE1112 .L62 2001

Rozakis, Laurie. English Grammar for the Utterly Confused. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=99780

Stilman, Anne. Grammatically Correct: The Writer's Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage, and Grammar. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, 1997.
PE1112 .S748 1997

Handbooks

Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. ed. Norm Goldstein. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1996.
PN4783 .A83 1996

Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Z253 .U69 2003

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association, 2003.
LB2369 .G53 2003

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2001.
BF76.7 .P83 2001

Siegal, Allan M. New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. New York: Times Books, 1999.
PN4783 .S57 1999

UPI Stylebook: The Authoritative Handbook for Writers, Editors & News Directors. ed. Robert McNeill. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Co., 1992.
PN4783 .M47 1992

Thesauri

Bertram, Anne. In Other Words: Making Better Word Choices in American English. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Pub. Group, 1997.
PE2833 .B47 1997

Lutz, William. Cambridge Thesaurus of American English. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=42542

Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus. (free version)
Available online: http://www.merriamwebster.com/

Morehead, Philip D. Penguin Roget's College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form. New York: Penguin Reference, 2001.
PE1591 .M75 2001

Roget's International Thesaurus. ed. Barbara Ann Kipfer. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
PE1591 .R73 2001

Usage and Style

The American Heritage Book of English Usage. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Trade and Reference, 1996.
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=6813

Ammer, Christine. Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001.
PE1689 .A48 2001

Bremner, John B. Words on Words : A Dictionary for Writers and Others Who Care About Words. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980.
PE1116.J6B7

Dictionary of Confusable Words. ed. Adrian Room. Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn Pub., 2000.
PE1591 .D53 2000

Corbett, Edward P. J. Little English Handbook: Choices and Conventions. New York: Longman, 1997.
PE1408.C587 1997

Fowler, H. W. New Fowler's Modern English Usage. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
PE1628 .F65 2000

Garner, Bryan A. Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
PE2827 .G372 2000

Howard, Godfrey. Macmillan Good English Handbook. London: Macmillan, 1997.
PE1464 .H667 1997

The Hutchinson Pocket Dictionary of English Usage. Abingdon: Oxon Helicon Publishing Limited, 2004.
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=107801

Lovinger, Paul W. The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style: A Readable Reference Book, Illuminating Thousands of Traps That Snare Writers and Speakers. New York: Penguin, 2000.
Available online via netLibrary: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=124771

Maggio, Rosalie. Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage: A Guide to Nondiscriminatory Language. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1991.
PE1460 .M26 1991

Maggio, Rosalie. Nonsexist Word Finder : A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1987.
PE1689 .M23 1987

Nash, Walter. Jargon: Its Uses and Abuses. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1993.
PE1585 .N37 1993

Rogers, James. Dictionary of Cliches. New York: Facts on File, 1985.
PE1689 .R65 1985

Williams, Deborah K. NTC's Dictionary of Easily Confused Words: With Complete Examples of Correct Usage. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Co., 1995.
PE1595 .W48 1995

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