Notable E-Book: Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues

Sometimes, when starting a paper or speech or debate on a hot-button social topic, students are wise to start with an encyclopedia entry that provides an overview of the subject they are interested in exploring. Then, afterwards, they move on to journal literature and other research databases and statistics.

For the types of "social problems" students often choose (from their own interests or from readings in texts like the Bedford Reader), one 8 volume encyclopedia--that the library owns in paper form--called Social Issues in America has gotten a lot of use for browsing and basic research in the last few years. This is still a good first step for many students. But since this multi-volume set was published in 2006, it is useful to update it with something newer. This we have just done with a 4 volume 2011 resource available on our handy Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) interface.

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues, was just published by ABC-CLIO, and it covers many of the same subject areas, from abortion to zombie computers (mentioned in the Cybercrime entry), that the earlier Sharpe Reference set discussed.

The publisher indicates that the set contains "approximately 225 in-depth entries lay out the controversies debated in the media, on campuses, in government, in boardrooms, and in homes and neighborhoods across the United States." They also indicate that "the work of almost 200 expert contributors, the Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues comprises four volumes, each devoted to a particular subject area. Volume one covers business and the economy; volume two, criminal justice; volume three, family and society; and volume four, the environment, science, and technology."

GVRL access is easy. Although you can access this (and the rest of GVRL content) from the database as a whole, if you are interested just in this new encyclopedia, it's probably easiest to simply link directly to it from our catalog record.

When you enter the landing page for this set, you can either do a keyword search, just in this publication, from the yellow search box to the left. Or, you can browse the table of contents or index (with eLinks), as well. See screenshoot below.


Once you search or select an entry, you can read it in HTML, often with links to supplementary items in the bibliography at the end of the entry. Or, you can view the entry in PDF, which looks exactly like the original volume, and prints in a more handsome form. Other tools (like getting an MLA or APA citation!) are available to the right of each HTML entry.



The great thing about GVRL is that, unlike many ebook platforms, it allows unlimited access to all content. So, if an instructor assigns an article in this or any other GVRL resource, students don't have to worry about being locked out while another student is using the material.

I should warn you that, within the month, GVRL is planning to roll out a new (and supposedly improved) platform. So some of what is described in this blog entry might change. But the over-all functionality should remain, and be even better. (We hope!)

Explore this and other new ebooks for 24/7 access to good-quality content.

Databases Worth Exploring: Ready eReference

It's term paper season, so remember that besides our many databases that get you good quality journal literature, and our online catalog (OPAC) that identifies electronic and good, old-fashioned paper books, we also have many sources of eReference books.

Electronic reference books are easy to cross-search and are a great way to get familiar with a topic. You can get a basic overview and background on a person, place, thing or concept. Then, once you have that grounding in the subject, and have become familiar with the common vocabulary of the field, you can more readily move on to the journal databases and do more informed searches there. Our two best collections of electronic encyclopedias and handbooks includes Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL), which is a very broad-based collection of reference books from a wide variety of publishers (not just Gale).


The basic search on the opening screen works well, just put in the concept you're interested in and you can read the reference entries in either HTML or in PDF form (just look for the Adobe icon).

Are you interested in topics in the social sciences or in social aspects other disciplines? If so, then Sage eReference is a great place to do some reading.


A search for social exchange theory, gets me lots of encyclopedia and handbook entries that would help me understand the theories and the theorists behind them. Sage entries usually suggest additional key readings at the end of their signed entries. (Remember, this is not anonymous, who-knows-who-wrote-it-or-when content like what you find in Wikipedia. These entries are written by scholars whose writing has undergone rigorous editorial review. And the kind of entries you find here are much more reliable as a starting place!)

For even more basic ready reference--quick definitions and such--consider Credo Reference


Credo has dozens (and dozens) of dictionaries and basic encyclopedias in just about every topic, as well as basic English and even bilingual dictionaries, available 24/7. (Just authenticate with your name and Suffolk ID number, if you are off-campus.)

And if you are struggling to find the right word or synonym while writing your paper, Credo even has two thesauri, the Bloomsbury Thesaurus and Roget's II New Thesaurus to help you polish up your writing.

The tools are here, whenever and wherever you need them. So take advantage of this great content. And if you have questions, stop by and see us!

Recurring Reference Question: How Do I Get Economist Articles Online?

Here's another question we get a lot. Teachers, especially in the Globalization class (SIB 101) want students to read articles from the London-based news magazine, The Economist. This is easy to do through our databases, and here's how. (And this technique would work with any journal or periodical you choose.)

First, put the name of the journal, economist, into the eJournal Locator box to the right of our homepage, as illustrated below.


When you submit this search there will be multiple listing for "economist," but the top option, Economist (London) is the one you want.


You'll note that there are several options for accessing current ("to present") issues of the The Economist. Although Gale databases, like Academic OneFile (AOF) usually get the latest issue a couple of days sooner, many people prefer to use the Ebsco database options like Academic Search Complete (ASC) and Business Source Complete (BSC). Pick whatever option you like.

If you click on Academic OneFile, the landing page will look like this:


Note that you have a couple of approaches you can take. If you want to look at ALL of a current issue, pick that issue from the link list in the middle of the screen. However, if you know that the article you want has a particular keyword in the title, or an unusual author name, you could, instead, "Search within publication" using the search box to the left. If you click on an issue, all the articles in it will be listed with a link. In that case, you can also refine and limit your search/browsing using the options in the left frame.


If you click on an Ebsco database like ASC and BSC from the eJournal Locator results, the landing page will look like the below. Similar to AOF, you have the option of either clicking on a date and expanding a list to browse complete issues OR in the upper right is a link to "Search within this publication."


If you know that the article has an unusual word silvery in the title, you might pick the "search within" option. On the search page, the journal is supplied by the database. Simply use boolean operation (that is, the word and) and add the word you want. In this case, I would add and silvery to my Economist search. As below.
I you have an uncommon word or words to look for, you might have an easy time spotting the article you need. (You can change the sort from Relevance to Date in the dark blue border, if you need to.)


That's the basic approach. I you need help, talk to us at Reference!

Notable E-Book: Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues

E-Reference is great, but many people still prefer paper for browsing and reading. So it's nice when both options are available. Such is the case with a new edition of an encyclopedia that provides basic overview essays on the science, policy and social issues related to the Environment: the Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues (Salem Press, 2011).

The paper version, available in a four-volume set in our Reference stacks, "assembles information from numerous fields of knowledge relevant to the study of environmental issues, including biology, geology, anthropology, demographics, genetics, and engineering, and explains the interrelationships of these issues in easily understood terms."

A total of 775 A-Z entries are included in this revised edition. (The Law Library owns the previous edition in print.) The publisher claims that "the original essays have been evaluated for their currency, and 123 of them have been either completely replaced or substantially revised to reflect the latest information available." All articles are signed by the academics and other experts who wrote them. They cover a wide variety of topics, including endangered animal species, air pollution, national parks, environmental legislation, oil spills, alternative energy sources, and global climate change. And it's not just the great outdoors that comes under scrutiny, either. In recognition of the fact that people spend an overwhelming proportion of their time in human-made environments, essays also cover such topics as sick building syndrome, noise pollution, smog, and urban planning.

As a reviewer (who recommended it) at Choice indicates, "The breadth of coverage is exemplified by three successive entries: genetically engineered pharmaceuticals, geothermal energy, and Euell Gibbons."

The online version comes on a unified Salem Science platform. Since we also own the Forensic Science encyclopedia, you'll want to select specifically the Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues from the drop down box near the top when you go to the online website.

After making that selection, the search box below will also change to Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues and you can simply enter search terms to see a list of suggested entries. When I search polar ice I get a variety of articles from Polar Bears to Glacial Melting to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, that might be worth looking at. (And, remember, all of our online resources run through a proxy server for off-campus access. So if you are not at a Suffolk IP, you'll need to authenticate with your name and Suffolk ID number to access the online version.)

Salem Press provides basic reference. Their entries tend to be short and simple. This is not scholarly research, so if a professor says to use academic/scholarly materials, you are advised to use journal databases like Academic Search Complete or GreenFILE, instead. (For more, consult our Environmental Science Resource Guide.)

An encyclopedia can be a useful starting point, to gain an understanding of the issues and terminology of a topic. Besides this resource, remember that Sage eReference also has several excellent encyclopedias related to environmental matters, so consider checking there, as well, when you want some introductory overviews on topics related to the environment.

Recurring Reference Question: My Teacher Wants Me to Read the Wall Street Journal Daily...How Do I Do That Without Paying for a Subscription?

Many times students come up to the desk and ask if we have the Wall Street Journal, because their professor wants them to read it every day, but they really can't afford the extra expense of a subscription to either the paper or the online version.

The answer is, of course we do! Besides getting the paper delivered, we also have digital microfilm for backfile and a ProQuest database version (current to today's date) that we pay thousands of dollars for. We maintain that expensive subscription to help our students, so take advantage of it!

Still, you do NOT want to go to wsj.com to do this. You want to come to our database files, which not only allow for on-campus access, but also allow you to authenticate through our proxy server for online access, anywhere, 24/7. (All you need do for remote use is enter your name and Suffolk ID number when prompted.)

What's the process? Let's step through it. Start by going to our Databases by Subject/Business or A-Z Database list. Click on the Wall Street Journal, but make sure that you pick the current 1984+ version and not the deep digital archive. As below.


The database starts on an Advanced Search screen because most people want to look for a topic in the paper. If you do a search for a topic (keyword, company name, person, etc.) the results will appear with the most current first. But if you want to read or browse today's paper, you probably want to take a different approach.

First click "Publications" right under the banner name of the paper, as illustrated below.

For some reason (known only to ProQuest), two options are listed. For current issues, either will do, so I just pick the top option by clicking on Wall Street Journal 1984-present


When you get to the next screen, it will offer you search options again. Or you can click through the years and dates. But if you want today's paper, the best thing to do is look for the not-that-noticeable link next to "Publication information" that allows you to View most recent issue.


This will put you into today's newspaper, presented in a page-one onward page order. You can reverse this if you like.

It sounds more complicated than it is. And although it doesn't look like the paper, all the articles are here.

Here's another tip. On the same page as the "View the most recent issue" link (see the green circle in the screenshot, one back, above), there is also an option to "Set Up Alert." Although it takes a day to receive your first alert, you can sign up to have the latest day's contents delivered to your email box. HOWEVER, the database does NOT proxyize the links to the stories, so you will only be able to click-and-access the stories ON campus....so it may not be worth bothering with.)

As always, if you have questions about this, check in with us at the Reference Desk.

Notable E-Book: Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World

We have just added a very useful new online encyclopedia to our Oxford Reference Online Premium (OROP) platform. It is the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, and it is designed to provide a "broad, comparative, and multidisciplinary approach in dealing with issues that span across a multitude of countries and centuries."

This encyclopedia "presents students, researchers, political analysts, journalists, and common readers with accurate, comprehensive, and balanced scholarship on all aspects of the world's fastest-growing religion and the areas it affects: society, politics, economics, everyday life, culture, and thought."

A six-volume work (first published in print in 2009 but recently released online) constitutes a major revision and massive expansion of the 1995 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (which is also still available here on our Reference shelves). "In addition to covering Islamic societies in the modern world from the eighteenth century to the present, as the earlier four-volume set did, it will add a depth of historical background going back to the pre-Islamic era. The new reference also covers the full geographical extent of Islam by focusing not only on the countries in which Islam is dominant, but also on regions in which Muslims live as minorities, such as Europe and the Americas."

A bit of use advice: the search engine at OROP is a bit awkward, at best. So when you do a search, and click on a promising result, pay attention to the "See Also" suggestions in the left frame, which may well be more appropriate to your research.

Quirky search engine or not, this resource is well-respected, and covers more than you might expect. A Choice review, recommending it, said "Although the primary focus of this encyclopedia is not theological, the topic of sin receives more than passing notice, as does the literary phenomenon of the Hadith; the Qur'an and its interpretation deservedly receive their due. As for modern sociological phenomena, anti-Muslim prejudice is extensively discussed...."

And what about 9/11? Yes, there is an entry. But this encyclopedia goes far beyond events and issues of the last decade. It is a worthwhile starting point for many topics, when followed up with additional books and scholarly journal articles.

New Database: Art & Architecture Complete

Here is another example of switching out one database for another that is better, easier to use, and which has more indexing and more full-text (and even images).

We have just replaced our Wilson Art Full Text with EBSCOhost's Art & Architecture Complete This change should provide more extensive research options for NESAD-SU, Humanities, and other Sawyer Library users interested in topics related to the visual arts.

The publisher notes that "this database provides full-text coverage of more than 380 periodicals and 220 books. In addition, Art & Architecture Complete offers cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 780 academic journals, magazines and trade publications, as well as over 230 books. The database also provides selective coverage for more than 70 additional publications,and an Image Collection of over 65,000 images provided by Picture Desk and others."

Our users are well-familiar with the EBSCOhost interface and with all the useful text-linking options available on the EBSCO platform. There will be many previously unavailable options for getting scholarly articles and trade magazine content from this useful file. And although there are lots of ways to limit and refine your search on the opening screen, if you are interested just in the images, you might want to click "More" in the border and open just an image search. As illustrated below.

However, keep in mind that if it is images you are interested in, ARTstor is a much more useful image-only database. (The only downside to that resource is it doesn't work well with our proxy server and really requires that interested users register for a personal account when they are on-campus.)

Art & Architecture Complete, on the other hand, should work well off-campus, for any current Suffolk CAS/SBS user--no individual accounts required! We hope you'll take advantage of this "Complete" database the next time you have "artistic" research needs.

[Find Art & Architecture Complete on our A-Z database list, or in our Subject Database List for Literature, Arts and Humanities.]