Research Guide

Liberal Studies

Use The Master’s College Library Web site (www.masters.edu/library) to access the library’s online catalog and the many online databases the library has to offer.  The library’s Web site also provides information on how to do research, library services, hours, personnel, links to other libraries’ catalogs and links to other recommended scholarly Web Resources.

Dewey Decimal Classification Numbers

The TMC library’s collection is arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC) with a few exceptions.  An outline of the whole DDC can be found at Summaries: DDC.  The following are the more common Dewey numbers used at TMC in the field of Liberal Studies.

Library of Congress Classification Numbers

The Master’s Seminary Library and many other libraries around the world use the Library of Congress Classification System (LC).  For an outline of the entire LC System go to the Library of Congress Classification Outline.

Library Catalog

The library’s Online Catalog is the index to all the resources the library provides.  This is a good place to start looking for information related to any field of study.

The TMC Catalog is searchable by anyone at anytime with an Internet connection.  The following are suggestions for getting started with research in the field of Liberal Studies.  This explanation will make more sense if you open another browser to the library’s catalog and follow along as you go.  For more detailed information about how to use the library catalog go to the research guide “Online Catalog Help” also found at the bottom of the main catalog screen.

Although the library catalog does not provide access to the full-text of books in the print collection, many of the records do contain links to over 9,000 electronic books.  To access e-books found in the library catalog, select the link corresponding to the "Online Resource" field.  If the e-book is part of the NetLibrary collection you must first create your own account at http://www.netlibrary.com/ while using a computer on campus.  If you need further instructions or additional help connecting to e-books, contact Miss T. at jtillman@masters.edu.  Access to the library's e-books is limited to the TMC community.

Research TIP: The library catalog will not identify articles found in journals and magazines.  To find articles one must use a periodical index (see Periodicals below)

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)

Search the library catalog for appropriate LC Subject Headings (not to be confused with the LC Classification System) to use in your research.  Select the Basic Search screen and type in a broad subject term in the free text field, and then select the Subject Browse field.  When you receive your hit list, be sure to click on any “Info” and “Note/Ref” links as they will lead you to important information about the subject heading and additional related terminology.

Reference Resources

Reference resources are intended to provide general information on a topic and as such the reference collection is particularly useful in the early stages of research.   The resources here will provide background information on a topic, a ready made outline, expert authors in the field and contextual parameters of a topic.  For a description of the various types of reference resources see the General Research Guide: Reference Tools.

To find appropriate reference books use the Search Limits feature in the library catalog and set the Location: to Reference.  Then from the Advanced Search screen use the appropriate term as a Keyword. [Note: the system will default to the Basic Search screen so be sure to change it to Advanced]

Main Books

To find materials in the main collection use the same search strategy used to find reference books but without setting the Limits option to Reference.  For example type in appropriate search term(s) in the “Search for:” free text field, select the most suitable Boolean operation (“any of these”, “all of these”, as a phrase”) and then select an applicable field from the “Search in:” drop down menu.

Research TIP:  Use Sources to Find Other Sources -- when relevant records are identified search the Call Numbers and Subject Headings found with those records to identify additional related resources.  Also, scroll through the hit list and identify the most commonly used Dewey Classification numbers and then browse the shelves in those areas.

Audio – Video Resources

To retrieve records reflecting the library’s holdings in a specific format such as video, DVD, CD or audio cassette from the library catalog select “Set Limits”.  Then from the Location option select the desired format.   For multiple formats hold the CTRL key down while selecting formats.  Then click on the “set limits” button, wait for the page to refresh, then “Search”.  Search using the Advanced Search screen; do not use the Basic Search screen as the Limits function will not apply.  Search for a broad topic or specific keyword as appropriate for the information need.

Periodicals

Magazines, Journals, Newspapers

For all periodical titles available through the TMC library go to the library Web site and select Periodical Holdings from the menu on the left.  From this page you can find periodicals by title or by subject.  There are also links to the online indexes that provide full-text articles. The periodical holdings list indicates which periodical titles are held by the library as well as inclusive dates and format availability:  microform, print, electronic.

Periodical Indexes

Periodical Indexes are used to identify the location of articles contained in magazines, journals and newspapers.  These indexes provide citations to the articles (author, title of the article, journal title, volume, issue, date, and page numbers).  Some indexes also provide abstracts (includes a summary of the article) and many online indexes provide the full-text (FT) of the article (e.g. the complete text of the article).

To access the indexes available to the TMC community go to library Web site and select Library Databases/Indexes.  Use the various search options to identify all available print and electronic indexes by journal title or by the Topic/Type matrix.

Several of the indexes you will find there have the added benefit of the Journal Linker service.  Journal Linker enables you to link from the citation in the online index to the library’s periodical holdings information of full-text and print journals.  Then from there, you may link directly to the online journal, the online article or to the print holdings record in the OPAC.  In the event the TMC library does not have the journal in question, Journal Linker also provides a link to our interlibrary loan service.  Look for the Journal Linker iconin these periodical databases: ABC-Clio, CSA, EBSCOhost, FirstSearch and Proquest.

Research TIP:  The Periodical Holdings List and Journal Linker are especially useful when attempting to determine whether or not the library has a particular journal either in print or electronic formats.  For those indexing databases where Journal Linker does not apply, keep two browsers open: one for searching the online index and one with the Periodical Holdings page open for quickly checking to see if TMC has the journal containing the article.  If TMC does not have the article, it may be ordered through ILL.

Online Databases

For more comprehensive online research tools use the Databases/Indexes menu option found on the library Web site.  This includes all electronic periodical indexes as well as other electronic research tools including eBooks and eReference books.  Use the Topic/Type matrix to identify all available online resources providing information for the chosen field.

For a list of subject specific Indexes and Databases by major see the Databases by Major Research Guide.

Of particular use for interdisciplinary academic research are:  Academic Search Elite (EBSCO), Proquest Dissertations, Proquest Research Library, Opposing Viewpoints Research Center and WorldCat (FirstSearch), WilsonSelectPlus(FirstSearch).

for Bible: ATLA, Christian Periodical Index, Religious & Theological Abstracts, Guide to Social Sciences & Religion Abstracts, Old Testament Abstracts, New Testament Abstracts, Classic Protestant Texts, Early English Books Online

for Business:  Business Source Elite (EBSCO), Lexis/Nexis, Business Management (FirstSearch)

for Education:  ERIC (FirstSearch), Media Review Digest (FirstSearch)

for Humanities: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (FirstSearch), Essay & General Lit. (FirstSearch), Periodical Abstracts (FirstSearch)

for Literature:  Literature Resource Center, Literature Online

for History:  America History & Life; Historical Abstracts

for Math & Science: Biology Digest (FirstSearch), AGRICOLA (FirstSearch), BasicBIOSIS (FirstSearch)

for Social Sciences: SIRS Researcher (FirstSearch)

Web Resources

Go to the library Web site and select Web Resources from the menu on the left.  Use the Topic/Type matrix to identify appropriate Web sites related to the field of interest.  All Web sites posted have been evaluated and recommended by subject specialists.  For a more exhaustive listing of reputable Web sites reviewed and annotated by scholars and specialists in the field use specialized Subject Directories.  Some Subject Directories are compiled by Web spiders and Web crawlers but some have been created and are maintained by scholars, librarians and specialists in their fields and the sites chosen for inclusion are hand selected and evaluated by human beings.  These Subject Directories are among those that have identified the most valuable online resources by academics and professionals in their fields.

BUBL link (bubl.ac.uk)

Digital Librarian (digital-librarian.com)

INFOMINE (infomine.ucr.edu)

Librarian’s Internet Index (lii.org) (public library audience)

The Scout Report at http://scout.wisc.edu/.

Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) is more of a search engine than a subject directory yet it provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature.  From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources for peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles.  Scholarly resources are culled from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.

Research Guides & Tutorials

Find guides to help with basic research skills, general information about the research process, overview of resources available in the TMC library by major topic and information on copyright law particularly as it relates to the educational community.  From the library Web site’s main menu select Research Guides & Tutorials.  Here you will find links to General Research Guides for help with basic research skills and general information about the research process; Topical Research Guides for an overview of the resources available in the TMC library along with suggestions for getting started with your research in selected fields and Copyright Information particularly as it relates to higher education.

Of particular interest are these:

Basic Steps in Library Research – six simple steps explaining the research process

From Cite to Hand - Books – how to actually obtain books and other materials whether or not the library owns them

From Cite to Hand - Articles – how to actually obtain magazine and journal articles whether or not the library owns them

Finding Articles in Two, sometime Three, OK maybe Four Easy Steps

Identifying Scholarly Books – clues for distinguishing scholarly books and journals

Identifying Scholarly Periodicals- clues for distinguishing between magazines, journals and peer reviewed journals

Evaluating Resources – easy way to help evaluate the usefulness of research resource both paper and electronic

Research Worksheet – designed to make research simpler by working step by step through the research process

Fair Use Exemption– primary defense used by individuals who wish to legally duplicate, copyrighted materials without the need to obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Fair Use Checklist – use to help ascertain whether or not Fair Use applies.

© Janet Tillman/The Master’s College, 2004, permission is granted for non-profit educational use; any reproduction or modification should include this statement.

Last updated November, 2006