Global Issues in Context

Interested in world issues and events?  Need to write a paper that has a global focus?  Just want to know what's going on in other countries?  If so, then check out our new trial database, Global Issues in Context provided by Gale / Cengage Learning.  Similar in concept to Opposing Viewpoints, Global Issues is designed to cover a broad range of social issues in detail and provide students and academics with accessible multimedia research resoures - video, audio and print. This pdf gives further information on the database. 

For access to the database itself, click below the image. 

Click here to access

For a video tour of Global Issues in Context, http://www.gale.cengage.com/media/training/GlobalIssues/HomeScreen/GlobalIssues_HomeScreen.htm

Feel free to send feedback to Tina Kiernan. 

ScienceDirect enhances mobile access

ScienceDirect, a collection of over 2,000 peer reviewed journals covering all aspects of the sciences, recently released  a mobile version of its Web site that offers streamlined page layouts which significantly improves the readability of articles. And given the in-depth nature of the 11 million documents in ScienceDirect, this enhancement will make the database much more usable for those using mobile technology.

In conjunction with the roll-out of the enhanced Web site, ScienceDirect is retiring the mobile app that previously acted a a gateway to the database. To see the new Science Direct mobile site, take a look at this demo.

More information on accessing ScienceDirect from your tablet or smartphone is at the Ritz Mobile Guide.

Check out Jstor!

Faculty and staff now have access to Jstor, a full text database service that provides current issues & archives of core scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences. We have three Jstor collections, Arts & Sciences I, II, III. These collections contain almost 400 journals and  cover a wide variety of academic fields including:

► Economics	► Music	► Mathematics
► History	► Sociology	► Classics
► Political Science	►Performing Arts	► Area Studies

One of the unique features of JStor is that journals coverage begins with the first issue published, so that sometimes you can  retrieve articles from the 19th century or earlier, a great feature when you are looking at a subject from an historical angle.  Another handy feature is that Jstor articles are easily accessed through Google Scholar.

One limitation of Jstor is that some publications do not allow Jstor to publish the current year's issues. If you need such an "embargoed" document, remember the library can get it for you through Interlibrary Loan 

Ready to try Jstor? Enter here.

Let’s go on a (Pro)Quest!!

One of the Ritz Library’s more widely used databases, ProQuest, has a new look this year – please don’t panic! The database’s designers have redone the interface to make searching for specific topics more effective when you do your research, and most of the same search options are still available and can be easily found on the Advanced Search page. The good news is that there are several brand new features that can also help you focus your search to find more specific results.

Most of the new features can be found over to the right of your search results list or when you bring up an article. There’s a Thesaurus which will help you find terms that are similar to those you’re searching on. When you’ve searched and brought up your list of results you’ll find the Sidebar containing additional functions that will allow you to limit your results to specific dates, source types (publication types), titles, companies and specific names. There’s also a new Share box which connects to social networking sites and services like Facebook, Twitter or StumbleUpon.

If you have any difficulties or you have any questions about the new ProQuest, please be sure to contact the Ritz Library Reference staff via email, phone or Meebo. We’ll be happy to help you out.

It's easy to be Green!!

The Ritz Library has added Green File to its collection of research sources. This database contains scholarly & general interest material originally published in magazines, journals and government reports. All aspects of environmental sciences are covered, from global warming to recycling.

Green File contains about 5,000 full text documents and indexes over 200,000. To use this source most effectively, un-check the "full text" box before searching, If a document looks promising and is not available full text, click on the "Article Linker" button to search for that document in all other DCC databases.

Interested? Go directly to Green File if you're on campus. From off campus, connect through MyDCC.

Doing a report about a country?

A new "Quick Link" has been added to the Ritz's resources page, Doing A Report about a country?, which gathers together electronic resources to help you write a paper on a world nation.

A major souce at the link is the "Country Reports" section of the Business Source Premier database. These yearly reports focus on the economic, political and cultural aspects of countries and cover a range of years from 1998 until the present. Another source to look at is "Virtual Reference Library," a collection of 20 electronic encyclopedias with information on countries.

To directly get to this link on campus go to http://libraryreference.sunydutchess.edu/er/countries.htm.

Access from home should be made through the Ritz's MyDCC "Off campus database access" link.

Problem with ProQuest "Cite this" function

Be careful using the "Cite this" function in the Proquest Databases (ABI Inform, Health Management, Research Library, New York Times & Wall Street Journal). We've found that the system has problems formatting the authors when generating citations. Often the citation will begin with the author's first name. Here's an example:

John M Dunn. "Growing Stronger and Greener. " Florida Trend : 2009: BusinessFlorida 1 Jan. 2009: 33. ProQuest Newsstand. ProQuest. 7 Nov. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>

Since all documentation styles state that authors are listed last name first in citations, this is a major error. So be sure to look at ProQuest citations carefully and adjust the author entry if necessary.

Questions? Call 845.431.8634 or email refdesk@sunydutchess.edu

Speeches En Regalia

An election year is a banner opportunity for political candidates to show off their oratorical skills. It's also a banner year for instructors to assign papers on speeches. So where's a comprehensive place to go for speeches?

A great source is Vital Speeches of the Day. This publication has collected the best in oratory since 1934. It contains speeches & addresses by important public figures on topics of national & international interest.

Searching is straightforward. To look for all speeches by an individual, search on the person's name, last name first. For example, "Radloff, Toby".

To search this database on campus, click on this link: Vital Speeches of the Day and go to "Search within this Publication". To find out how to search it from home, call 431-8634 or send e-mail to Reference.

Also remember that the Ritz Library owns a number of collections of speeches that you can take out or copy. Here's a list of those books.

About the library

Need a brief reminder about library hours, services, contact us details, and how to look information up in databases? Check out this pdf!

A tip for future nurses... try the online tutorials!

We admit it, CINAHL can be a tricky database to use. In order to find sufficient articles on your topic, whether you're writing that first research paper in 101 or working on your clinicals in your last semester, there are many settings to tweak to get your search just right. Even if you've attended a library class to learn how to search CINAHL there are a lot of things to remember.

That's where our online tutorials come in: we've placed on our webpage for CINAHL a series of video/audio demonstrations that demonstrate the searching process. (Please note: you cannot search CINAHL off campus from the link at the top of this page, you must log in to MyDCC for off-campus access. There will be more on this approach below.) If you wish to use them, be sure to watch them in the order given. Be sure to have your speakers turned on to hear the narration.

To use CINAHL off campus you must sign in to your MyDCC account. Click the "Library" tab near the top of the page, then click on the link marked "Off Campus Database Access" in the center column. The page that comes up will look just like the one we use in the Reference area in the library. Follow the instructions above to see the tutorials.