JAVA

Ebooks

Introduction to Programming Using Java. By David J. Eck "...a free, on-line textbook on introductory programming, which uses Java as the language of instruction."

Ebrary - Titles extensively covering Java

Issues In Sociology

Other Useful Topic of the Week Postings:

• Immigration
  
• Gender Pay Gap
  
• Gay Marriage
  
• Racial Diversity in Public Schools
  
• Fixing Urban Schools
  
• Drug Abuse
  
• Criminal Sentences & Prisons
  
• Juvenile Justice
  
• School Violence and Bullying
  
• Fighting Crime
  
• Global Climate Change
  
• Health Care in America
  
• Media Violence
  

CQ Researcher:

Recent Issues
• Housing the Homeless - December 18, 2009
  
• Prisoner Reentry - December 4, 2009
  
• Women in the Military - November 13, 2009
  
• Nuclear Disarmament - October 2, 2009
  
• Gays in the Military - September 18, 2009
  
• Straining the Safety Net - July 31, 2009
  
• Student Rights - June 5, 2009
  
• Hate Groups - May 8, 2009
  
• Affirmative Action - October 17, 2008
  
• Declining Birthrates - November 21, 2008
  
• Global Food Crisis - June 27, 2008
  

Or Browse by Topic:
• Constitutional Law and Justice
  
• Family and Domestic Life
  
• Health
  
• Human Rights
  
• Religion
  
• Social Services and Disabilities
  
• War and Conflict

Searching EBSCOhost:

This searches for articles with the subject keyword 'disabilities' provided they also have at least one of the subject keywords 'discrimination' or 'ableism.' All articles must be available either in print or full text, and must be over 1 page in length. Click the image to view it full size.

Afghanistan

Articles
EBSCOhost
Afghanistan [Subject Terms] - over 5000 full text articles

Add terms to second search line to focus on subtopics - for instance:

• war or military or armed forces
• taliban or counterinsurgency or qaida
• rebuild* or reconstruct* or nation building
• school* or education

ProQuest
Afghanistan - over 39500 full text articles; note that this search is limited to the keyword 'Afghanistan' as 'Location' rather than subject. As above, add topic keywords to other search lines to narrow: GEO(afghanistan) AND (school* or education)
CQ Researcher - Afghanistan Dilemma - August 7, 2009.

Books
CBC Library Catalog - su:afghanistan or ti:afghanistan
Ebrary - subject search Afghanistan - 19 ebooks

Reference
Articles on Afghanistan (primarily background) from 4 encyclopedias in the History & Culture subcollection of Gale Virtual Reference.

Updated: 3/12/2011

Pakistan

Articles

EBSCOhost

pakistan [Subject Terms] - over 4200 full text articles

Add terms to second search line to focus on subtopics - for instance:

• military or armed forces
• taliban or qaida
• school* or education

ProQuest

pakistan - over 35900 full text articles; note that this search is limited to the keyword 'pakistan' as 'Location' rather than subject. As above, add topic keywords to other search lines to narrow: GEO(pakistan) AND (school* or education)

Books

CBC Library Catalog - su:pakistan or ti:pakistan

Ebrary - subject search pakistan - 12 ebooks

Reference

Country Profile: Pakistan Facts on File World News Digest. Includes many links to articles as well as facts, history. Long, Roger D. "Pakistan" Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern World. Ed Peter N. Stearns. Oxford UP, 2008.
Articles on pakistan (primarily background) from 4 encyclopedias in the History & Culture subcollection of Gale Virtual Reference, including an 18 page article from the Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations 11th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2004. "Pakistan: Recent History." Europa World. Regularly updated.

Pandemic H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu)

ebrary
H1N1 (Influenza) Searchable Information Center
The "site contains a growing selection of reports, papers, newsletters, posters, and other important materials from government agencies and other trusted sources."

Articles
EBSCO Search: Swine Influenza OR swine flu OR H1N1 Influenza OR H1N1 flu
ProQuest Search: (Swine Influenza or swine flu)

Reference
EBSCO & DynaMed: Pandemic H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu)


Websites
United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2009 H1N1 Flu.
Washington State Department of Health. H1N1 (Swine Flu)
Reuters.com. H1N1 Flu.
The New York Times. Times Topics. Swine Flu (H1N1 Virus).

y.y.

Liberal & Conservative

Definitions

Liberalism. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Macmillan, 2008. p425-427.

Charvet, John. Liberalism. New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Scribner's, 2005. p1262-1269.
Revisionist liberalism believes in "...government intervention in the economy to protect the interests and promote the welfare of workers. Government resources, obtained through general taxation, are used to provide for the basic needs of the population." Further, that "normal adult human beings [only develop] the capacity to exercise their freedom in their own interests [under] suitable economic, educational, and social conditions... If individuals cannot provide these conditions for themselves, then fellow citizens must do so through state action."

Conservatism. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. Macmillan, 2008. p83-87.

Aughey, Arthur. Conservatism. New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Scribner's, 2005. p452-457.
"Conservatives believe that government can be authoritative only when it is limited, modest, and continuous. If it were possible to identify a distinctive desire uniting all forms of conservatism, it would be the desire to be left alone to enjoy the benefits of a well-ordered society."

Sample Magazine & Journal Titles

Liberal
American Prospect
Mother Jones
New Republic
The Progressive
Utne Reader

Conservative
American Spectator
Commentary
National Review
Policy Review
Washington Monthly

Conspiracy Theories

Katel, Peter. "Conspiracy Theories: Do they threaten democracy?" CQ Researcher 23 Oct. 2009.
President Barack Obama is a foreign-born radical plotting to establish a dictatorship. His predecessor, George W. Bush, allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to occur in order to justify sending U.S. troops to Iraq. The federal government has plans to imprison political dissenters in detention camps in the United States. Welcome to the world of conspiracy theories. Since colonial times, conspiracies both far-fetched and plausible have been used to explain trends and events ranging from slavery to why U.S. forces were surprised at Pearl Harbor. In today's world, the communications revolution allows conspiracy theories to be spread more widely and quickly than ever before. But facts that undermine conspiracy theories move less rapidly through the Web, some experts worry. As a result, there may be growing acceptance of the notion that hidden forces control events, leading to eroding confidence in democracy, with repercussions that could lead Americans to large-scale withdrawal from civic life, or even to violence.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Books

Ebrary

Search by Subject: Conspiracy OR Conspiracies - 7 titles including:
Fenster, Mark. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. University of Minnesota Press, 2008.

Articles

EBSCOhost

Subject: Conspiracy Theories and (psych* or paranoia or belief) - 25+ full text articles

SU Conspiracy Theories and KW (united states or america*) - 150+ full text articles

ProQuest

(conspiracy theor* or truthers) AND (9/11 or "september 11") - 900+ full text articles

(conspiracy theor* or birthers) AND (obama) - 400+ full text articles

Web

Snopes.com - collects and classifies "urban legends but also common fallacies, misinformation, old wives' tales, strange news stories, rumors, celebrity gossip."

Factcheck.org - "..monitor(s) the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases."

Financial Literacy: Consumer Credit and Debt

CBC Foundation Hosts Financial Forums: A Reality Check: Life Happens (Oct. 13 - Nov. 17 2009) - on Tuesdays at 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM for the next six weeks in the HUB Congress room. Learn about budgeting, balancing, credit, investing, identity theft and more (see schedule for individual session descriptions and times). All free thanks to the Foundation and their community sponsors.

Billitteri, Thomas J. "Financial Literacy: Should courses be mandatory in schools?." CQ Researcher September 4, 2009.
Poor understanding of basic personal-finance and economic issues has left millions of students and adults mired in credit-card debt, prey to unscrupulous mortgage brokers and prone to making risky bets with their retirement money. High-school seniors correctly answer only about half the questions on personal-finance surveys, and those who take personal-finance courses tend to score no better than those who don't. Studies show similar deficits among adults. Yet experts disagree on a solution. Only a handful of states require at least a semester course on personal finance, and some advocates want Congress or state legislatures to mandate financial education for all K-12 students. Others question the effectiveness of financial-literacy programs in schools, and some worry that corporations may have too much influence on curriculum and instruction. A better approach to improving financial literacy, some argue, is to tighten government regulation to make credit cards, mortgages and other products easier to understand.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Regulating Credit Cards." CQ Researcher 18.35 (2008): 817-840.

Mantel, Barbara. "Consumer Debt." CQ Researcher 17.9 (2007): 193-216. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. 17 Mar. 2007.

Books at CBC Library

Jasper, Margaret C. Consumer rights law. New York : Oceana, c2008.
Main Collection KF1610 .J37 2008

Jasper, Margaret C. Dealing with debt. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. : Oceana Publications, 2007.
Main Collection KF1501 .Z95J37 2007

Draut, Tamara. Strapped : why America's 20- and 30-somethings can't get ahead. New York : Anchor Books : 2007.
Main Collection HQ799.7 .D73 2007

Jasper, Margaret C. Identity theft and how to protect yourself. New York: Oceana Publications, c2006.
Main Collection HV6691 .J37 2006

Search for other titles on su:credit cards or su:consumer credit in the CBC Library Catalog

Articles:

Search EBSCOhost on:

• Credit Card Regulations - 240+ full text articles
  
• Credit Cards in general - over 3100 full text articles
  
• Payday Loans - 60+ full text articles
  
• Consumer* AND (credit OR debt) AND United States - 690+ full text articles

Foster, John Bellamy. "The Household Debt Bubble." Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine 58.1 (2006): 1-11. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Fox, Jonathan, Bartholomae, Suzanne, and Jinkook Lee. "Building the Case for Financial Education." Journal of Consumer Affairs 39.1 (2005): 195-214. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Reviews "programs aimed at improving Americans' financial literacy" and makes recommendations. Garrett, Thomas A. "The Rise in Personal Bankruptcies: The Eighth Federal Reserve District and Beyond." Review 89.1 (2007): 15-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Examines the factors that have "over the past 100 years" contributed "to the dramatic rise in personal bankruptcy filings seen across the country." Nichols, Nathaniel C. "When Harry Met Sally: Client Counseling under BAPCPA." Widener Law Journal 15.3 (2006): 641-666. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 17 March 2007. Credit cards, consumer spending, and "client counseling under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA)." Reference Articles: Olney, Martha L. "Credit Cards." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. Vol. 2. 3rd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. "Credit." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Eds. Jeffrey Lehman and Shirelle Phelps. Vol. 3. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005.

History 115 - Modern Middle East

Useful Topic of the Week posts:

• Afghanistan
  
• Palestine-Israel Conflict
  
• Pakistan
  
• Iraq War
  
• Iran

Issues of the CQ Researcher on other related topics (last 5 years):

• Afghanistan Dilemma - August 7, 2009
  
• Understanding Islam - November 3, 2006
  
• Middle East Tensions - October 27, 2006
  
• Global Jihad - October 14, 2005
  
• Democracy in the Arab World - January 30, 2004
  
• Or Browse by Topic Regional Political Affairs: Middle East and South Asia

Reference Gale Virtual Reference - search the entire History subcollection, or browse individual titles:

• Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. New York: Macmillan 2004.
  
• Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. New York: Macmillan 2004.

Daily Life Online - browse Middle East region CBC Library - Reference Collection

• Oxford encyclopedia of the Islamic world. Oxford University Press, 2009.
  Call Number: DS35.53 .O96 2009
  
• Atlas of the Middle East. National Geographic Society, 2008.
  Call Number: G2205 .N34 2008
  
• Smith, Dan. The state of the middle east : an atlas of conflict and resolution. University of California Press, 2006.
  Call Number: G2205 .S653 2006

Books Ebooks Modern Middle East : A Sourcebook for History. Fortna, Benjamin C., Camron Amin, Elizabeth B. Frierson, eds. Oxford UP, 2006. [ebrary] Kamrava, Mehran. Modern Middle East : A Political History Since the First World War. University of California Press, 2004. [ebrary] Sicker, Martin. Middle East in the Twentieth Century. Greenwood, 2001. [ebrary] Or search for more titles in Ebrary on the Middle East AND (history or civilization or relations) Hodgson, Marshall G. S. The venture of Islam: conscience and history in a world civilization. Vol. 1-3. University of Chicago Press: 1974. [ACLS] Search the ACLS Humanities database for ebooks on the Subject "Middle East" or for individual countries. Print Titles Search the CBC Library Catalog for the Su:Middle East or for individual countries.

Peer-Reviewed Article Checklist

Other useful postings:

• Video: What is a Peer-Reviewed Article?
• Video: Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles in EBSCOhost
• Parts of a Research/Scholarly Journal Article - APA Style

Checklist - Here are some things to look for when attempting to determine if an article you have found is peer-reviewed:

1. If you used EBSCOhost did you limit your search to "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals?" If you used ProQuest, did you limit your search to "Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed?"
2. Does it have more than one author listed? Although some peer-reviewed articles may have a single author it is more common for there to be multiple authors - original research takes a lot of workers!
3. Are the authors' affiliations provided at the beginning or end of the article? Their affiliation is where they work, typically a University or research institution.
4. Is the article more than 2 pages in length? You may find some peer-reviewed articles that are 3-5 pages, but it is not uncommon for them to be much longer.
5. Does the article include an abstract written by the authors? This should appear at the beginning.
6. Does the abstract include indicator words such as “the present study….examined…measured…identified...results indicated?” All of these tell you that this is a report on original research.
7. If you open the article does it have sections for an introduction, methods, results, discussion?
8. Are there illustrations? Research results are frequently reported with charts, graphs, tables, drawings and photographs of specimens.
9. At the end or the beginning, does it include the dates when the article was submitted and accepted for publication?
10. Are there lots of references at the end of the article? It is not uncommon for peer-reviewed articles to have several pages of references.

Biology 160

Reference - use to define and narrow your topic

AccessScience - scholarly science and technology encyclopedia and dictionary

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

Magill's Medical Guide; see the article on Genetic Diseases as well as articles on specific disorders.

Oxford Reference Online - Science

Gale Virtual Reference - Medicine

Also browse our print reference collection from QE - QR

Books

Browse ebrary titles that cover controversial aspects of genetics

Pasternak, Jack K. Introduction to Human Molecular Genetics : Mechanisms of Inherited Diseases (2nd Edition). John Wiley & Sons, 2005.

Articles

EBSCOhost - thousands of magazines and 3500+ peer-reviewed journals in numerous disciplines; has 'Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals' search limiter

ProQuest - thousands of magazines, newspapers and over 1000 peer-reviewed journals; has 'Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed' limiter

Ovid - More than 200 full text medical journals.

Nature Journal - - includes peer-reviewed articles; search or browse articles in the Biological sciences web focus archive

Science Magazine - includes peer-reviewed articles; search or browse articles in various Life Sciences collections

CBC Library Guide to APA Style when citing library databases

Looking for Criticism

The full text of hundreds of scholarly journals which include literary criticism may be found in EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier and ProQuest.

EBSCOhost allows you to search for works by title phrase without requiring the phrase to be enclosed in quotation marks. It is often useful to narrow the search by looking for the words book, books (truncate to 'book*'), literature, literary (truncate to 'litera*') in the subject terms assigned to the articles, as:


If you are searching for a work of literature with a single word title (for example, 1984) or a very common phrase you may need to narrow your search by using the author's last name on the last row.

ProQuest requires you to place exact phrases in quotes, otherwise it looks for those words close to each other, but not exactly together in that order. Works of literary criticism typically have that word in the subject, so the following search is effective:

If the articles you locate contain unfamiliar literary terms you may find the Oxford Reference Online Literature resources useful.

Scheduling Research Projects

When you are just starting out, a research assignment may seem overwhelming. It can be helpful to break your projects into smaller tasks and lay them out on your calendar. While each project is different, here are some typical tasks you may wish to include:

1. Receive Assignment.
   
2. Select a Topic.
   
3. Do Background Research.
   
4. Form Research Questions.
   
5. Research.
   
6. Consult Reference Librarian.
   
7. Review Results.
   
8. Outline.
   
9. Consult Instructor.
   
10. Follow-up Research.
    
11. Prepare First Draft.
    
12. Send Draft to Writing Center.
    
13. Prepare Final Draft.
    
14. Proofread.
    
15. Turn in assignment.
    

If you have a ten week term paper these tasks can be scheduled on different or multiple days, but what if you only have a week to prepare a 3-5 page research essay? Here is an example schedule where you are required to have 3 sources, one of which must be from assigned readings. Note that your topic will be taken from an article your instructor has provided and potential research areas will be identified during class discussion.

• Week Before - Do assigned reading [Background Research & Select a Topic]. Discuss in class [Form Research Questions].
  
• Monday - Receive Assignment. Search library databases for useful articles [Do Research] & Consult Librarian (not necessarily in that order!).
  
• Tuesday - Read articles and highlight significant points, underlining possibly useful quotes [Review Results]. Organize your notes from the assigned reading and the articles so they form a coherent argument with supporting points [Outline].
  
• Wednesday - Consult Instructor to be sure you are on the right track with your sources and outline. Do additional research if necessary. Revise Outline and begin First Draft.
  
• Thursday - Complete First Draft & email to Writing Center -or- visit Writing Center for assistance, then Complete First Draft & email to Writing Center for comment/corrections.
  
• Friday - Until Writing Center returns draft with comments (~24 hours), relax -unless- you left out important elements such as a works cited page, cover page, required header/footer or other formatting.
  
• Saturday - Prepare Final Draft.
  
• Sunday - Proofread - try reading it aloud, or see if you can get a friend/relative to read it for you as well. Revise as needed.
  
• Monday - Turn in assignment.

Research Topics

Assigned topics may be extremely broad or very narrow; here are some examples from the broadest to the most narrow:

• Anything
  
• Any Topic Related to Biology
  
• Any Topic Related to Cell Biology
  
• Describe any Single-Celled Organism
  
• Describe a Species of Gram-Negative Bacteria
  
• Discuss the role of Cyanobacteria in Aquatic Ecosystems
  
• What is the Likely Impact of Climate Change on the incidence of Toxic Cyanobacterial Blooms in Freshwater Lakes?

Here are some criteria you can consider in selecting a topic:

• How complex is the topic?
  
• How much time do you have?
  
• How familiar are you with the topic?
  
• Is it easy to find reliable information about the topic?
  
• Do you find it reasonably interesting?
  
• Do you already have strong opinions about the topic?
  

The more complex and unfamiliar the topic, the more time you should have to research, read, and write about it. It is also important to note that you may want resources from other libraries for some research projects; you'll need to allow extra time for that as well (see our Interlibrary Loan service page for more information).

While it is very useful to know something about a topic you are researching, it can be a problem when you have very strong opinions. Most college research papers will require you to take a position which is supported by reliable data and discusses opposing views in a respectful manner. If your opinion is based on personal convictions it may be very time consuming to locate information which both confirms your opinion and meets your assignment requirements.

This Topic of the Week blog is designed to provide you with examples of viable research topics as well as guides for some particular assignments. We also have a posting that offers additional sources you can browse for topics.

Evaluating Sources

Having found a bunch of information sources you need to select those that best meet your needs. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you scan your results:

• Who is the author (or authors)? Hopefully there will be a statement about the author at the end of the article, book, or web page. In many databases you can quickly search to see what else they have written. If you need to, can you quote the author as an expert?
  
• Who is the publisher, and what are their standards for publication? Publishers of scholarly journals rely on experts to review their research articles against established standards for academic publication; their existence depends on their credibility among scholars and professionals in their discipline. Publishers of magazines and newspapers rely primarily on journalists to edit their publications in a very short time frame against variable ethical standards; their existence depends on appealing to a general audience.
  
• What is the purpose? Are the authors writing to persuade, entertain, inform, or advance the state of knowledge in their academic discipline? Have they used only sources most likely to convince you of their point of view, or have they apparently examined everything written related to their topic so they can explain how their research relates?
  
• Does the depth and character of the content meet your needs? Is the language too technical or too basic for your audience? Does it offer in-depth coverage of a specialized subtopic when you need a general overview? Does it provide only brief information about the most newsworthy findings of a scientific study, when you are expected to extensively analyze the study, its methods and conclusions?
  
• How current is the information? You may be using a book that is considered the most authoritative treatment of a topic ever written, but if you need to account for the most recent developments you will have to search for some articles as well.
  
• Pay particular attention to web resources:
  
  • How did you access the information - through one of the library’s subscription databases (e.g., EBSCOhost) or by searching the web (e.g., Google)?
    
  • Who is responsible for the page? Is an author listed (you may need to look at the ‘home’ or ‘about’ pages)? Is the author affiliated with an educational, governmental or research institution?
    
  • How recently was the page updated?
    
  • Does the domain section of the URL give you any hints about what kind of page it is? The first part of the URL (Uniform Resource Locator, also called the web address) might look like “http://www.mypage.com” – the “.com” part is the top level domain. Here are some common ones:
    
    • .com – so often found you might think it stands for ‘common,’ but really means ‘commercial.’ Can be anything.
      
    • .edu – Educational institution; can include databases designed by University institutes as well as Elementary School projects.
      
    • .gov – Governmental; Federal and State governments, their agencies and institutes – county and city governments mostly use “.us” – the domain for United States (some 240 countries have a two letter top level domain).
      
    • .net – Network; becoming as common as ‘.com’ and can be just as commercial; includes lots of personal home pages
      
    • .org – Non-profit Organization; museums, charities, interest groups, professional associations, research institutes, & lots more.

______________________________________________________

Another comprehensive website about evaluating information uses similar critia

A: Authority
S: Sources
P: Purpose
E: Evenness
C: Coverage
T: Timeliness

updated y.y. May 2010

Understanding Your Assignment

In order to develop an effective research strategy you need a solid understanding of your assignment. If your instructor tells the class that you will be given the research assignment on a day you know you will be absent, ask to meet with them so you can get it in advance. Ask questions, take notes, and be sure to have all this with you when you do your research. Here are some questions you can ask yourself (or your instructor!), along with some examples of how these factors might influence your research strategy:

• What is the size of my project? Long sources may not be as useful for short papers, unless you can easily work with just parts of them (a chapter instead of the whole book, or the introduction and conclusion of a long research article.)
  
  
• How much time do I have? Limits the resources available to you. The less time you have the more you are going to want to work with resources which help you easily find appropriate information that is readily available.
  
  
• What is the scope of my project? Your instructor should tell you the extent to which your project should be based on your textbook and lectures, your own thoughts and experiences, research in library information resources, or even original research (where you might conduct a study or interview experts).
  
  
• Who is my audience? Are you preparing an informative speech for your classmates or a term paper for your psychology instructor? Your sources should be appropriate in both language and complexity.
  
  
• Am I required to use a particular type of source? Some instructors will ask you to find a newspaper editorial or other opinion piece; others will want you to locate and analyze a ‘peer-reviewed’ journal article which details original research. In many cases you will be allowed to use other sources for background or definitions, as long as you include the required sources – ask if not sure.
  
  
• Am I forbidden to use a particular type of source? If you have to use sources written within the last two years, historical topics may be hard! If you cannot use encyclopedias, often your instructor means general encyclopedias (like World Book) not scholarly subject encyclopedias (like the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism available through the Gale Virtual Reference Library); be sure to ask. If you are told not to use the internet they almost *never* mean to avoid using the library databases which are accessed online, like EBSCOhost and ProQuest.

Legalizing Marijuana

Katel, Peter. Legalizing marijuana: Should pot be treated like alcohol and taxed? CQ Researcher June 12, 2009. From statehouses to the White House, attitudes toward marijuana laws are changing. California's top tax collector is endorsing proposed state legislation to legalize and tax pot, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he'd like the idea debated. More than a dozen other states have enacted or are considering laws to permit medical-marijuana use or remove criminal penalties for possession. In Congress, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia — a hard-nosed Marine combat veteran — wants marijuana legalization considered in a top-to-bottom review of sentencing and drug laws. Full-scale, nationwide legalization still seems distant, but the Obama administration has declared a hands-off approach toward California's medical-marijuana outlets, unless the state-sanctioned sites are determined to be trafficking operations. Opponents of marijuana legalization object on moral and health grounds, but the opposition appears to be weakening, especially in a time when the economic crisis is cutting into police and prison budgets nationwide. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

More Articles

EBSCOhost

(drug or marijuana) and (legaliz* or decriminaliz*) and united states - EBSCOhost, 350+

(marijuana or cannabis) and United States and (medic* or therapeutic) - EBSCOhost, 400+

Books

Search the CBC Library Catalog for books on kw:Marijuana or kw:Cannabis or kw:Drug Legaliz

Search ebrary for ebooks on marijuana legalization

See also Topic of the Week posts on Mexico's Drug War and Drug Abuse.

PC Troubleshooting Certification

Ebrary titles on CompTIA / A+ Certification and PC repair include:

Meyers, Michael. A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs (2nd Edition), McGraw-Hill Osborne, 2007.

Meyers, Michael. A+ Certification Passport (3rd Edition), McGraw-Hill Osborne, 2007.

If you 'sign in' with ebrary you can take notes, highlight, bookmark, and add ebooks to your personal bookshelf for later reference. Unlike with real books you can also search the full text of a whole collection of books at once!

Visual Basic

Ebrary titles on Visual Basic include:

• Evjen, Bill, Billy Hollis and Bill Sheldon. Professional Visual Basic 2008. Wrox, 2008.
  
  
• Stephens, Rod. Visual Basic 2008 Programmer's Reference. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
  
  
• Willis, Thearon and Bryan Newsome. Beginning Microsoft Visual Basic 2008. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
  
  
• Petroutsos, Evangelos. Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 2008. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.

If you 'sign in' with ebrary you can take notes, highlight, bookmark, and add ebooks to your personal bookshelf for later reference. Unlike with print books you can also search the full text of a whole collection of books at once!

Reproductive Ethics

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Reproductive Ethics." CQ Researcher May 15, 2009. Nadya Suleman, an unemployed, 33-year-old, single mother from Southern California, felt her six children weren't enough. Last January, after a fertility doctor implanted six embryos she had frozen earlier, Suleman gave birth to octuplets — and was quickly dubbed “Octomom.” Many fertility experts were shocked that a doctor would depart so far from medical guidelines — which recommend implantation of only one, or at most two, embryos for a woman of Suleman's relatively young age. Although multiple births often do result from in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted-reproduction technologies, the number of multiples has dropped over the past few years, they point out. Other analysts note, however, that government statistics show a large percentage of clinics frequently ignore the guidelines on embryo implantation. In response, lawmakers in several states have introduced proposals to increase regulation of fertility clinics. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press. Clemmitt, Marcia. "Reproductive Ethics: Should fertility medicine be regulated more tightly?" CQ Researcher. 15 May 2009.

Additional Articles

EBSCOhost

SU REPRODUCTIVE technology and SU MORAL & ethical aspects

ProQuest

SU(fertility or reproduct*) AND (ethic* or moral or morality) - over 1800 full text articles

Books

Ebrary: search (moral or ethical or ethic or ethics) and (reproductive or reproduction or fertility)- over 490 ebooks

Library Catalog: search for books on reproduct ethic (The new catalog has automatic truncation, so the search is equal to "reproduct* AND ethic*".)

ABC CLIO ebook: Reproductive Issues in America: A Reference Handbook

Criminal Justice & Corrections

CQ Researcher

Jost, Kenneth. "Examining Forensics: Are new research and oversight needed?." CQ Researcher 17 July 2009. "Crime-scene investigations play an important role in gathering evidence for criminal trials — from fingerprints and blood samples to DNA and digital data. But expert witnesses known collectively as forensic scientists or criminalists must analyze the evidence to help the judge and jury determine a defendant's guilt or innocence. A congressionally mandated study, however, says major changes are needed to strengthen forensic science."

Weinberg, Steve. "Wrongful Convictions." CQ Researcher April 17, 2009.
Is overhaul of the criminal justice system needed? As recently as 10 years ago, the proposition that innocent men and women regularly end up in prison failed to find traction. Today, thanks to the power of DNA evidence, media coverage and the establishment of innocence projects, there is general acceptance that wrongful convictions indeed occur.From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Mantel, Barbara. "Public Defenders:Do indigent defendants get adequate legal representation?" CQ Researcher. 18 Apr. 2008.

Jost, Kenneth. "Prosecutors and the Law: Is prosecutorial misconduct a serious problem?" CQ Researcher. 9 Nov. 2007.

Katel, Peter. "Prison Reform: Are too many nonviolent criminals being incarcerated?" CQ Researcher. 6 Apr. 2007. "America has more people in prisons and jails — 2.2 million — than any other country in the world. And over the next five years, the number of prison inmates is projected to grow three times faster than the national population."

Additional Articles

EBSCOhost

wrongful conviction* or false imprisonment or judicial error or exculpatory dna evidence or innocence project

SU ( sentences or prison* or imprisonment ) and SU Drug

united states and (mandatory sentenc* or three strikes)

ProQuest

Wrongful Convictions: (sentenc* or prison* or correctional or criminal or justice) AND (dna or Genetic testing) AND (false arrest or innocence or wrongful) - over 750 full text articles

Nonviolent Drug Crimes: (sentenc* or judges or judicial or guidelines or prison* or correctional) AND (drug* or cocaine) AND (nonviolen* or low level) - over 2350 full text articles

Racial Disparities: SU(sentenc* or prison* or correctional) AND SU(race or racial or racism or African Americans or ethnic*) - over 3325 full text articles

Books

Ebrary: search (sentences OR prisons OR imprisonment OR justice OR criminal) AND "united states" in Subject - over 100 ebooks

Library Catalog: search for books on the subject of prison or imprisonment and United States (su:prison or su:imprisonment) and (su:United States)

Gottschalk, Marie. The prison and the gallows: the politics of mass incarceration in America. Cambridge University Press, 2006. ACLS Humanities E-book.

McLennan, Rebecca M. The crisis of imprisonment: protest, politics, and the making of the American penal state, 1776-1941. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Reference

Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities. Ed. Mary Bosworth. Gale Virtual Reference Thousand Oaks: Sage Reference, 2005.

Or search the entire Law & Justice collection in Gale Virtual Reference.

Espejo, Roman. America's prisons : opposing viewpoints. San Diego, Calif. : Greenhaven Press, c2002.
Location: Reserve Reference
Call number: HV9471 .A488 2002

Ferro, Jeffrey. Prisons. New York : Facts On File, c2006.
Location: Reference
Call number: HV9471 .F465 2006

Web

National Research Council, “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” National Research Council, National Academies Press, February 2009.

Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission - also publishes reports on racial sentencing disparities and persistent offender (three strikes) sentencing.

"Decades of Disparity: Drug Arrests and Race in the United States." Human Rights Watch. March 2, 2009.

Confronting Confinement. Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons. June 2006.
"What happens inside jails and prisons does not stay inside jails and prisons. It comes home with prisoners after they are released and with corrections officers at the end of each day’s shift. We must create safe and productive conditions of confinement not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it influences the safety, health, and prosperity of us all."

Updated 4/30/11 SB

Mental Health in America

Mental Health America. May is Mental Health Month - "created more than 50 years ago to raise awareness about mental health conditions and the importance of mental wellness for all."

Articles

ProQuest

SU(college) AND SU(mental health or mental disorders or suicid* or depression) - 850+ full text articles

Poll shows many college students are stressed, depressed.
Deseret News [Salt Lake City]: 22 May 2009: p. A7. View the AP-MTVu Poll.

Mental Health Insurance Parity - 1200+ full text articles

SU(veteran*) AND SU(mental health or mental disorders or suicid* or post-traumatic) - 800+ full text articles

EBSCOhost

SU ( mental health or mental* ill* ) and GE united states and ( uninsured or poor or underinsur* or homeless* or low income ) - over 170 full text articles

( mental health or mental* ill* ) and united states and (prison* or jail* or correctional institutions) - 390+ full text articles

SU ( mental health or mental* ill* ) and GE united states and SU ( college* or universit* ) - over 110 full text articles

Or try subject searches on particular mental conditions, such as stress, anxiety, and depression.

CQ Researcher

Clemmitt, Marcia. Treating Depression: Is effective treatment available? CQ Researcher June 26, 2009.

Tanner, Jane. Mental Illness Medication Debate: Should more patients have access to new drugs? CQ Researcher February 6, 2004.

Books

CBC Library Catalog - books on the subject of Mental Illness in the United States

Ebooks

Ebrary: Hinshaw, Stephen P., Dante Ciccetti and Sheree L. Toth. Mark of Shame : Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Search Ebrary directly for more titles on mental health, psychology, and specific disorders.

Reference

Our print reference collection includes important titles such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; please contact reference for more recommendations.

Salem health : Psychology and Mental Health / editor, Nancy A. Piotrowski. Salem, 2010. Available in Print at the Medical Library or searchable online separately or with Magill's Medical Guide.

Gale Virtual Reference has numerous articles from scholarly reference works on Mental Health, Psychology, and various mental disorders.

Colman, Andrew M. Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford University Press, 2006.


Web

MedLinePlus - Mental Health and Behavior Topics - guides to authoritative information found in sites from "government agencies and health-related organizations."

National Institute of Mental Health - "largest scientific organization in the world dedicated to research focused on the understanding, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders and the promotion of mental health." Most of their publications are linked from MedlinePlus, but they also offer The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America - and other pages about statistics.

Videos

Trouble in Mind. 13 videotapes "...on various mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, depression, delirium, and psychosomatic illness." Available at Circulation.

Girl, Interrupted. Columbia Pictures, 1999.

TED (Technology, Education, Design conference) videos on Psychology topics. Online.

Gay Marriage

Articles

EBSCOhost Subject Search: same-sex marriage OR (gay rights AND marriage) - 2900+ full text articles

ProQuest Subject Search: (same sex marriage) OR (gay* and marriage) - over 6900 full text articles

"States Debate Marriage Rights (Research Feature)." June 2009. Facts On File World News Digest - issue summary with links to key news events and other features.

Gay Marriage Showdowns: Will voters bar marriage for same-sex couples? CQ Researcher 26 Sep. 2008.

Books:

Catalog - search su:Same-sex marriage or su:gay couples or gay marriage

Ebrary
Sullivan, Andrew. Same-Sex Marriage : Pro and Con. Knopf: 2004.

Alderson, Kevin and Kathleen Lahey. Same-Sex Marriage : The Personal and the Political. Insomniac Press : 2004

Reference Article: "Defense of Marriage Acts." National Survey of State Laws. Ed. Richard Leiter. 6th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2008.

Web:

State By State: The Legal Battle Over Gay Marriage. NPR.org. 16 Apr. 2009.