LIBRARY RESEARCH STRATEGIES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Maintained by John Montre, Government Documents Librarian
Compiled by Jamie Schmid, M.S.L.I.S.
Reference Librarian and English Liaison Librarian
Updated October 2, 2006
This guide identifies basic information resources at Pius XII Memorial Library. The materials
are located in Pius XII Memorial Library or are available via the Web. The guide is not
comprehensive; rather, it should be used as a starting point for visiting high school
students.
Sometimes choosing your topic feels like hardest part of writing
your paper. Pius Library has resources that can help you find a great topic.
CQ
Researcher[You will only be able to access CQ Researcher
from within Pius Library.]
Each issue of this resource explores all sides of a "hot"
current topic in some depth. Use it to find research topic ideas, refine a topic, or get
background information on a topic.
Print Equivalent: Ref. H 35 .E35 - Index Table 1 in Reference
Room on Level 1
Issues and Controversies on File
Ref. JK1 .I77 - Index Table 1 in Reference Room on Level 1
Twice monthly publication summarizing current issues and controversies in political,
economic, social, and scientific areas.
Opposing Viewpoints Series
- Each book is shelved with its subject.
Series of books presenting pro and con positions on various
topics, i.e., animal experimentation, violence, genetic
engineering, gangs, etc. Link from the title to see a list
of many books in the series.
Taking Sides - Each book shelved with its subject.
Book series presenting pro/con positions on various topics.
Link from the title to see a list of books in the series.
Editorials on File Ref. D 839 .E3
Reprints editorials on selected topics from newspapers across
the U.S.
Congressional Digest
JK 1 .C65 (Recent issues in Current Periodicals on Level 2)
Provides overviews of topics debated by the U.S. Congress.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
This is a collection of over 400 reference books that are searchable together or title by title. Subjects covered include history, philosophy, religion, science, business, information & publishing, literature, law, medicine, education, technology, and biography.
Oxford Reference Online
There are currently over 180 reference titles available. Titles include many of the Oxford Companion to... series, subject dictionaries, foreign language dictionaries, and illustrations from the Visual English Dictionary. Another feature is timelines drawn from many of the sources.
To find books in the Library use the
Saint Louis University Libraries Catalog
(which includes the holdings of all SLU Libraries). [You can access the Saint Louis University Libraries Catalog from anywhere.]
Location Information
Click on the SLU Pius link in the LOCATION section of a
book record to view a map and see where the book is located.
Note: SLU MCL = Medical Center Library. SLU Law
= Omer Poos Law Library.
OR
Use this Location
Guide to locate books in Pius Library. Fit your book's
call number into the ranges on the guide to figure out which
floor of the library to go to.
Use library databases to find
articles on your topic. [You will only be able to access
these databases from within Pius Library.]
Some databases include full text articles; others only
include citations and you must find the journal in another
library database or in print or microfilm in the Library.
Try searching the following databases:
Academic
Search Premier
This multidisciplinary database provides indexing and abstracting
for 8,040 journals with over 4,060 in full text.
JSTOR
This archival journal resource provides access to the full-text
of over 500 journal titles. Note that the last 1 to 7 years
of each journal are not available in this resource.
Project
Muse
This electronic journal collection provides full-text access
to nearly 250 scholarly journals.
LexisNexis
Academic
Provides online access to full-text news sources (newspapers
and magazines), international news, current and historical
court cases, current codes, historical bill tracking (brief
legislative histories) for State and the United States bills
that have been passed, business, financial, and company
information.
As with books, the call number determines the location
of periodical publications in the library. There are four
possible locations for each periodical title.
Browsing
Area (Level 1) - most current issue of high-interest
publications such as Time, Newsweek, New
York Times, etc.
Current
Issues (Level 2) - current year of most periodical
publications received by the library.
Circulating Book Stacks (Lewis Annex plus Levels
2-5) - back issues of most periodicals are bound with
a hard cover and shelved with the books by call number.
Use the Location
Guide to figure out which floor to go to.
Microfilm
(Level 2) - back issues of most weekly and daily periodical
publications are kept on microfilm, as are some volumes
of other periodicals.
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