Junior/Senior Research Papers

1. Reference section - DO NOT RESHELVE BOOKS. Place books on the cart in the reference area. You may NOT check out reference materials. Copies can be made for ten cents per page.

2. Nonfiction stacks -

Check the card catalog

Fill out a pink "call slip" before going into the nonfiction stacks (write down call number and title of book)

DO NOT RESHELVE BOOKS. Place books on the bookcart located in front of the nonfiction/fiction stacks.

OPAC (online public access catalog or card catalog) is located on every computer in the library and library computer lab. Use POWER, KEYWORD, or SUBJECT to search for your topic. Keep in mind that you may not find a book on "same sex marriage" but you may find resources on "civil rights" or "gay or lesbian rights." You must think in broad terms rather than very specific terms when searching OPAC.
OPAC - You may use SERIES to locate books in the following series. These series may contain books that will be helpful in your research: Opposing Viewpoints, Individual Rights and Civil Responsibility, At Issue, Coping With, Current Controversies, Turning Points, Ideas in Conflict, and Contemporary Issues Companion. Type the name of the series and then click the button SERIES. You'll get a list of the titles of all books in that series.
OPAC - You may check CATEGORIES for "Research" - books related to topics on the QHS Research Topic List are located in this special category.
OPAC - a red book icon to the left of the book title indicates that the item is a book. Look to the far right and you should see IN or OUT to indicate whether the book is available in the library.
LOCATING YOUR BOOK - If the book you're looking for is not on the shelf and the OPAC says that it is IN, then check the bookcart in the nonfiction/fiction stacks or the bookcart in the reference area.

MAGNOLIA AT HOME - When not at school, you need to click "access resources from home" located in the top right hand corner of the home page of MAGNOLIA. A link to MAGNOLIA is located at the top of the QHS library home page. See Mrs. Kemp for the password or email her.

3. MAGNOLIA - Check under "B" for the database "Book Collection Nonfiction." You may be able to find information on your topic here (these are books that are available online either in their entirety or in part.)

PRINTING

You have two options to print:

Use the "print" or "print friendly" link located on the page you wish to print. It could be at the top, bottom or side of the page! Most encyclopedias, news sites, and online magazine articles will have a print LINK. However, it is a good idea to do a "print preview" to determine how many pages are going to print. Even though you use the "print" or "print friendly" link, you still might have an excessive number of pages that will print. Be careful.
If there is no special LINK to use for printing, you MUST copy and past your information into Word in order to print. Open Word, go to File, Page Setup, and change the top, bottom, left and right margins to 0.5". Be sure to copy and paste the web page address--you'll need it for your bibliography (works cited.) After pasting all of your information into Word, go to Edit, select all and then change the font to Times New Roman 12 (or 10 if you can read it that small.) Now print!

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

These are located online if you are allowed to use an encyclopedia as a source. You will find links to encyclopedias: 1) on the home page of MAGNOLIA click "High School Students" in the top right corner and look for Encyclopedia Americana, and 2) on the QHS library web site www.quitmanhighschoollibrary.com in the center columns click "Reference." There you will find links to several free online encyclopedias.

MAGAZINES/PERIODICALS

Search MAGNOLIA using one or a combination of the following databases: Academic Search Premier, MasterFILE, and/or MAS Ultra.
LENGTH of articles you print - Pay attention to the length of the articles you print. Some articles can exceed well over twenty pages. Print what you need, but do not go overboard.

WEBSITES

1. Directories contain links to web sites arranged by categories. The web sites have been "selected" and therefore are much more likely to directly pertain to your topic than a search you conduct via a search engine (Google, Yahoo, or Ask.)

Yahoo directory http://search.yahoo.com/dir?fr=yfp-t-410

Google directory http://www.google.com/dirhp?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=&tab=wd

Librarian's Internet Index http://lii.org/?

2. Multnomah County Library has a Social Issues page. If your topic is listed click it and you will see a list of websites related to your topic.

SAVING YOUR WORK

Save your work AS you work. Save your work. Save your work repeatedly. Save your work in different places. Save to your hard drive. Save to a floppy. Email yourself a copy and don't delete the email until you send a new email. Buy a flash/jump drive if you don't already have one. You can attach it to your keychain. Juniors and Seniors would be wise to purchase one (can get one for around twenty bucks.) It is much more dependable than a floppy or cd/dvd and it's alot easier to carry around on a keychain!

LITERARY SOURCES

1. Literary Reference Center - On Magnolia - Look under "L" for Literary Reference Center. After you conduct a search, you will notice there are tabs across the top of your result list and also categories along the left hand side of the page. Use these features to narrow your results.

2. MELO - You must be a registered Mississippi community/junior college student in order to use the databases on this site (such as Opposing Viewpoints).

created 2006 last updated 10/26/08