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OneSearch Library Catalog Tutorial

This Fall 2022 Semester, the library is offering a new online OneSearch Library Catalog Tutorial. The tutorial is available in our library catalog, in many of our library research guides, and on our library website.

Upon completion of the OneSearch Library Catalog Tutorial, library patrons should be able to:

1. Find the OneSearch online library catalog.

2. Search for and locate books and e-books, videos, articles, digital media, and more in the library's collection.

3. Request items from other LACCD libraries.

At the end of the tutorial, there is a short online quiz, which provides users feedback.

Research Terms

Creating a search strategy involves brainstorming for keywords and phrases that writers might use when discussing your topic. The best places to gather the frequently used jargon of your topic are broad tertiary sources such as:

Course textbooks
Class reading assignments
Encyclopedias / Dictionaries
Reports
General comprehensive articles

Possible terms for this assignment:

"African Americans"
“Black Lives Matter”
“Civil Disobedience”
“Defund the Police”
Disparity
Equality
(Fix OR Improve OR repair)
“People of color”
Policy
“Public Protests”
“Race relations”
“Racial equality”
"Racial Equity"
“Racial inequality”
“Racial injustice”
Solutions
Tensions
“United States”
“White hegemony”

ENG 101: Article Databases

ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window The largest single periodical resource available, bringing together complete databases across all major subject areas, including Business, Health and Medical, Social Sciences, Education, Science and Technology, and Humanities
U.S. History This link opens in a new window In-depth coverage of the most studied topics in United States history.
Gale ebooks This link opens in a new window Specialized encyclopedia sets
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Archives of over 1,000 leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Multi-subject database which contains indexing and abstracts for more than 13,000 journals, with full text for more than 9,000 of those titles.
CountryWatch (Premium) This link opens in a new window CountryWatch provides critical country-specific intelligence and data to a global audience including public and private sector organizations with overseas operations and global interests.
Opposing Viewpoints (Gale) This link opens in a new window The pros and cons on thousands of controversial topics.
Political Science Complete This link opens in a new window Political Science Complete is a full-text research database covering political topics with a worldwide focus, including international relations, political theory and comparative politics. With hundreds of full-text journals and thousands of conference papers, it is a valuable resource for political science researchers and government institutions.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. Its extensive scope and content provide users with a wealth of extremely useful information encompassing the broad spectrum of sociological study. The database features more than 1,986,000 records with subject headings from a 19,600+ term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers.
World News Digest This link opens in a new window The exclusive, authoritative archive of world news coverage featuring more than 75 years of expertise. This award-winning database provides context and background to yesterday’s and today’s news.

ENG 101- Potentially Useful Websites

DOJ:CRS: Avoiding Racial Conflict: A Guide for Municipalities From the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service
In Focus: Reducing Racial Disparities in Health Care by Confronting Racism September 27, 2018 The Commonwealth Fund: "In 1918, Anna Harkness founded the Commonwealth Fund with a gift of $10 million ($151 million today) and the mandate to “do something for the welfare of mankind.” To celebrate 100 years of our work to improve health care and make it affordable and accessible for all Americans, we launched a website in 2018 that tells the Commonwealth Fund’s story. To a large extent, it’s also the story of health care in the United States over the past century."
One America in the 21st Century President Bill Clinton's March 1998 Dialogue Guide.
Published Research | Rand Database of research and analysis. "As a nonpartisan organization, RAND is widely respected for operating independent of political and commercial pressures. Quality and objectivity are our two core values."
Racial Equity | Rand Rand Corporation: "RAND's research and analysis address issues that impact people around the world including security, health, education, sustainability, growth, and development. Much of this research is carried out on behalf of public and private grantors and clients."
Race Relations as the Nation's Most Important Problem From Gallup: "A global analytics and advice firm that helps leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems."
Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders 1967 report of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Resources on Race, Police Violence, and Justice From the American Sociological Association "The American Sociological Association (ASA), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to advancing sociology as a scientific discipline and profession serving the public good. ASA members include sociologists who are faculty members at colleges and universities, researchers, practitioners, and students. About 20 percent of the members work in government, business, or non-profit organizations."

Tips to Avoid Plagiarism

AVOID Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense both in the world of academia and the world of publishing.

Many students do not plagiarize intentionally. They may do it in haste, or in ignorance of exactly what it is.

The Plagiarism detection service, Turnitin, cites these ten types of plagiarism as the most common:

1. CLONE:
An act of submitting another’s work, word-for-word, as one’s own.
2. CTRL-C:
A written piece that contains significant portions of text from a single source without alterations.
3. FIND–REPLACE:
The act of changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source in a paper.
4. REMIX:
An act of paraphrasing from other sources and making the content fit together seamlessly.
5. RECYCLE:
The act of borrowing generously from one’s own previous work without citation; To self plagiarize.
6. HYBRID:
The act of combining perfectly cited sources with copied passages—without citation—in one paper.
7. MASHUP:
A paper that represents a mix of copied material from several different sources without proper citation.
8. 404 ERROR:
A written piece that includes citations to non-existent or inaccurate information about sources
9. AGGREGATOR:
The “Aggregator” includes proper citation, but the paper contains almost no original work.
10. RE-TWEET:
This paper includes proper citation, but relies too closely on the text’s original wording and/or structure.

These measures can help you avoid unintentionally plagiarizing:

Create an outline for your essay. Planning what you will write will guide your research, reminding you which aspects you need to cover, and when you are finished with your research.
Create PQC note cards to record the relevant segments of your sources as you find them. Include bibliographic information for in-text citations (author name and page number of quote) and Work Cited page (author, article title, journal title, volume and issue, page range, DOI [Digital Object Identifier]. Paraphrase the quote you like. Write out the Quote itself. Comment on why the quote is relevant to your paper. Many people also use a word or two to classify where the quote belongs in their paper. Using the search terms that brought the quote up might work for this. Note cards ensure that you give thought to the readings and have all the details needed for citations.
Stop researching before you begin writing. This helps in resisting the urge to pour over your sources while you write and copy them into your paper verbatim.
Know the citation style required for the assignment. The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is an excellent resource for citation rules and examples. As you insert your direct and paraphrased quotes, create the citations immediately. If it is a direct quote surround it with quotation marks.

Citation Assistance

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) MLA Style Purdue University's website on multiple styles of citation, including APA, MLA, and Chicago/Tribune
10 Tips for Using Research Notecards Information on creating research notecards from ThoughtCo
Taking Purposeful Research Notes Information on creating Notecards from Landmark Outreach.
Zotero

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Friday: Closed

Saturday: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Sunday, Holidays: Closed

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Maria A. Yanez

she/they

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310-287-4433