History of Africa since 1850

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History of Africa since 1850

• Resources and Research Strategies
• October 20, 2005
• Dr. Matthew Dowling, HIS 344
• Janice Schuster
• Coordinator of Reference Services
• Phillips Memorial Library
• Providence College
• 401-865-2631 office 401-865-2581 reference desk
  jschustr_at_providence.edu
• IM AIM, Yahoo PCLibChat

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To be covered today

• About the library collections and services
• Getting started Find your way guide to History
• Locating books HELIN catalog
• Country studies
• Locating articles (databases and Article Linker)

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About the library Collections

• 350,000 books and bound periodical volumes
• 1,600 current print periodical titles
• Access to over 23,000 full-text electronic
  journals.
• Over 100 bibliographic and full-text electronic
  databases.

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About the library Services

• Reference assistance 401-865-2581
• Email reference reference_at_providence.edu
• Individualized research appointment
• refappt_at_providence.edu
• IM a PC librarian
• AIM, Yahoo PCLibChat

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Getting startedFind your way guide to History

• Brief, introductory guide to research in history

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Locating booksHELIN Catalog What it is

• Higher Education Library Information Network
• Access to books, journals, magazines, and
  newspapers at 8 academic and 15 health sciences
  libraries in RI

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Locating booksHELIN catalog How to use it

• Direct
• From the library's home page, click on HELIN
  Library catalog under Popular links
• Click on Subject to search by subject
• Restrict to PC
• Use InRhode to access Browns holdings
• Use Helin Loan to request books from other HELIN
  libraries

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HELIN catalog How to use it, Subjects

• Some relevant subject headings
• Economic conditions
• Economic policy
• Foreign relations
• History
• Politics and government
• Religion
• Social conditions
• Social life and customs

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HELIN catalog Subject searches

• Use the country name followed by the subject
• Examples
• South Africa History
• Ghana Economic Policy
• Or use the country name on its own Ivory Coast

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HELIN catalog Keyword searches

• Sometimes Keyword search works better than using
  subjects
• Example Ghana Independence as a subject finds no
  records
• BUT as a Keyword search
• Ghana Independence finds 15 records, including
  The road to independence

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Locating booksCountry Studies

• Good general introduction to all aspects of a
  country
• Published by the U.S. government
• Available online
• Not all African nations are included

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Locating articles DatabasesAcademic Search
Premier

• Access to scholarly journals including history
• Ghana in default fields finds almost 3400 records
• Ghana limited to Geographic Terms narrows to
  approx. 1500 records
• AND Gold in default fields
• narrows to 73 records

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Locating articles DatabasesHistorical Abstracts

• Covers the history of the world from 1450 to the
  present
• Journal articles, books, dissertations
• Subject terms Nkrumah, Kwame (click on search)
  finds 86 records
• Click on Display full entry to view abstract
  (summary)
• Examples Journal article book dissertation

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Locating articles DatabasesHistorical Abstracts

• Can search by historical period Click on icon
  and select decades Ghana AND 1960D, 1970D,
  1980D, 1990D
• Can limit to language

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Locating articles DatabasesPAIS

• Political science and related disciplines
• Journal articles, books, government documents,
  Web sites
• International coverage
• Click on Search tools, Thesaurus, enter term
  (example Ghana)
• Choose from list and click Search finds over 500
  records
• English only to narrow to approx. 470 records
• Use Boolean searching to narrow Ghana and women

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Locating articles Databases Lexis-Nexis
Academic

• Good for coverage of very recent developments
• Primarily newspapers
• Includes some foreign publications

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Locating articles Databases Lexis-Nexis Academic

• Go to Guided news search select World News,
  Middle East/Africa sources.
• Search in Headline, lead paragraph for Ghana AND
  AIDS previous six months finds almost 600
  records
• Change to Ghana in Headline, lead paragraph AND
  AIDS in Headline finds 98 records
• Try HIV also

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Locating articles Article Linker

• Shows options for locating the full text of an
  article
• Full text article might be available
• online
• in print journals at the library
• from other HELIN libraries via interlibrary
  loan

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Locate full-text articles via HELIN

• Search for needed journal title in HELIN,
  Example History in Africa
• Choose record with online after the title
  click on that title.
• A list of options appears.
• Click on View available full-text for PC

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If you need further help

• always feel free to ask!
• Janice Schuster
• 401-865-2631 office 401-865-2581 reference desk
  jschustr_at_providence.edu IM AIM, Yahoo
  PCLibChat