Traditions in Conversation Research Guide

Books

• The Library's catalog
  Use the Library's online catalog to find books on any topic. A search for Genesis will generate an overwhelming list of titles, which will include the text itself, commentaries on and criticism of Genesis as well as numerous random results. Use the subject search option and/or the facets on the results screen to further narrow your search or search for a particular book of Genesis only such as "Genesis III". For further examples see below:
  

  subject search: "free will and determinism"
  subject search:  "free will and determinism in literature"
  subject search:  "fate and fatalism in literature"
  keyword search: bhagavadgita or bhagavad*
  keyword search:  mahabharata
  subject search: antigone
  (A simple keyword search for Antigone retrieves all the different editions and adaptions of Antigone together with commentaries and criticism of the work, while a subject search retrieves only commentary and criticism)
  keyword search: "gawain and the green knight"

• WorldCat
  A catalog of library holdings worldwide. WorldCat identifies books available in Falvey Library and offers an inter-library loan request option for books not available in Falvey Library.
• E-Z Borrow and Interlibrary Loan
  Interlibrary loan is available for books and journals that are not owned by Falvey. EZ-Borrow is generally faster than interlibrary loan, since the books come from a local library network. EZ-Borrow can also be used for books that the Library owns, but which are currently unavailable.

Scholarly Journal Articles

Looking for scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles? The Library subscribes to numerous online indexes/databases of scholarly journals. Below are links to some of the Library's databases suitable for your paper, but remember that this is but a small selection of the Library's total subscriptions. Feel free to ask for further suggestions.

• MLA International Bibliography
  Contains citations to articles from scholarly journals concerned with literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. Use the FindIt button to link to the full text.
  Note that you can limit to English language references.
• Philosopher's Index
  Indexes and abstracts books and more than 480 journals of philosophy and related fields in many languages. Use the FindIt button to link to the full text. Note that you can limit to English language references.
• ATLA Religion Database
  Indexes and abstracts books and journals in the field of religion.
• Academic OneFile
  This is an index to journals in all subject areas. Contains some full-text and numerous references to articles published in popular magazines, but is less in-depth than specialized indexes such as MLA International Bibliography and Philosopher's Index. Use the FindIt button to link to the full text whenever necessary.

Helpful tips and suggestions

Tip #1:   Your gateway to the full text of journal articles.

Full text online:  Links to the full text online are listed first, if the Library has access.
Holdings information:  Click on the link to the Library's catalog to find out whether the Library has a print subscription.
ILL:  Submit an interlibrary loan request and you will get a digital version of the article via e-mail. Expect to wait 3-7 days.

Tip #2:  Search multiple databases simultaneously.

MLA International Bibliography and Philosopher's Index can be searched simultaneously.  Click on the Specific Databases link below the search box after you logged into MLA International Bibliography. You will be prompted to select from a list of databases. Select the databases that you would like to include into your search and click on Continue to Search. The search screen will identify your selections under Now selected.

Background Information

• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  (See the entry on free will.)
• Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Encyclopedia of Religion
• New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
  (See entries on fatalism, free will, determinism and predestination, and responsibility.)

Citing MLA Style

• Documenting Sources MLA Style by Diana Hacker
  Includes instructions for in-text citations, list of works cited and a sample paper.
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
  The authoritative MLA style guide is available in print at the information desk on the first floor of the Library.

Tip #3:  Export references in MLA style for your cited reference list.

Check off all articles in which you are interested and click on Save, Print, Email. The QuickBib feature has a selection of styles available from which you can choose. APA is the most widely used style in the social sciences.

Tip #4:  Export references in MLA style from the Library's catalog.

Click on Cite this in the catalog record and copy and paste the citation in MLA style from the pop-up window.

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