Library Blog

Featured Resources in African American Studies: Voyages

Are you looking for primary sources in African American Studies?  Take a look at Voyages, a Trans-Atlantic Slaving Voyage database.  According to the site, "The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database is the culmination of several decades of independent and collaborative research by scholars drawing upon data in libraries and archives around the Atlantic world. The Voyages website itself is the product of two years of development by a multi-disciplinary team of historians, librarians, curriculum specialists, cartographers, computer programmers, and web designers, in consultation with scholars of the slave trade from universities in Europe, Africa, South America, and North America."

You can search for specific voyages, voyages sailed under certain country flags, vessel name and much more.  The database includes images, essays and maps, as well as very useful lesson plans for ideas on how to incorporate the database in to an educational program. 

Visit Voyages by clicking HERE.

 

Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities

Faculty: Browse Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities

RU faculty interested in learning about the submission criteria for quality journals in their scholarly discipline may search in the electronic Cabell’s Directories of Publishing Opportunities database.  These directories feature the following academic categories:  Accounting, Economics & Finance, Management, Marketing, Educational Curriculum & Methods, Educational Psychology & Administration, Educational Technology & Library Science, and Psychology & Psychiatry.

 

To search, just go to the library homepage, and click the ‘Faculty Resources’ link under ‘Library Services’.  Click on the ‘Publishing’ tab, then click on the ‘Cabell’s Publishing Directories’ link.  This will bring you to the webpage for the RU Library’s Cabell’s subscription.  You will see links for the various different Directories.  Select one, using its corresponding radio button, and click the ‘Access, Selected Directory’ button.

You will now see a Directory Search page, where you can choose a specific topic using a drop-down menu.  Scroll through the list until you’ve identified the name of the journal that you’d like to see more information about, and click on “Review” to the left of the title.  A 3- to 4- page PDF document will be displayed.  Information provided is pretty straightforward – a first page shows a table summarizing the journal’s submission process, followed by a set of manuscript guidelines regarding audience, style, article preparation, etc.As a case in point, use the ‘Education Curriculum & Methods’ directory.  Choose the ‘Specific Topic’ of “Foreign Language”.  Now click on ‘Review’ for the “Journal of Second Language Writing”.  Scrolling down, we see a 10% acceptance rate, a 26-30 page manuscript length, and a ‘Submission of Articles’ section.

 

 

Snopes: Debunking misinformation online

This week, the New York Times published an article about Snopes.com, one of my longtime favorite websites. Snopes is in the business of checking internet rumors, urban legends, and gossip along with all those emails your aunt or second cousin forwards you every few months. I have been alarmed by the staggering amount of misinformation that bright, educated, well-meaning people are willing to pass along. There have been many times that I have checked the information from an email forward on Snopes (and yes, they provide references) and replied to everyone else that received the same message to inform them of its fallacies. Perhaps this is annoying, but I liken it to a public service. David and Barbara Mikkelson (the husband-wife duo behind Snopes) have been in the business of debunking misinformation for fourteen years and after a decade and a half "they seem to have concluded that people are rather cavalier about the facts."

Librarians and professors encourage students to evaluate information they find online for their research reports by investigating some basic criteria:

Authority: Who is the author? What are their credentials? Are they qualified? Who do they work for?
Accuracy: Are the facts reported accurate? How do you know? Are there references?
Objectivity: Is the source or author objective or biased? Is the publication objective or biased? Is the source affiliated with particular groups that might make its report more biased?
Currency: Is the information current? Is it in keeping with current theories and practices?
Coverage: Does the article cover all aspects of an issue?

These criteria are important for school research, but they are equally important in evaluating information you come across every day. When you receive an email forward that seems shocking, you might stop and evaluate it before passing it on.

Individual research help available

Librarians are available to work with students individually on their research topics. If you have begun a final research project for this semester and have realized that you need more resources, please get in touch with us. In these sessions, a librarian will talk about your research with you. We can help you figure out how to approach research for your particular needs, fill in the gaps in your research, or conduct background information in order for you to narrow down your research topic.

Students at all levels find these individual consultations to be helpful. We help students with their first college-level research project, graduate students new to research in their discipline, advanced graduate students and everyone in between.

When you sign up for a session, remember to include a few open times that work for you and give us plenty of information about your research topic and what research you have already conducted. You can always find the form on our homepage, on the right side of the page where there is a link for "One on One Research Help," and the link to the form is also provided here.

Corrections to the APA Publication Manual

The APA recently released the 6th edition of its Publication Manual, which you can view at either library location. However, the APA has announced a number of errors in the first printing of the manual, and has released a document detailing the corrections to the manual, which you can view here (requires Adobe Reader):

http://supp.apa.org/style/PM6E-1st-Printing-Reprint-Corrections.pdf

In addition, they corrected their Sample Paper:

http://supp.apa.org/style/PM6E-Corrected-Sample-Papers.pdf

A good, up-to-date resource for writing papers using APA citation style is the OWL at Purdue APA Formatting and Style Guide.

Spotlight on Databases: Black Thought and Culture

 

Produced in collaboration with the University of Chicago, Black Thought and Culture contains 1,297 sources with 1,100 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African-Americans. Contributors are drawn from all areas of life, including teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes and entertainers. Documents include many primary sources, such as interviews, speeches, pamphlets and letters. When completed, the collection will include the first-ever complete run of the Black Panther newspaper. There are approximately 5,000 pages of previously inaccessible documents.

Black Thought and Culture is quite user-friendly, as it is searchable by author, source, year, historical event, personal event, questions and subjects. You can access this database through the RU Library Home Page, under "Books" and "Online Reference Sources."