MC 2103 Basic Writing


Prepared by:
Sarah Brick Archer
Assistant Professor of Library Services
rm. #L308B
ext #3267

General Information:

Maps

Hours
Public Library hours (M-TH 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; Sunday closed)

The John Vaughan Library Physical Overview CLIP tutorial provides introductory material to the library's collections and services. The Research Strategies CLIP tutorial provides an overview to the research process. Use the CLIP tutorials to reinforce topics that are covered in class.

The librarians are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the first floor Reference Desk.  The Archivist, Victoria Sheffler is available the same hours in Archives.  She is also the Records Management person on campus.  Delores Sumner, Special Collections Librarian, is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Each academic unit also has a resource coordinator assigned to it. There are no students on second or third floors.  Please ask at Circulation or Reserve and a student will go with you to second or third floor.

There are no fines on regular books that are overdue.  There are fines for Reserve and other special materials.  Circulation has listings on fine information. Magazines, journals, newspapers, and reference materials do not circulate.

We do have closed stack areas in the library.  Archives, Special Collections, Reserve, and some older materials are in closed stacks.  The researcher requests materials and these are pulled for you.  Some materials can't be copied based on copyright and fragility of the documents.

K-12 textbooks are located on the second floor in Curriculum Materials.

Interlibrary Loan is available for items not found in our library.  Inquire at Circulation or the Reference Desk for forms.

Each user id has a 400 page per semester print limit.  This is only in the library.  Other labs have additional limits.  You may add 100 pages for $5.00.  Inquire at Circulation.

Journalism Overview:

Journalism materials are classified in the PNs.  On the first floor are journalism dictionaries, style manuals and other reference tools.  On second floor and in electronic format are the journals available in Journalism.  On third floor are the circulating books, such as books on improving writing and examples of good reporting.  There are also useful videos (All the President's Men) available at the Reserve Desk.  A listing of subject resources is available for Mass Comm.

Books and Magazines:

Online Catalog (Indexes library holdings, including Special Collections.  Does not include Archives and articles within magazines, journals, and newspapers.)
NetLibrary
WorldCat

Library of Congress

Other databases

Newspaper sources:

The Northeastern--available in Special Collections and Archives
Daily Oklahoman--2nd collection
Tahlequah Spec. Collections
Muskogee, Ft. Gibson, Sequoyah (April to present in paper in Special Collections)
Tulsa World is in Special Collections
New York Times Historical
NewsBank (Tulsa World, Daily Oklahoman)
Newspaper Source

Approaching Questions:


Try to define that for which you are looking and break it down into smaller parts.
 Library of Congress

Where information can be found:
Defining terms--dictionaries, both general (OED) and subject (Oxford Reference Center) dictionaries
Overview to topic:  encyclopedias (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Histories, trends, etc.--books (online catalog, NetLibrary)
Addresses--directories, both online and in print (don't forget the telephone & Information services)
Legal --print, Internet, courthouses, Westlaw
Statistics--federal and state government depts., bureaus, agencies, United States Statistical Abstract (Ready Ref. HA 202) Oklahoma Statistical Abstract, U.S. Census Bureau, World Almanac and Book of Facts (Ready Ref. AY 67.N5W7)
OSBI <http://www.osbi.state.ok.us/>  Includes statistics and public record news releases.
Facts:  Facts on File Yearbook Ref. D 410.F3, CIA World Fact Book (Ref. G 122.U56a), ACCRA Cost of Living Index (Ref. HB 235.U6C58) See example of comparison,
Consumer Price Index , Cost of Living Calculator
Expertise--professional associations (Encyclopedia of Associations Ref. HS 17.G334), professors, published authors in field

Public records

Non-directory information about a person is considered private and not released until you die. Census information is not released for 72 years. To locate a death record from 1983, you need to contact the Vital Statistics or records office of the appropriate state.

Government info:
John Vaughan Library Government Resources


Federal Government info:
U.S. Government Information <http://www.odl.state.ok.us/usinfo/index.htm>
Thomas <http://thomas.loc.gov/> current legislative information

Oklahoma state info:
Oklahoma Public Records Finder
Oklahoma State Government Online <http://www.odl.state.ok.us/sginfo/ok.htm>

Oklahoma County info:
Oklahoma County Public Records
<http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/SearchMethod.htm>
Tulsa County <http://www.assessor.tulsacounty.org/>
Oklahoma Counties <http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/clipboard.htm>

Legal info:
Findlaw Oklahoma <http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/ok/laws.html>
Westlaw Campus

Many of the resources listed above are available through the John Vaughan Library Home Page. Using your NT userid and password, these resources may be used from any location.

Created and maintained by Sarah Brick Archer on October 11, 2004.
Return to Sarah's Instruction Page.