Hard copy sources of scholarly material are generally the most reliable—"hard copy" meaning sources that have been published in print, on paper, in books or journals—and as a rule, books and articles in scholarly journals are the types of authoritative sources you should consult in doing college-level research. Increasingly, more valuable scholarly information is being posted on the Web, but at this point there's more "crap" on the web than useful material for legitimate scholarship. You wouldn't want to find yourself in the situation of a former student of mine whose two sources for a college paper on Huck Finn were class projects for 8th graders at a middle school in New Jersey. . . . Not good!

Unless otherwise instructed, you should avoid using the Web as "research" for college coursework. You can search the Stratton Taylor Library for sources via the Internet, and you may use "hard copy" sources from other libraries if you don't have physical access to the RSU campus. From your Internet connection, you can access electronic databases at the Stratton Taylor Library available to RSU students—the sources you can retrieve in full-text electronic format from the collection of databases available through the RSU library will probably be the most convenient for you to use. The sources you retrieve through the library's databases are "electronic," but they are available through subscription services: most of these sources are electronic versions of articles or other sources published in print first, so while they're available over the Internet through the RSU library web site, they are not strictly "Web" sources available to anyone using Google or Yahoo, etc.

The best, most authoritative source for full-text electronic scholarly journal articles on literature is JSTOR, available through the "Search Databases" link on the RSU library's homepage.

You may contact the library staff for help logging in to various databases by calling (918) 343-7716.

 

Instructions for Accessing RSU Library Databases and Online Catalog
from Off-Campus via the Internet

Magazine/Journal/Newspaper/Reference Electronic Indexes
Available through the library's web site: http://www.rsu.edu/library

EBSCOhost

Select search databases from the choices on the left of the screen from the library's web page. Select EBSCO from the list of databases. Select the EBSCO icon.

UserID is RSU
Password is thunder

Once into EBSCO select a search service such as Academic Libraries. Choose the databases you need and click on the Continue button. A search screen will appear.

Online Catalog

Displays information about library materials in RSU Library. Go to www.rsu.edu/library. Select Catalog. You may search by clicking on Guest. A feature of the catalog is "My Account," which displays a list of library materials which you have checked out with their due dates. To access "My Account" you will need to enter the barcode number from your library card. The last four digits of the phone number you used when you enrolled will be your password.

eJournals

EBSCOhost Electronic Journals Service (EJS) is available at the library's web site (http://www.rsu.edu/library) through the Serials Solutions link. Select EJS. Select browse journals on the site to see a list of the e-journals that are available through here. EJS provides links to over 80 journal titles that have full-text articles.

Customer code: RSU
Userid: LIBRARY
Password: thunder

netLibrary (e-books)

Go to http://www.rsu.edu/library. Choose eBooks.
To obtain 24-hour checkout privileges in netLibrary, you must first create an account from a computer in the RSU library or other campus computer lab. The RSU librarians can do this for you, if needed, at the library if you are not on campus. Call or e-mail one of the librarians. If you only want to browse the contents of an eBook, you will not need to have a netLibrary account.

To create a netLibrary account at an RSU IP-validated computer:

Enter URL: http://www.netLibrary.com
Select Create an Account.
Enter your identifying information, including user name and e-mail address.
Select subscribe, and your netLibrary account has been created.

Logging in (after setting up your netLibrary account):

URL: http://www.rsu.edu/library
Select the e-books link.
Enter your user name and password on the netLibrary main navigation bar.
Select LOG IN.