1. Bibliographic Instruction Handout
Washington & Jefferson College, U. Grant Miller Library
Library Resources
Geotom Catalog
o Use the library’s online catalog to search for books and videos.
o You can search by subject, title, author, or words. Advanced Search lets you
search by language, material type, or material location.
o Use the call number to find items within the library.
Example: PS3558 .E476 C38 1961 c.5
 Circulating Collection: A-E on upper floor, F-Z on lower floor
 Reference Collection: upper floor in the back of the building behind the
Research Services desk
Databases
o We have many different electronic databases that cover a wide range of subjects.
o You can do keyword searches in the databases to find articles. Most have search
fields like title, author, or journal.
o Always click the boxes next to “Full Text” and “Also search within the full text of
the articles” in EBSCO database.
o Type phrases in quotation marks, like “civil rights.”
o For authoritative sources, look for a box that says “scholarly” or “peer-reviewed”
when searching.
o Try truncation for more results. Take the root word and type the * symbol at the
end. For example, a search for neuro* would retrieve neuroscience, neurology,
neurosurgery, etc.

2. Journal Locator
o Use Journal Locator to find specific journals. You can search by title or browse
by subject.
o Underneath each journal title is a list of sources that have that journal and what
years are covered in each search.
o Journals could be located in a database, in our print collection, or in microfilm.
o Current journal issues are on the shelves by the windows on the upper floor and
previous issues are bound on the shelves with the yellow labels.
o You can search for an article within a specific journal by clicking on the link
“Look up Article” next to the title.
Citations
o It is absolutely crucial that you cite all sources you use for research.
o Citation style guides can be found at the Research Services desk and in both the
Reference and Circulating Collections.
o A great online citation resource is Research and Documentation Online at
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/. This site covers MLA, APA, Chicago,
and CSE.