Law and Society 410 - Senior Seminar in Legal Studies

Fall 2004
INFORMATION LITERACY TUTORIAL

The Five Colleges of Ohio Information Literacy Tutorial can provide you with additional guidance in undertaking the research process.

SELECTING A TOPIC

Reference works, such as encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries, are a good place to begin your research or search for ideas for a research topic. They provide an overview of a subject, and often contain bibliographies that will lead you to additional resources on your topic.

Some of the more useful reference works related to the course research project include:

West's Encyclopedia of American Law [Ref. KF154 .W47 1998]
This 12 volume encyclopedia is a good place to get an overview of legal topics and citations to laws and court decisions.

Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice [Ref. HV6017 .E52 2002]
This four-volume set includes lengthy articles. Articles include bibliographies and there is an index for the set.

Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment [Ref. HV8694 .G76 1998]
This one-volume title includes short, basic entries relating to the topic of capital punishment. It also includes many individuals who have been executed. Entries include bibliograpies and the volume contains an index.

American Justice [Ref. KF154 .A44 1996]
This three-volume set contains brief entries for general, law-related topics. There is an index to the set and while the entries lack bibliographies, there is a general bibliography in the last volume.

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences [Ref. H41 .I58 2001]
This 26-volume set brings together theory and research from a variety of fields, including sociology, history, and economics. The articles are signed, with biographical entries on the authors provided in the first volume, and often include lengthy bibliographies to help further your research.

LOCATING BOOKS AND VIDEOS

The CONSORT catalog can be used to locate books, video and sound recordings, and some government documents available in the Kenyon, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster libraries. CONSORT also provides access to the OhioLINK Central Catalog, which indicates the holdings of over 80 libraries throughout Ohio. You may borrow books directly from either CONSORT or OhioLINK. Requested materials typically arrive at Kenyon 3 to 4 working days after the request is made.

FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES

Journal articles, as well as some books, essays, etc., in the social and physical sciences can be located using a variety of indexes. Keep in mind that not every journal or book title indexed will be held in the Kenyon Library. Check CONSORT to see if we own an item. Use the inter-library loan (ILL) office to request journal articles we do not own. (Estimated time for an item to arrive is at least 7-10 days).

 

HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS

LexisNexis Primary Sources in U.S. History
This site provides access to a variety of materials including legislation, court cases, manuscript material, autobiographies, reference and scholarly articles, photographs, speeches, and government documents.

AP Photo Archives
The AP Photo Archive contains some 700,000 images featuring state, regional and national photos from North America, as well as the best of the international photo report.

American Memory
The American Memory Historical Collections, sponsored by the Library of Congress' National Digital Library Program, are collections of digitized documents, photographs, audio, and video from the Library of Congress and other research collections nationwide.

National Archives Online Exhibit Hall
Digitized images of documents from the National Archives, from the voting record of the Constitutional Convention through items of folk art sent as gifts to President Clinton.

Archival Research Catalog (ARC)
This National Archives catalog contains more than 124,000 digitized full text and image resources relating to American history, as well as records for non-digitized holdings.

Historical Graphics Gallery
This site includes one of the largest collections online of political cartoons from American history, as well as activist photography, political art, and advertising.

POPULAR CULTURE

There are several resources which can help you locate popular movies, television episodes, and literature dealing with specific topics, including:

Encyclopedia of Television [Ref. PN1992.18 .E53 1997]
This three volume encyclopedia has articles on many different series, as well as topical articles. The article on "Race, Ethnicity, and Television" may be especially helpful.

The Guide to United States Popular Culture [Ref. E169.1 D399 2000]
This one-volume resource provides brief entries on many topics and people. Entries generally have a brief bibliography.

Internet Movie Database
This site allows you to do a keyword search for movies and/or television series on a particular topic. Scroll down to reach the word search box. Select "plots" from the pull-down menu to search for words in the plot summary.

MasterPlots [On CD-ROM -- InfoCenter also search CONSORT for print editions]
This database contains summaries of plots of thousands of works of literature, including popular literature. Search by subject, title, author, etc.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture[Ref. E169.1 .S764 2000]
This five-volume set provides lengthy articles on several thousand topics. Entries also include bibliographies.

INTEREST GROUPS

Encyclopedia of Associations [Infodesk AS22.E5 1999]
This resource contains more than 154,000 detailed listings for organizations all over the world. The URLs of the organizations' web sites are often provided.

GuideStar: The National Database of Nonprofit Organizations
This database lists over 700,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States.

USING INTERNET RESOURCES

When using Internet resources, it is very important to evaluate the reliability, objectivity, and currency of the information you find. For assistance in doing so, please see the guide to Evaluating Internet Resources.

To search for Internet resources on your topic, see the guide to Internet Search Tools.

Selected Internet sites:

Sociology and Law
These World Wide Web Virtual Libraries serve as centralized access points for Internet resources in each of these areas.

Criminal Justice Links
Collection of resources arranged by a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University.

The Sentencing Project
This organization advocates for modifying the current justice system and more specifically the creation of alternative sentencing programs in the U.S. justice system.

Institute for Law and Society Resources Page
This site is maintained by New York University's Institute for Law and Society. This Resource page inlcudes links to relevant organizations, government entities, legal, and research sites.

Society and Culture--Crime
This index from Yahoo is another useful guide to Internet resources on such topics as criminal justice, news and media, and organizations relevant to the topic. Keep in mind that the sites listed in Yahoo! are not necessarily evaluated for their quality before their inclusion in the directory.

University of Michigan Government Documents Page
This site provides extensive topical and alphabetical access to information published online by the federal government.

Officialcitysites.org
Provides links to state and local governments, chambers of commerce, and more.

Campus Crime Statistics
This is a privately produced site: users should carefully evaluate information sources. Links provided to campus crime statistics and college police web sites.

GETTING RESEARCH HELP

For individual reference assistance, contact:

Julia Glynn
glynnj@kenyon.edu
Librarian and Technology Consultant
740-427-5834.