MIDDLESEX COUNTY COLLEGE LIBRARY

Check MCC Library’s catalog, MIDAS, to find books, videos and DVDs on your student success topic.
Can’t find what you need at MCC Library? Check WorldCat for additional titles and request them through Interlibrary Loan.

Want to know what employers look for in a job candidate? Check the Library’s database Facts on File, look for Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center and click “Employability Skills”. Many of the items listed are characteristics of a successful student!

Search for articles from popular magazines and journals by searching Academic Search Premier. Depending on your topic, you could also search ABI-Inform and Business Source Premier.

Find newspaper articles in Lexis-Nexis. (Remember to do a “Guided News Search”, Step 1 “General News”, Step 2 “Major Papers”.)

Keep yourself on target for completing your Annotated Bibliography and paper by following the tips in the Assignment Calculator.

And when you need a study break: Check Biography Reference Bank and be inspired(?) by the famous people born on the month and day of your birth!

Reference Librarians are here to help!
Stop by the Reference Desk
Call us at 732 906-2561
Email us at refmcclibrary@yahoo.com
or
Post a question on this Blog.

Before starting, check the Assignment Calculator (from the University of Minnesota Libraries)for help in determining your research timeline.

If you’ve chosen any of the research assignments that involve film, look at the Film Criticism guide for help in finding resources. You may also want to check the Blog entry on Short Story criticism if the film is an adaptation of a short story.

If you are writing about television shows, be sure to check The Encyclopedia of American Television: Broadcast Programming post World War II to 2000 at REF PN 1992.18 .L3 2003
and The Encyclopedia of Television at REF PN 1992.18 .L3 2003
The databases listed in the Film Criticism guide will also be useful for information on television programs.

Listen to a discussion about laughter and humor on a Please Explain segment on WNYC.org
Check out the College of Comedy on PBS.org
Take a look at the American Comedy Archive.
Interested in seeing some old television comedy shows that are not out on DVD? Visit the Museum of Television and Radio in NYC.

Reference Librarians are here to help!
Stop by the Reference Desk
Call us at 732 906-2561
Email us at refmcclibrary@yahoo.com
or
Post a question on this Blog.

Need to do a PowerPoint presentation but don’t know what PowerPoint is or how to use it?

Start out by learning what makes a good presentation at Big Dog’s Leadership page.

Try using the following PowerPoint tutorials:
University of Rhode Island,
this one from Internet 4 Classrooms ,
Microsoft wants to help too,
or check out the list of PowerPoint tutorials available on the web, courtesy of the University of Alberta.

Remember that 42 of the Library’s computers have PowerPoint software. Check our hours.

Keep in mind that Reference Librarians are here to help!
Stop by the Reference Desk
Call us at 732 906-2561
Email us at mailto:refmcclibrary@yahoo.com ,OR,
Post a question on this Blog.

• Check the “Occupational Outlook Handbook” at the US Department of Labor website.
• Search O*Net for additional career information. (Produced by the US Department of Labor).
• Try the New Jersey Occupational Outlook Handbook. (Click on “Download”.) If you are using a newer version of Adobe, you can use the “binoculars” on the left to search for your career.
• Do a Google search for any of the Associations listed in Ferguson’s or the Occupational Outlook Handbook for additional career information.
• America’s Career Infonet is also a good place to check.
• The Digital-Librarian Employment page also has links to many career related sites.

WAGE AND SALARY INFORMATION

Salary information from many of the sources listed above may be country-wide averages. Check wage statistics for New Jersey at the US Department of Labor; look at the Wall Street Journal’s Career Journal for salary information on professional jobs; try Salary Expert; or when using O*Net, search for your career choice in the “Quick Search” box, selecting your career from the list provided. At the bottom of the screen select “New Jersey” to find the estimated wages for the occupation in New Jersey.

COLLEGE SEARCH

Check the College Blue Book (In the Gale Virtual Reference Library) to search for colleges that offer the degree programs you want.

You can also search Peterson’s College Search or CollegeNet.

NEED TO FIND A JOB?

America’s Job Bank

New Jersey’s Job Bank

Job listings from the Star Ledger and other NJ newspapers.

Use JobWeb for openings geared to college students.

Check MCC Career Services for job listings.

Just a reminder on what was covered during your class visit to the Library today (Friday February 16).

If you want to find books, videos and DVD’s that are in MCC Library, use MIDAS.

If you want to find out more about the history, science, health, the US government, careers, etc. use Facts on File.

You can use the Historical New York Times (1851-2003) to find older New York Times articles, but to find newspapers articles from other newspapers AND the current articles from the New York Times, use Lexis-Nexis. The largest search (most newspapers) you can do is by using “Guided News Search” then in Step 1 choose “General News” and Step 2 “Major Papers”.

Reference Librarians are here to help!
Stop by the Reference Desk
Call us at 732 906-2561
Email us at refmcclibrary@yahoo.com
or
Post a question on this Blog.

Find information on a playwright, choreographer or other artist by checking Biography Reference Bank.

Addtional information, particularly on playwrights and their works, can be found in Facts on File’s Literary Reference Center and Magill’s On Literature Plus.

Find reviews of performances by using the Historical New York Times and Lexis Nexis. It might be interesting to compare a review of a performance of Hamlet in the late 1800’s to a more recent one.

For criticism and interpretation, use MLA Bibliography, the International Bibliography of Theater and Dance, JSTOR and Academic Search Premier.

Don’t forget to check MIDAS for collected works of criticism or biographies. Can’t find what you need at MCC? Check other libraries’ holdings in Worldcat and request the items through Interlibrary Loan.

Manage your time by using the Assignment Calculator.

As always, Reference Librarians are here to help!
Stop by the Reference Desk
Call us at 732 906-2561
Email us at refmcclibrary@yahoo.com
or
Post a question on this Blog.

If the 2008 Presidential Election were tomorrow, who would you vote for?

Though the election is more than a year and a half away, the field of presidential contenders is becoming very crowded. As of today, February 1, 2007, the following have declared their intention to run, or have set up “exploratory committees”:

DEMOCRATS:
Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson
Tom Vilsack

REPUBLICANS:
Sam Brownback
James Gilmore III
Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Tom Tancredo
Tommy Thompson

Other possible candidates include:
Chuck Hagel
Newt Gingrich
Olympia Snowe

For more information, check out the Washington Post 2008 Presidential Candidates site, or Time Magazine’s Guide to a Crowded Field site.

Take a look at television advertising for past Presidential Elections 1952-2004. Have they gotten better over time, or…?

Need to find more information? Remember, MCC’s Reference Librarians are here to help! Please stop by the Reference Desk
Email us at refmcclibrary@yahoo.com
Call us at 732 906-2561, or,
Post a question on this Blog.

The assignment calculator is at U of Minnesota Libraries.

A grad student from U of Minnesota provides a free downloadable APA Style Sheet for MS Word for many versions of Word. Please note the librarians have not tested this software, so user beware! A different APA Style Sheet is available for Word 97, 98 and 2000.

The reference sources: Child Development, The Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol and Addictive Behavior, The International Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family, Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, and Psychologists and Their Theories are available online in the Gale Virtual Reference Center (under “Reference, Facts, Encyclopedias, etc. on the Library’s Homepage).

Check MIDAS (the Library’s book, video, DVD, etc. catalog) and PsycBooks for e-books on psychology and related topics.

For articles on psychology related topics use the principal database for psychology research, PsycInfo, on the Library’s Homepage under “Magazine, newspaper and journal articles”.

For any articles or books not available at MCC Library, use the Interlibrary Loan request forms. MCC Library will have the materials delivered here for you to use.

If you need help in learning to use PowerPoint, check out this tutorial from University of Rhode Island, this one from Internet 4 Classrooms ,or check out the list of PowerPoint tutorials available on the web, courtesy of the University of Alberta.

Remember that the Reference Librarians are here to help!
Stop by the Reference Desk
Email us at refmcclibrary@yahoo.com
Call us at 732 906-2561 or
Post a question on this Blog.