Matt Dilworth

Matt Dilworth

Crunch Time

Crunch Time

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research
So we’ve reached it at last – final exams time! Possibly the most stressful time of year for a student. You might be wondering how you can complete every paper, project, and presentation on your shoulders – particularly if you haven’t started your research yet. Well, the library’s here to help you keep your sanity, and get your resources quickly and efficiently. While it would have been better to start earlier, you’ll be glad to know that there are several things you can do to make this process easier, even at the last minute. You just have to focus on the most fruitful strategies and sources. First, don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you haven’t already picked … Continued
Looking for Your MUSE?

Looking for Your MUSE?

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
In the study of humanities and literature, there are a lot of standout databases. MLA International Bibliography, ProQuest Language and Literature, and JSTOR are all great databases that any English or humanities student is likely to have used. But there’s one newcomer amongst them that might be particularly useful to you as final papers and projects come due this semester. The Project MUSE Humanities Collection – provided jointly by the School of Humanities and Social Science and the Library – offers hundreds of thousands of articles and ebooks in topic areas across the humanities, from Creative Writing to History to Literature. There’s a strong international focus, too. And unlike most databases, it focuses on journals published by university presses and … Continued
Finding Your Past

Finding Your Past

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
In A Chance in the World, this year’s One Book, Steve Pemberton recounts his history as an orphan in the foster care system. Untethered from any roots, he conducted a search for his birth family and located his grandparents and all four of his siblings, who had been fostered with different families.  The experience was part of a long effort to reconcile his personal identity. Most of us don’t face nearly the same challenge in identifying our family, but even so, how many of us can go much further back than our great-grandparents? Genealogy is the search for our roots, building a family tree of names, dates, and history that shaped how we came into this world. And it can … Continued
Artistic Pursuits

Artistic Pursuits

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
Music and art are an experience – how can words adequately characterize or explain them? As a researcher, you might have thoughts along these lines. And while you use academic databases for history or science or economics papers, when it comes to art, maybe you think you’re fine on your own. Understanding the musical, performance, and graphic arts does indeed rely on your own critical experience more than most disciplines. But it’s an error to think that scholarly resources won’t be of use. The library has many databases for both – from ProQuest Arts for scholarship and criticism in each of these areas to the Naxos Music Library for streaming music. But one critical resource in the arts is Oxford … Continued
INSPIRE-ational

INSPIRE-ational

, , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
At IU East, we advocate strongly for using the best, most trustworthy sources for your scholarship. And we have loads of great academic databases designed to do just that, linking you to reliable, vetted content that hasn’t been twisted by the vacuous, editor-free and repetitive fluff that makes up the bulk of the free web. But after you graduate, where will get the same trustworthy and authoritative information? If you live in the state of Indiana (as most of our graduates do), the answer is INSPIRE. Provided by the Indiana State Library, anyone with an Indiana IP address can access dozens of databases freely. This deeply benefits public and school libraries across the state, and the ISL’s negotiations help subsidize … Continued