Matt Dilworth | Library Blog - Indiana University East

Matt Dilworth

So, If I Can’t Use Wikipedia, What Do I Use?

You’ve heard it before – you can’t use Wikipedia for this assignment. This actually isn’t new – long before Wikipedia was invented, students in past generations were often banned from citing any encyclopedia for some assignments, because professors want students to use more in-depth sources. But let’s say you really need a comprehensive encyclopedia for your work. Where do you go? One great source is the Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Like the print version, the Britannica is written by a large staff of trained professionals and editors, assuring high-quality coverage of any topic of human thought. This large staff also means that current events articles are updated within two weeks of the event, so it’s a good source for … Continued

Women’s History

holidays March 18, 2013 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

March is Women’s History Month, and a good time to reflect, not just on pioneering women who have changed the world, from Boudica or Hatshepsut to Hillary Clinton or Condoleezza Rice, but those who have changed our own lives, in big and small ways. Of course, the library stands ready to help you with your research needs. But we’d like to highlight several resources of particular interest to the study of women’s history. American Women’s History Online highlights significant people, events, legislation, and issues relevant to the study of women’s history in the United States. It includes biographies, hot topics, primary sources, and multimedia like videos, pictures, maps, and charts. Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 offers … Continued

Finding Peer Reviewed Articles

peer review, scholarly resources March 4, 2013 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

A common question students have is, “How do I tell if an article has been peer-reviewed?” A peer-reviewed journal is one in which other experts in the field read the articles before they are printed, and verify that the research is sound and that they are suitable for publication. It is a method for improving the reliability and credibility of a journal. However, it slows down publication – an article might not see print for two years after it’s written, if it undergoes the peer-review process. So peer-review is great for scholarly research, but poor for news. That’s why not everything is peer-reviewed. Many article databases that we subscribe to allow you to filter to just peer-reviewed journals. In the … Continued

Islamic Heritage

islam, world cultures February 25, 2013 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

Oxford Islamic Studies Online is a new database available through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association. It is designed to collate the best current scholarship in order to promote a more true and informed understanding of the Islamic world. OISO is a great first choice for study on any Islamic topic. It includes everything from introductory works such as What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam to very in-depth sources like the six-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. In fact, there are over 5000 entries in a variety of categories covering topics like history, politics, culture, and religious practices. Biographies, maps, timelines, and other material accent these articles. There are … Continued

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