Resources for Pacific Seminar II

Books

Use PacifiCat, the online catalog, to locate books on your topic. Start with a keyword search! 

Keywords: business; ethics; interest groups; lobbying; public policy; social responsibility

Search statement or strategy

• Use and to narrow your topic and retrieve less results.  ‘and = less’: Corporat* and public policy.
• Use or to broaden your topic and retrieve more results ‘or = more’  Corporat* or business*
• The * is a truncation symbol and will retrieve all words with that beginning stem.

For example, corporat* will retrieve corporate, corporation, and corporations.

Periodical Articles

The library has periodical articles in print and online. Others, you can request through Interlibrary Loan. We have both popular and scholarly periodicals. Here are some ways to tell the difference:

Popular	Scholarly
Contemporary, popular topics	Literature reviews, original research
Written by staff writers	Written by scholars and experts
Selected by the editor	Accepted by a panel of experts
Few or no footnotes, bibliographies	Footnotes, bibliographies

Databases

A database is a collection of items created and organized to add utility and function. The Pacific library subscribes to more than 100 databases that contain books, journal articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, streaming music files, art, corporate reports, and much more. Faculty members and students use these databases to meet curricular and research needs.

Visit the Database homepage here.

• Background Databases
  • CQ Public Affairs. Full text, in-depth reports and statistical data related to public policy issues.
  • CQ Researcher. Full text, in-depth reports on issues in the news.
  • Facts on File.  All full text. “Issues and Controversies” section is especially useful.
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library. Full text of specialized encyclopedias, guides, etc.
• Newspaper Database
  • Proquest Newsstand. 500+ newspapers including New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
• News / Legal / Journal and Magazine / Company Information Database
  • LexisNexis Academic.  Includes television and radio transcripts,  federal and state legal cases and code, much more.
• Journal and Magazine Databases
  • Academic Search Complete. Abstracts and full text of popular and scholarly articles in most academic disciplines.
  • Business Source Complete.  Abstracts and full text. Business, industry, and company information.
  • SocIndex with Full Text. Provides reference to magazine and scholarly articles in sociology.

PacificLink

Searches for the full text of an article in other databases.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Service that allows you to obtain a book or a journal article from another library or commercial service. Books do not cost. Journal articles cost $1.00; rush service is $3.00. ILL homepage.

Need assistance?

• AskPacific; walk up; telephone; email.
• Craig Hawbaker:  chawbaker@pacific.edu or 946-3172