ENGL 01A Baker

Students in Baker's online sections: thanks for completing the Canvas module!

This class guide includes quick access to: 

• databases provided by EBSCOhost and Academic OneFile, which is provided by Gale
• video tutorials
• a review of search strategies
• MLA citation resources
• contacting the faculty librarians for more research support

Prompt

Use college-level research (articles and eBooks from the Merced College Library's databases) to answer the degree to which Born a Crime accurately depicts three of the following issues:

• racial segregation during apartheid in South Africa
• racial segregation after apartheid in South Africa
• the position of “colored” people in South Africa
• the unfair workings of the judicial system in South Africa
• the unfair workings of the educational system in South Africa
• the division of society based on language in South Africa
• lack of help for victims of domestic violence in South Africa

Breaking it Down

• For this assignment, you have to pick three different issues from the prompt. 
• You must include a passages / example from the book Born a Crime that highlights each issue.
  • For example, what part(s) of the book shows that there isn't a lot of support for victims of domestic violence in South Africa? 
• Once you have an example, your job is to find outside research to determine whether the example is accurate,
  • For example, is it true that victims of domestic violence in South Africa didn't have a lot of support during the time period(s) depicted in the book?
• There likely isn't a source that will tell you whether or not the book Born a Crime depicts the issue accurately; you have to learn more about the issue elsewhere and then, based on what you've learned, compare it to the example(s) depicted in the book. 

1. Start on the library website.
2. Click on the "Explore Databases" link, which will take you to the A-Z database list.
3. Click on the EBSCOhost Web (All Databases) link from the A-Z database list to find the list of databases provided by the EBSCOhost brand.
4. When prompted, log in with your MCCD username and password.
   • This is the same log in information you use for the Portal and Canvas.
5. When prompted, verify through the Okta app. 
6. Use 2-4 terms at a time in your searches.
   • Databases will look for your terms in the summaries of articles (PDF) (or in the whole article if the HTML is also available)
     • What kinds of terms might a researcher use?
     • Consider that you may have to change your research question a bit depending on the information available.
7. Use search strategies
   • Use quotes around short phrases to force the database to look for the specific phrase vs. individual words.
   • Connect terms with AND & OR as appropriate.
     • Using AND between words tells the database to search for article summaries that include BOTH terms (narrows search).
     • Using OR between words tells the database to search for article summaries that include either this term OR that term (broadens search).
8. Also try natural language searching
   • Turn this on by clicking on the "Natural language" button under the search box
   • Using sentences to search like you would in Google
9. Limits results to full-text, so you can actually download the PDF and/or access the HTML.
10. Limit results to specific source types if needed. 
11. Limit results to a specific publication date range if needed.
12. Email articles to yourself / download to your desktop or a specific folder.
13. Remember, no citation generator, even from a library database, is perfect.; you will need to double-check and correct errors.