• How to Find Books
• Subject Headings & Keywords
• Circulating Books
• Reserve Books
• Databases
• Other Research Guides | Class Assignment

How to Find Books

When searching for books in the GCC Library, use the online catalog. This database tells you what resources the Library owns, where they're located, if they're available, etc. Most of our books are published in print, although we do also have a growing electronic book collection. When you're looking at a book's record, look under "location" to see if the book is a print or electronic publication, or if it is a web site, rather than a book.

If you're searching by subject, but don't find anything, try doing a keyword search. This is a broader search, which could pick up something helpful. If you find a title that looks promising, take a look at the full record and review the subject headings listed. These terms can be used when doing a subject search. Unlike Internet search engines or databases, the online catalog uses Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to describe a book's contents, so if you're not using the correct term, you may come up with no hits—even if the library owns books on your topics. If in doubt, ask a reference librarian.

Below are some Library of Congress subject headings related to your topic:

• Ireland
• Victims of Terrorism--Northern Ireland--History--20th Century
• Political Violence--Northern Ireland--History--20th Century
• Social Conflict--Northern Ireland--History--20th Century
• Victims of Terrorism--Northern Ireland--Family Relationships
• Northern Ireland--History
• Northern Ireland--Social Conditions

When searching for articles in databases, consider using the subject terms above. You can also use keywords that are not official Library of Congress terms, such as:

• Northern Ireland and The Troubles

Circulating & Electronic Books

Below is a list of circulating titles related to your topic. Circulating books can be checked out for two weeks and are located upstairs on the third floor of the library. If you’re looking for one of the books below, first check the online catalog to make sure it's available.

Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA
(941.60824 E58a)

Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Process in Northern Ireland
(Electronic Book)

The Damnable Question: A Study in Anglo-Irish Relations
(941.5 D182d)

The Easter Rebellion
(941.59 Cau)

A Farther Shore: Ireland’s Long Road to Peace
(941.60824 A213f)

Freedom or Security:The Consequences for Democracies Using Emergency Powers to Fight Terror
(Electronic Book)

The Gun in Politics: An Analysis of Irish Political Conflict, 1916-1986
(941.6082 B433q)

Home Rule: An Irish History, 1800-2000
(941.508 j12h)

The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of Ireland
(Electronic Book)

Inside the UDA: Volunteers and Violence
(Electronic Book)

The I.R.A. and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923
(941.50822 H326i)

Ireland: Life and Land in Literature
(820.99415 D887i)

Ireland: Nation, State, and Class Struggle
(941.5092 M964i)

The Irish Question and British Politics, 1868-1986
(941.608 B789i)

Nationalism in Ireland
(Electronic Book)

Personal Accounts from Northern Ireland’s Troubles: Public Conflict, Private Loss
(Electronic Book)

Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, From the Great War to the War on Terror
(322.1094 B961s)

A Secret History of the IRA
(941.60824 M728s)

Terrorism and Development: Using Social and Economic Development to Inhibit a Resurgence of Terrorism
(Electronic Book)

This Troubled Land: Voices from Northern Ireland On the Front Lines of Peace
(941.60824 R911t)

The Troubles: Ireland’s Ordeal 1966-1996 and the Search for Peace
(941.60824 C769t)

Reserve Books

Eureka Street: A Novel of Ireland Like No Other
(RESERVE 823.914 W752e)

Web Sites

CAIN Web service (conflict archive on the Internet) the Northern Ireland conflict (1968 to the present)
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/

Go to Belfast
http://www.gotobelfast.com/

Northern Ireland: The Troubles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/troubles/

Databases

Use the subscription databases below to search for articles and research reports on your topic. These databases are available to students from the library, as well as from any of the computer labs on campus. You can also access them remotely from home; however, you will be promted to enter a login and a password before you're able to begin searching (see Off-Campus Article Database Search Login and Password Information for details if you need help).

CQ Researcher Description CQ Researcher is noted for its in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Reports are published weekly in print and online 44 times a year. Each single-themed, 12,000-word report is researched and written by a seasoned journalist. The consistent, reader-friendly organization provides researchers with an introductory overview; background and chronology on the topic; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources. This is an excellent beginning point for students. · guide to searching cq researcher

FACTS.COM Description FACTS.com provides in-depth and objective information on the most prominent and hotly debated issues of the day. Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com is a reference database that is also a classroom tool and home learning resource. It combines authoritative factual analysis, covering clear explanations of opposing points of view and numerous special features, so students and other users can quickly grasp the essentials of even the most complex topics. Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com has probed more than 600 controversial topics in the news, dating back to 1995. Chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies, and contact information augment the balanced, accurate coverage of current and historical events. · guide to searching facts.com

Opposing Viewpoints Description Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center is a one-stop source for information on today's hottest social issues. Drawing on acclaimed series published by Greenhaven Press and other Thomson Gale imprints, OVRC features viewpoint articles, topic overviews, full-text magazine and newspaper articles, primary source documents, statistics, images and podcasts, and links to Websites. · guide to searching opposing viewpoints

ProQuest Description ProQuest Information and Learning provides access to information from magazines, newspapers, journals, out-of-print books, dissertations, and scholarly collections in various formats. As of 2007, ProQuest has agreements with over 9.000 publishers worldwide. Its archive includes more than 5.5 billion pages of information, spanning 500 years of scholarship, in formats that range from print to microform to digital. Known for its strength in business and economics, general reference, humanities, and scientific/technical/medical content, ProQuest Information and Learning serves academic, public, corporate, and K-12 libraries, in addition to K-12 classrooms and higher education students and faculty · guide to searching proquest

Research Guides

Avoiding Plagiarism Guide Tips on how to avoid plagiarism when writing your research paper.

MLA Style Guide for Citing Print Resources Quick reference sheet to citing print resources in MLA format.

MLA Style Guide for Citing Electronic Sources Quick reference sheet to citing electronic resources in MLA format.

Evaluating Web Pages Guide An overview of the questions you must ask when considering if a web resource is appropriate to use in a research paper.

Annotated Bibliography Guide - Coming Soon!

English 104 Research Assignment

English 101 Research Essay Assignment: Eureka Street

Introduction and Overview:  As part of your Research Essay Portfolio you will be asked to write an 8-10 page Times New Roman double spaced paper on the novel Eureka Street and outside sources that you’ve researched using the GCC library’s resources. This paper will also build on the information that you’ve gained from our earlier course units to help you produce an essay which is informed by your knowledge of the network of current events, ideas, and philosophies we’ve grappled with in class. Your final paper and Research Essay Portfolio are due during the final exam date and time for our class.  However, we will do many assignments throughout our unit to help prepare you to complete your final research paper. 

STEP #1

Paper Topics:  Pick ONE of the following as your topic and write your discovery draft. 

1. The City in Literature:  Eureka Street is a novel in which the city of Belfast becomes a main character.  For this essay, you should synthesize Robert McLiam Wilson’s depiction of Belfast in Eureka Street with several outside sources.   This essay will involve you making an argument in which you compare and/or contrast Eureka Street with other representations of the city.  Your essay’s sources should include the following: 1) the film An Everlasting Piece 2) a visual image (photograph/painting/advertisement/ etc.) of Belfast found in a book or online (two good online resources are http://www.gotobelfast.com/ and http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/photos/belfast/murloyt.htm)  3) two outside scholarly sources such as articles from one of GCC’s library databases or books which discuss Belfast, Ireland, the Troubles, terrorism, etc.

2. Telling Stories about the Troubles:  In Chapter 11 of Eureka Street Wilson writes that all victims of the sandwich shop bombing had stories:

They shouldn’t have been short stories.  They should each have been novels, profound, delightful novels, eight hundred pages or more.  And not just the lives of the victims but the lives they touched, the networks of friendship and intimacy and relation that tied them to those they loved and who loved them, those they knew and who knew them (231). 

Your assignment for this topic is to do two things.  First, write a 4 page fictional story that explores the life of one of the sandwich shop victims (a complete list of the victims occurs on pages 230-231 of Eureka Street).  You should give details that explain how s/he came to be in the sandwich shop and what implications his/her death has on his/her family members and friends.  This story should be written with a maximum amount of pathos to make your reader feel pain for the loss of life and empathy for the victim’s friends and relatives.  You should also use the novel as a resource to develop vivid details about the victim’s religion, friends, family, and home.  You should also consult one outside source such as a tourist guide to Ireland (which includes place names and geographic locations that your fictional character may have lived in) or www.gotobelfast.com/ to make your story as detailed and specific as possible.  

Second, write a 4-6 page essay which makes the argument for why it is important to tell the stories of victims of violence.  Your essay should also explain why and how you’ve chosen to write your short story.  To complete this component of your essay you should use the following resource http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/violence/victims.htm.  You should also find two additional outside resources (scholarly articles or articles from non scholarly sources such magazines and newspapers are acceptable) or a book related to the topic to help support your argument.  Your essay should also reference the novel Eureka Street to help you support your point.

STEP #2

Prewriting and shaping your paper topic using a variety of creative techniques and strategies.  We’ll do this in class

STEP #3

Comprehensive essay outline and tentative thesis statement.

Your outline should include topic sentences for each paragraph and identify the quotes that you anticipate using in your essay.  See my handout on essay outlines for more details. 

STEP #4

Finding, Reading and Analyzing Sources.   Your annotated bibliography should mention all the sources you will be using in your essay exculsive of Eureka Street.

Building on the library workshops that you have attended you will need to conduct some research in the GCC library to find outside sources which will support the claims that you make in your essay. 

A. First, find THE OUTSIDE SOURCES FOR YOUR ESSAY that accord with what you know are acceptable sources based on the workshops you’ve attended at the GCC library and our class discussion of your research essays.  Please print or copy the articles or relevant sections of the books that you wish to use as sources in your paper or photocopy the specific quotations you’ll be using.  Make an extra copy to turn in to me with your annotated bibliography.

B. Using the techniques that we’ve discussed in class, take notes on each article.  Feel free to mark up those copies of the articles to make sure you underline the information that you think is necessary for your essay!

C. Create an annotated bibliography which corresponds with the guidelines for MLA citation for the resources that you’ve found (see our class handout on annotated bibliographies for more information).

D. Turn in your typed annotated bibliography to me

STEP #5 Writing your Research Essay Rough Draft.  A completed rough draft is due in class on the date listed on our class schedule

STEP #6 Final draft of your essay due during the final exam time for this class.

Reminder:  Plagiarism or academic dishonesty is a serious crime.  Plagiarism is defined as using words or ideas which are not your own without acknowledgement of the source.  The plagiarism policy for our class may be found on our course syllabus.

When writing a research paper please carefully check that you have correctly cited your sources.  If you have questions about source citation then please see me.  You should also consult AWR and the GCC library’s useful handouts on MLA source citation, http://www.glendale.edu/library/research/MLA.pdf, and electronic source citation http://www.glendale.edu/library/research/MLAelec.pdf.

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