Research Guides: First Year Seminars: FYS 150 Death & Meaning of Life

Background Information

Online Scholarly Encyclopedias

Gale Reference eBooks
Provides a database of encyclopedias and reference sources for research. Coverage include the Arts, Business, Education, the Environment, History, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Religion, Science and Social Science. 2000 – present.

Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience
Call Number: Ebook
ISBN: 1452266166
Addresses traditional death and dying-related topics, focusing on the human experience. Includes the complex cultural beliefs and traditions and the institutionalized social rituals that surround dying and death, as well as the array of emotional responses relating to bereavement, grieving, and mourning.
Handbook of Death and Dying
Call Number: Ebook
ISBN: 0761925147
Features more than 100 essays covering almost every aspect of death and explores the concepts and social patterns. Provides multidisciplinary and cross-cultural coverage.

Searching in Muscat Plus

Muscat Plus

MUSCAT Plus
Musselman Library's catalog. Search the library's holdings for books, journals, magazines, newspapers, videos, DVDs, sound recordings, and more. TIP: Start with a keyword search and then continue your search using relevant subject headings.

Build an Effective Search

Start with a keyword search which searches book titles, authors, subject headings, book descriptions, etc.

Use AND and OR to broaden or narrow your search
- For example: hospice OR palliative
- For example: "assisted suicide" AND law
You can search for specific phrases by using quotation marks.
- For example: "palliative care" AND family
An asterisk* will let you search for the root of a word and any variation after the asterisk
- For example: child* = child, children, children's

Borrowing Materials from Another Library

Need to request something from another library? See our step-by-step guide to placing an interlibrary loan request.

WorldCat
Provides citations to books & other materials owned by over 10,000 libraries around the world (subject matter covers material from all time periods).

Interlibrary Loan
In order to request material from another library, you need to use Interlibrary Loan. Follow the link to get started.

Searching in Databases for Scholarly Articles or News

The library subscribes to over 300 databases that cover all subjects and disciplines. Search databases to find peer-review articles on your topic from scholarly journals. Additionally, be sure to browse the Research Guides to identify other databases in a specific discipline (Religion, Africana Studies, Political Science, etc.).

Not available full-text online? Follow these instructions to get a copy of the article:

Find a Journal. Use the Find a Journal option in MUSCAT Plus to search all of the titles of
journals, magazines, and newspapers that Musselman Library has, both in print and online.
It will tell you if we have a specific journal or magazine, and if so, what years are available.
Request articles via Interlibrary Loan. If we don’t have the journal, we can get it for you
from another library.

Suggested Databases

General and Interdisciplinary

ProQuest Central
Provides access to thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports. Content covers all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion.
JSTOR
Provides access to full-text journals articles across all disciplines. Years of coverage: varies by journal title.

Disciplinary

Social Science Premium Collection
Provides access to databases covering the international literature in the social sciences, including politics, sociology, social services, anthropology, criminology and education. Featured databases include PAIS and Sociological Abstracts. Includes full text from over 500 social science journals.

Citation Guides for MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.

Musselman Library Guide to Citation
For more links about citation styles (including ones that are less commonly used), check this list of links on the Library website.

First Year Seminars: FYS 150 Death & Meaning of Life

Reference Librarian

The Research Process