Research Guides: First Year Seminars: FYS 149-2 Japanese Pop Culture

In-Class Activity 9/17

In your groups, briefly look at the following sources and decide:

Could you use them for your paper, based on the assignment requirements for sources?
Does this source help answer the research question "How has the atomic bomb impacted the portrayal of war in Japanese anime, such as Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood?"

Tutorial to complete before 9/17

Before the library session on Wednesday, September 17, make sure to complete the tutorial on source types. It should take about 10-15 minutes to complete.

Don't forget to bring your laptops to class!

The Research Process

Searching at Musselman Library

MUSCAT Plus
MUSCAT Plus searches for books, journal articles, media, and more in Musselman Library and beyond.

Databases - A-Z
An A-Z listing of all library databases by name or type of database (newspapers, images, etc.)
Research Guides
Research guides to databases and other resources for each discipline at Gettysburg College

Finding Sources

Encyclopedias and handbooks are great sources to find background information on your topic. Be sure to look at the bibliographies or further reading sections for other potential sources.

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.
Oxford Reference
Combines reference coverage of the full subject spectrum with the resources of Oxford Companions. Quick and easy retrieval of subject reference entries, bilingual dictionaries, English dictionaries, and quotations & proverbs. 5 users.

Japan Encyclopedia by Louis Frederic; Kathe Roth (Translator)
Call Number: Reference DS821 .F73 2002

ISBN: 0674007700

Publication Date: 2002
Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan by Gen Itsaka (Editor); Edwin O. Reischauer (Editor); Shigeto Tsuru (Editor)
Call Number: Reference DS805 .K633 1983

Publication Date: 1983

Search MUSCAT Plus to see what books we have on your topic in our collection (both in print and electronically). Search WorldCat for books that we do not own, but can borrow for you through Interlibrary Loan.

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.

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

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.
Bibliography of Asian Studies
Provides citations to Western-language books, articles, and book chapters for research on Asia, including citations to all articles from the 100 most-used journals in Asian Studies. Covers subjects pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to present.
Historical Abstracts with Full Text
Provides citations to world history articles, book chapters, books, and more on topics dating from 1450-present. Coverage excludes U.S. and Canada. Over 2,000 peer-reviewed journals are indexed. Years of coverage: 1954-present.
MLA International Bibliography
Covers literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory and criticism, and dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Over 6,000 journals and series, plus 1,200 book publishers, are indexed. Articles date from 1926-present.
Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text
Provides indexing and abstracts for nearly 560 journals plus cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for 270 journals. Contains more than 160 full-text journals and over 160 full-text books. Access Variety movie reviews dating back to 1914. Includes more than 63,000 images from the MPTV Image Archive.

Journal of Anime and Manga Studies
The goal of the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies is to provide a space for academics, students, and independent researchers examining the field of anime, manga, cosplay, and fandom studies to access high-quality research about these topics and share their research with others.

Selecting & Using Keywords

Borrowing Materials from Another Library

If the library doesn't have an item you want, you can request to borrow a copy from another library via our interlibrary loan service.

Articles (PDF) usually arrive within 24 hours. Books may take 4-7 days. A book chapter (PDF) may arrive in 1-2 days.

For articles, use the Check for Full Text link in databases to see if we have access. If not, you will see an option to sign into Muscat Plus and submit your request.

For books and book chapters, search Muscat Plus. If you don't see what you want, click "search other libraries" and then submit your request with the "request from other libraries" link on the results page. Or, you can use the interlibrary loan form at the top of Muscat Plus.

More directions for requesting books/book chapters and journal articles are on the library website.

First Year Seminars: FYS 149-2 Japanese Pop Culture

Questions? Just ask!

Reading Scholarly Articles

Citation Help

Organizing your research

In-Class Activity 9/17

In your groups, briefly look at the following sources and decide:

Could you use them for your paper, based on the assignment requirements for sources?

Does this source help answer the research question "How has the atomic bomb impacted the portrayal of war in Japanese anime, such as Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood?"

First Source

Second Source

Third Source