Ask A Librarian Research Assistance
This instruction page will likely inspire additional questions on your research when you return to this page to use the recommended resources. Please visit our Ask a Librarian page to get additional help from a librarian.

Library Accounts
The Rockhurst University ID card also is the library card for students. At the bottom of the card is the library account number, which begins "10006".

Register online for your library account or at the Circulation Desk on the main floor of the library. Rockhurst students, faculty and staff are required to use their Rockhurst email addresses in their library accounts. Library accounts expire at the end of each semester so you will need to reactivate your account each semester.

You will be given a unique identification number in addition to your library account number. With this library account number and unique borrower identification number you may:

• Request items directly from the other libraries in the Online Catalog;
• Checkout items directly from other MOBIUS libraries. Rockhurst University is a member of the MOBIUS consortium consisting of 60 Missouri academic libraries around the state. This gives our students the ability to identify and use materials from the collections of these libraries. Currently the total of the collections of these libraries is nearly 20 million items.
• View your library account to see what you have checked out, renew items, view any unpaid fees on your account or view items on request from other libraries.

Detailed information about library accounts and utilizing all of the functions listed above can be found on the library's Circulation Services web page.

Internet Sources
The following Internet sites have valuable information on the labor market:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics www.bls.gov
  Information pertaining to occupations can be directly accessed from this site by opening this link to the web pages including the Occcupational Outlook Handbook.
  
• Career Advice and Job-market Outlook www.acinet.org
• Salary Information www.salary.com
• Economic Research Institute salary averages www.erieri.com/doltrends

Research Guides
Additional information on researching careers can be found on the library's web site in the Career Development Research Guide.

Analysis and Sources of Information pertaining to Interpersonal Communication from Journal, Newspaper or Magazine Articles
The library has databases in most subject areas to help you find articles on a topic. You should be sure to use a database that is appropriate to the subject you are researching. You can start your research in a general topic database and then find more in-depth articles in subject-specific databases.

Access to Library Databases
On campus access to most of the library's subscription databases is available on the "Electronic Resources" page. Use either the alphabetical or subject lists of databases to find the one you need.

Off campus access is available through the VPN proxy server provided by Computer Services. The Off Campus Access to Databases page will link you to the page provided by Computer Services. If you link directly to the library's web site outside of VPN you will not be able to use the databases.

Example of a general topic database:

Academic Search Premier
This database indexes and abstracts articles appearing in over 7300 journals in the areas of social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more, some as far back 1965. Full text of articles appear from 4000 scholarly journals, including 3100 peer-reviewed titles.

Examples of subject specific databases which contain information about communication as it applies to these areas:

Communication & Mass Media Complete
This is an index to research journals in the areas of communication and mass media studies. Many of the journal are available full text.

Business Source Premier
This database provides 3,300 full text scholarly publications, including more than 1,000 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to the full text, this database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 4,100 journals. This database offers information in nearly every area of business including management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more. Also included are country economic reports and company profiles.

NewsBank
This databases provides the full text of the Kansas City Star (1991-present) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1988-present.) as well as over 500 additional newspapers across theUnited States and over 700 from other countries.

To find additional subject specific databases available in our library see the "Subject List of Library Databases" on the library's web site.

Identifying Books and Journals in the Library Collection

Materials owned by the library can be identified by using the Online Catalog on the library's web site. Rockhurst University is a member of the MOBIUS consortium consisting of 60 Missouri academic libraries. Books available in MOBIUS libraries can be requested by you and sent here for your use. Additional information about this is found on the Patron Initiated Borrowing Through the Online Catalog guide.

Periodicals (journals, newspapers and magazines) owned by the library can be identified by linking to the Periodical Holdings page. On this page you will be directed to use the Periodicals Holdings List to see if we have a subscription to a title.

Understanding the Difference Between General Periodicals and Scholarly Journals
Criteria to determine how scholarly and trade journal articles differ from general interest articles in the field can be found on the Scholarly Journal, Trade Journal or Popular Magazine? Research Guide.

Interlibrary Loan
Articles not found full text in the library's collection or books not found in a MOBIUS library can be ordered from other libraries across the country through Interlibrary Loan. Use the forms on our Interlibrary Loan page to submit your request electronically. Books are free; articles are 20 cents per page per article. Usually you will have your materials within a week after submitting your request.

Proper Citation of Sources
When using information from other sources, whether copyrighted or not, it is necessary to give attribution to those sources. Doing so will help you avoid plagiarism.

More information about copyright is found on the Copyright and Fair Use guide.

Information on how to avoid plagiarism is on the Avoiding Plagiarism guide.

The library provides the RefWorks bibliographic management system. This is a bibliography management program that allows Rockhurst University faculty, students and staff to set up their own online account to manage electronic citations imported from databases subscribed to by the Greenlease Library as well as input citation information from print sources. Only Rockhurst University email accounts may be used with RefWorks accounts. These citations are easily incorporated into documents created in word processing programs. Many citation formats are included.

RefWorks Account Information

Tutorial and Quick Start Guide (PDF 2.42MB)*

Connect to RefWorks   

  

How to Export Saved Citations from a Database Into RefWorks (PDF 87KB)*

Adding References Manually to RefWorks

Additional Sources of Information in the Library Collection
In addition to the sources listed below, the library has many print sources in the Reference collection that give information on a wide range of topics. Most of these sources cannot be checked out, so plan time to visit the library to consult them. Many of these are listed in specific subject guides.

* PDF document which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view, download or print.

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Updated August 21, 2008