Ask A Librarian Research Assistance
This instruction page will likely inspire additional questions on your research when you return tothis 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 next semester. This can also be done online.

You will be given a unique campus identification number in addition to your library account number. With this library account number and unique campus 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.

Access to Databases
On campus access to most of the library's subscription databases is available on the "Electronic Resources" page on the library's web site. 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.

Background Information Sources on Topics
In order to enhance your basic knowledge of a topic, use general and subject-specific dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories and handbooks to identify subject-specific vocabulary, facts and an overview of a subject. The library has hundreds of these sources in it's collection which can be located by using the Online Catalog.

Example of a general encyclopedia covering many topics:

The World Book Encyclopedia.

Funk and Wagnall's New World Encyclopedia (available online)

An Internet Source Guide: Country Studies (Library of Congress)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
Studies produced by the United States government covering various aspects of individual countries. Not every country is covered and some are several years old.

Books owned by the library including the type of materials listed above, 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.

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 .

Sources of Information 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.

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 tudies, and many more, some as far back 1965. Full text of articles appear from 4000 scholarly journals, including 3100 peer-reviewed titles.

Example of subject specific databases:

Social Sciences Abstracts
Citations and abstracts to international, English-language periodicals in sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, political science, and law. From 1983 - present.

Lexis-Nexis Primary Sources in History
Lexis-Nexis Primary Sources offers full-text and images of primary sources in African American Studies, Presidential Studies and Women's Studies. Document types include manuscripts, autobiographies, contemporary accounts, government documents, photographs and images, case law, chronologies, speeches and statutes. Secondary source materials include encyclopedic references and scholarly articles. Searches can be done by subject term or keywords, or each collection can be browsed by document type. More information about the product can be found on the Lexis Nexis web site.

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

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

Interlibrary Loan
Articles not found full text in the library's collection can be ordered from other libraries across the country through Interlibrary Loan. Databases in EBSCOhost have a link in each record which allows you to submit your request right from the database. Otherwise, use the forms on our Interlibrary Loan page to submit your request electronically. Books are free; articles are 20 cents per page per article. Generally you will have your materials within a week.

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 29KB)*

Adding References Manually to RefWorks

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

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