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Coggle

Coggle
Coggle is a free online tool for concept mapping/webbing that can help you organize your thoughts digitally as you research historical and social context of the assigned novels. Select text to add hyperlinks to resources you've found about these topics.
Linking to library resources? Be sure to use the Permalink and not the dynamic URL.
Sample Coggle on Women's Suffrage
Sample Coggle - The Great Gatsby
Coggle How To Video - Getting Started
Coggle Tutorial - Do More

Need Help?

Self Help Videos
Learn how to navigate and use library resources, including searching, citing, saving, and requesting materials.
Research Toolkit
Research Toolkit workshops are designed to address the most common challenges students face in doing college-level research, including navigating databases, locating relevant sources, and making sense of information once it is found.
Ask a Librarian
Ask questions via chat, email, or schedule an appointment with your subject librarian.
Subject Librarians
Learn which librarian specializes in your area of research.

Identifying Quality Information

Peer Review Demystified - University of Texas Libraries
What is peer review? Scholarly articles?
What is the Deep Web?
ABCD Method for Evaluating Sources
Evaluating Websites - ABCD
For tips on using the ABCD method to evaluate websites, watch this video from the Cuyahoga Community College Libraries.
CRAAP test
Evaluating Websites - CRAAP
Watch this brief video on for more information on evaluating sources using the CRAAP method.

Compare Coverage

Ted Bundy
Entry in The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia
Ted Bundy
Reddit thread
Ted Bundy
New York Times Archive 1978
Ted Bundy
biography.com article
Ted Bundy
murderpedia.org entry
Ted Bundy
FBI / Freedom of Information Act
Ted Bundy
Serial Killers podcast episode 9 Ted Bundy Part 1, April 2, 2017
Ted Bundy
Serial Killers podcast episode 10 Ted Bundy Part 2, April 2, 2017
Conversations with a Serial Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
Netflix documentary
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Variety magazine review of 2019 Joe Berlinger film with Zac Efron
Tracking a Murderer
Sample spreadsheet you can use to compare details from sources.

Find Background Information

Often, you'll discover the right level of focus as you begin your research. Encyclopedias and dictionaries can be a great place to start this research. Use these resources to get topic ideas or for background information.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
Search hundreds of scholarly, subject-specific reference titles in many topic areas, including the arts, business, education, history, the sciences, technology, literature, and the social sciences. Excellent for in-depth overviews of terms or concepts. Search individual e-books or whole collections.
Sage Reference
Search and read entries from over one hundred social science and science specialized reference encyclopedias published by Sage.
Oxford English Dictionary
Authoritative record of words in the English language. Includes definitions, word origins, and quotations showing the range of word meanings from the time they entered the language to the present.

Search for Books

WSU Library Catalog
Click the drop-down arrow next to View Entire Collection and choose Dunbar Library - Books to search print resources. Most of these titles can be found on the third floor of the library.

Search OhioLINK Catalog
Other libraries will generally loan material that they circulate to their own patrons. Often excluded are: Textbooks, reference books, course reserve books, rare books, microfilm, dissertations, technical reports or audiovisual material. Individual issues or bound volumes of periodicals are rarely loaned.
SearchOhio
Borrow from Ohio public libraries through SearchOhio.

Catalogs, Databases, and Search Engines

QuickSearch

Academic Search Complete
Get full-text access to magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals in the sciences, social sciences, business, education, and the humanities. Full-text may be available via Find-It. Useful place to begin broad searches for general topics.

Library databases by subject area/discipline
Browse the subjects and find recommended databases.

Google Scholar
Indexes research literature across a wide range of disciplines and formats. Use the library connection to gScholar to get more attached full-text articles.

Snopes

Snopes
General fact-checking website

Fact-Checking Resources

Use these nonpartisan resources to check facts and educate yourself.

FactCheck.org
From their web site: "We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics."
Washington Post's Fact Checker
From their web site: "We will seek to explain difficult issues, provide missing context and provide analysis and explanation of various “code words” used by politicians, diplomats and others to obscure or shade the truth."
Politifact.com
From their web site: "PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics."
PunditFact
A spin-off of PolitiFact, PunditFact checking the accuracy of claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, the hosts and guests of talk shows, and other members of the media.
Ballotpedia's Fact Checking Project
Ballotpedia Staff evaluate claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. The focus is always on the claim, not the individual.