Answered By: Colin Magee
Last Updated: Jun 20, 2023     Views: 478

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contact mcclibrary@kctcs.edu for immediate assistance


VIDEO TUTORIAL:


WHAT IT IS:                                        
Oxford Reference is the library’s subscription to over 300 Oxford electronic reference books, providing background information on a number of different topics.

WHAT IT DOES:
Oxford Reference is a collection of reference books.  Use it to find:
-Background information on many topics
-Encyclopedia entries
-Dictionary entries

 

HOW TO SEARCH:

Use the search box to conduct a basic search.  You can also click on “Subject” to select a discipline or subject area, or click “Browse & search entries” or “Browse & search titles” to access a more comprehensive list.

Tips: Use “Or,” “And,” and “Not” to get different results.
School OR violence will get you all results containing “school” or “violence.”  More results.
School AND violence will get you all results containing “school” and “violence.”  Fewer results.
School NOT violence will get you all results containing “school” WITHOUT “violence.” Even fewer results.
“School violence” in quotation marks will treat your search as a phrase – both words together.

 

SEARCH RESULTS:

Search results are sorted by relevance.  Unless you specify otherwise, the database will try and find results that contain your search terms in the titles. 

Be sure to filter your results by availability on the left side.  Click on the checkmark with the green lock to access “unlocked” content – content the library subscribes to, and/or, click on the checkmark with “free” to access additional content Oxford has made available to the entire public. 

You can further limit your search results by selecting a different facet on the left side:
By Reference Type:
By default, everything is already sorted by document type automatically.  But you can select which specific reference type/source type you want in your search results: topic overviews, biographies, critical essays, etc.
Subjects:
Each article in the database has been “tagged” with different subject headings.  You can click relevant subjects and that will pull out all the articles from your search results that are tagged with that specific subject heading.

 

READING AN ARTICLE

Clicking on an article will open it in Full-text.  At the top right, you can send the article through email, save it to your computer, or print the article.  Click on ‘pencil’ icon to access your bibliographic citation for the article.  You would cite the article using MLA if it is for English 101 or English 102, and you would cite the article using APA for other classes.

 

Click here for additional product support:
https://www.oxfordreference.com/help

If you need help, contact the library at mcclibrary@kctcs.edu.

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