Category Archives: Research

Explore Directory of Open Access Journals

Databases, Our Collections, Research
Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

 
Have you explored the Directory of Open Access Journals yet? DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ covers the areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities. All data is freely available. Primarily used to identify open access journal titles and forty percent of them are searchable at the article level. Journals can be browsed by title or by broad subject area. Articles are searchable by article author or title, ISSN, journal title, abstract, or key words. DOAJ’s mission is to increase the visibility, accessibility, reputation, usage and impact of quality, peer-reviewed, open access scholarly research journals globally, regardless of discipline, geography or language.

What does DOAJ provide?

  • Search over 14,000 journals from over 133 countries
  • Over 4.8 million articles
  • 277 technology journals
  • Articles in Spanish
  • Peer-reviewed journals

You can access Directory of Open Access Journals from this blog post or from our Databases page.
Contributed by Library Specialist, Michael Gutierrez.

Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month

Databases, Information, Our Collections, Research

April marks a time to increase the understanding and appreciation of mathematics and statistics. Why? Both subjects play a significant role in addressing many real-world problems — internet security, sustainability, disease, climate change, the data deluge, and much more. Research in these and other areas is ongoing, revealing new results and applications every day in fields such as medicine, manufacturing, energy, biotechnology, and business. Mathematics and statistics are important drivers of innovation in our technological world, in which new systems and methodologies continue to become more complex.

Whether you are looking for supplemental resources for your course or researching the application of mathematics and statistics in everyday life, the library has a variety of resources that demonstrates a connection to the fields and careers of Science, Industry, Business, and Technology. Click on any of the following links below to view a library database. If you are viewing a database from off-campus, you will be asked to enter your Jagnet username and password.

By utilizing Advanced Search options, users can access: documentaries, interview, mind maps, timelines, primary resources, peer reviewed journals, and biographies.

For detailed assistance, library staff can assist you via phone, chat, or email. We look forward to connecting with you!
Contributed by Librarian, Sara Martinez.

Earth Day 2020

Databases, Our Collections, Research

Earth Day Logo

April 22, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. This year join in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day digitally at the Earth Day Network, US Fish & Wildlife Service, NASA, NOAA, National Park Service, and the EPA. 

Explore some of the information resources on the internet and library databases. Here are a few suggestions to get started. 

To learn more about the history of Earth Day. See: https://www.earthday.org/history/ 

Earth Day activities at Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=earth+day+2020+activities&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp
%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Esearch 

Check out the EarthxFilms that are available for free viewing: https://earthx.org/film/ 

LIVE: The Field Guide to Citizen Science–and other free resources from your library! View the recording of this presentation

Planet Earth: Seven Ways to Help Save the World  (STC library database – Films on Demand)* 

Environmental Issues  (STC library database – eLibrary)* 

 

 

* Please note: If you are off-campus, you will need to enter your JagNet username and password to access library databases. 

Earth Day image from Pressenza.

Contributed by Librarian, Maureen Mitchell 

Explore Digital Concert Hall

Databases, Information, Our Collections, Previous Announcements, Research
Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

 
Imagine having a VIP ticket watch and listen to one of the top orchestras of the world, the Berliner Philharmoniker. That ticket is absolutely free in the form of access to the Digital Concert Hall made available to you through South Texas College Libraries. There are hundreds of exclusive classical concert videos, symphonies, and performances that span a wide array of classical periods. Digital Concert Hall can be viewed from most smart devices and computers.

What does Digital Concert Hall provide?

  • The great conductors and soloists of our time
  • More than 40 live broadcasts in High Definition every season
  • Hundreds of archive concerts covering six decades
  • Free interviews and concert introductions
  • Exciting documentaries and artist portraits
  • Free Education Programme concerts for the whole family

You can access Digital Concert Hall from this blog post or from our Databases page.
Contributed by Library Specialist, Rick Rosales.

Explore HAPI

Databases, Information, Our Collections, Research
Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

The Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) provides complete bibliographic citations to the contents of scholarly journals published around the world on Latin America and the Caribbean since the late 1960s. Our coverage includes everything from political, economic, and social issues to the arts and humanities. The database is a nonprofit project of the Latin American Institute, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Students and faculty in the Language & Cultural Studies program will find the database easy to navigate, with user-friendly features, such as video tutorials and detailed search tips with examples.

Unsure about what terminology to use or topics to search? Use the browse subject and related topics option for suggestions. Researchers are then given the option to limit by language, date range, full-text results, and searching only peer-reviewed journals. From the results page, researchers can select citations of interest for printing or to be sent to their email. Aside from providing citations, the database boasts that over 80 percent of their collection includes links to full-text resources.

What can you find on Nursing & Allied Health Source?

  • Number of records: 350,000+
  • Screenshots visually assist the user with step-by-step assistance.
  • Many citations have links to the full-text article.
  • The database is easy to navigate and user-friendly.
  • Book reviews are included in the index.
  • Information updated daily.

You can access HAPI from this blog post or from our Databases page.
Contributed by Librarian, Sara Martinez

Explore ProQuest’s Nursing & Allied Health

Databases, Research
Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

Whether it’s supporting a clinical research study or providing faculty with instructional multimedia content to help students connect theory to practice, ProQuest’s Nursing & Allied Health Source provides users with reliable healthcare information covering nursing, allied health, alternative and contemporary medicine. This database provides access to evidence-based articles (systematic reviews and meta-analysis) and clinical trial records, plus expert opinions and findings from experimental studies.

Nursing & Allied Health Source also provides training videos from Medcom, Inc. These videos cover important topics such as health care safety, emergency planning, checking vital signs and more. Videos are broken down into chaptered clips for easy study and can be viewed in document view or downloaded to your desktop for reference. By going beyond journals and taking a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to subject coverage, this database is uniquely suited for students, instructors, researchers, and healthcare professionals.

What can you find on Nursing & Allied Health Source?

  • Clinical training videos to learn by doing.
  • Ease of use and intuitive navigation to quickly find research materials.
  • Over 90 peer-reviewed full-text journals
  • More than 12,000 full-text dissertations
  • Ongoing full-text access to high impact nursing journals and elite medical publications

You can access the Nursing & Allied Health Source from this blog post or from our Databases page.
Contributed by Librarian, Jose Noriega.

Explore Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection

Databases, Our Collections, Research

Database Spotlight

Interested in learning more about Hispanic heritage? Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection (Series 1 & Series 2) draws its content from the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, the largest national project ever to locate, preserve, and disseminate Latino-Hispanic culture of the United States in its written form.

Series 1 is an archive of historical content covering Hispanic history, literature, political commentary, and culture in the United States. The creative life of U.S. Latinos and Hispanics is highlighted focusing on the intellectual vigor and traditional values that have characterized them from the earliest moments of this country’s history through the present. Series 2 is an archive of rare manuscripts, books and newspapers – including rare anarchist newspapers – are presented in their original form. Much of the content is written, indexed and searchable in Spanish and English.

What can you find on Arte Público?

  • Hundreds of rare books by Latino-Hispanic Americans
  • Over 3,000 issues of rare historical newspapers and periodicals, including over 75,000 pages of content
  • Over 250,000 pages of personal and organizational manuscript content
  • Content indexed and searchable in Spanish and English
  • Content written in Spanish (80%) and English (20%)

You can access the Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection (Series 1 & Series 2) from this blog post or from our Databases page.
Contributed by Librarian, Angelica Maria Garcia.

Constitution Day

Constitution Day – September 17th

Information, Previous Announcements, Research
Constitution Day

Constitution Day

Database Spotlight

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

–Preamble to the United States Constitution

September 17 is designated as Constitution Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. The Federal Convention had first convened in May to revise the Articles of Confederation, but the need for an entirely new frame of government became clear. State delegates debated issues, such as federalism and representation, all through the summer as they drafted the articles of the new Constitution.

Constitution of the United States

Ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, for over two centuries the Constitution has remained in force because its framers wisely separated and balanced governmental powers to safeguard the interests of majority rule and minority rights, of liberty and equality, and of the federal and state governments. The Constitution has evolved through amendments to meet the changing needs of a nation now profoundly different from the eighteenth-century world in which its creators lived.

The United States enjoys a representative form of government, shaped by three separate branches as established in the Constitution:

  •  Article I states that “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.”
  •  Article II states that “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”
  • Article III provides for a “judicial Power of the United States.”

The South Texas College Library has created a special Research Guide to celebrate and inform students about the Constitution. You can find the Constitution Day Guide in the “Special Guides” area of our Research Guides: https://libguides.southtexascollege.edu/welcome.

This guide was created by Sabrina De Anda.

Explore PRISMA

Databases, Information, Our Collections, Research
Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

Do you need an article on past and present indigenous cultures (Hispanic, Latin American, and the Caribbean Basin)? Check out our PRISMA database for those research needs. PRISMA (Publicaciones y Revistas Sociales y Humanísticas) is a complete reference resource providing students and faculty full-text scholarly journals covering all aspects of Hispanic Studies. Students and faculty can use PRISMA when doing research on a variety of social science or humanities topics from current economic indicators to politics and society to Hispanic theatre. PRISMA offers content in three languages — Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

Some of the full-text journals located in PRISMA include América Latina Hoy, Boletín Americanista, Historia, Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies, and Revista Hispánica Moderna.

How can you use PRISMA?

  • 275 total publications (264 Scholarly Journals, 9 magazines, 2 trade journals)
  • Coverage dating from 1966 to the present
  • Subject Coverage: Anthropology, Business & Economics, History, Literature, Political Science and Sociology
  • New journals added regularly
  • Content is updated monthly
  • Search directly from database — not searchable through Discovery
  • An interface available in Spanish, Portuguese and English

Click or tap the image to visit the PRISMA Database.

You can access PRISMA from this blog post or from our Databases page.

Contributed by Librarian Lillian Carrillo

Woman Searching

Explore TOPICsearch

Databases, Information, Our Collections, Research

Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

Database Spotlight

Seeking ideas that can assist with developing your research for current events; social, political and economic issues; scientific discovers; and other popular topics frequently discussed? If so, TOPICsearch is a good resource. It also provides controversial opinions and viewpoints to support your research. Students can use either the dropdown menus for Current Events or Topics to easily locate relevant articles. This database contains full text for over 150,000 articles from 475 diverse sources, some of which are from South Texas College Library’s subscription to Flipster, an online database with digital magazines.

How can you use TOPICsearch?

  • Customization options that fit a wide range of user needs
  • Mobile interface with easy to follow video tutorials
  • Public opinion polls
  • International newspapers
  • Government information
  • Book reviews and biographies
TOPICsearch sample search

You can access TOPICsearch from this blog post or from our Databases page.

Contributed by Librarian Gabriel Aguilar.