THE MYRIN VIRTUAL LIBRARY

When you are abroad, you may find that you don't have access to many library resources at your institution. You do, however, still have access to all of Myrin's online resources, some general ones of which are listed here. Check the QuickLinks menu on our main Library Homepage for subject-specific resources.

You can use InterLibrary Loan to request journal articles that you don't get the full text of within the databases. Write in the Notes field that you are studying abroad and must have an electronic copy.

Don't forget that you can contact me directly for help as well. The best way to reach me is probably via e-mail, given the time differences, but if you can catch me on IM, I'll be happy to help. Make sure to provide as many details about your research question as you can so I can direct you to the best resources.

Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

• Credo Reference
  • Online access to several encyclopedias, dictionaries and atlases that cover just about every topic, and provide references to help you find more in-depth sources. The database also has foreign language dictionaries for many languages.
• Britannica
  • Britannica is the online version of the encyclopedia everyone knows. Check here before you use Wikipedia, as Britannica is more carefully edited and more acceptable in scholarly circles.
• Oxford English Dictionary
  • A dictionary that provides etymologies and examples of historical usage, along with pronunciations and plain old definitions.

• Academic OneFile
  • The best place to start to look for scholarly journal articles on any topic what so ever. There is quite a bit of full text available in this database, though there are many articles that only have abstracts available. Use  InterLibrary Loan to request articles that you can't find full text in here. Be sure to click the "magazines" tab if you're interested in seeing popular articles on a topic in such publications as Time and Newsweek, as well as other trade publications in various subjects.
• Lexis-Nexis
  • This database includes thousands of newspaper and magazine articles from around the world. You can find newspaper articles from around the world in this database by choosing to search in "Major World Publications (non-english)" on the main search page. You can also search legal and business/company information in this database by choosing the appropriate tabs at the top right hand side of the page. Coverage is generally back to the 1980s and it is ALL full-text.
• JSTOR
  • This is an archive of full-text scholarly journals covering all subjects. This is NOT a good source for current articles: the most recent articles will be from about three years ago; and many articles are from as long ago as the 1920s.
• Project Muse
  • This is a collection of recent full-text scholarly journals that covers most subjects. There are a limited number of articles in this database, but if you can find one on your topic, it will be very current.

Remember to see the QuickLinks menu for subject-specific databases like PsycInfo, ERIC (for Education), Sociological Abstracts and BioOne. There is some full text available in these as well, but if you can't find it, you can rely on InterLibrary Loan.