Welcome to Professor Perlis's students!
This section of my English 101 instruction guide is for resources specific to students enrolled in sections taught by Professor Shelby Perlis, who are working with Digital Scholarship Librarian Colleen Greene. These resources are in addition to those covered throughout the rest of this guide.
Research Assignment
Students will research and write a general argumentative research essay (3-6 pages), on a topic of their choice, using MLA format.
Instruction Session Learning Objectives
At the end of our instruction session, you will be able to:
- Locate this course guide from the library home page
- Locate the library's Chat Help service (available 24/7)
- Log in to the library website and proxy server with your CSUF credentials
- Find academic level background information about your research topic using the Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints databases
- Find scholarly and/or full-text online sources for your research assignment using our OneSearch discovery tool
- Conduct keyword and phrase searches in library databases
- Locate the library's MLA cheat sheet infographics on the Citations guide
Recommended Databases
Our Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints database to use for undergraduate research because it is multi-disciplinary in scope, so it is applicable to almost any academic subject and research topic. And since it’s a Pollak Library database, you can be certain that the sources you will encounter in this database are academic level research sources.
- Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Covers a wide range of controversial topics and results may include sources such as magazine, newspaper or journal articles, government documents, political position papers, public policy statements, legal and legislative materials, pamphlets, statistical data, biographies, court cases, and links websites.
Helpful Sections of This Database
This infographic highlights sections of the Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints database that can be extremely helpful for your class assignment. This database provides:
- nice Wikipedia-like articles that can quickly familiarize you with a new topic, yet the articles in this database are all academic-level sources,
- a way to quickly identify sources that provide different points of view on a a particular topic,
- references and links to full-text academic journal articles on that topic, and
- a quick way to find related terms to use in your additional keyword or phrase searches.
OneSearch is the Pollak Library's discovery tool that allows you to search many, but not all, of our research databases at the same time. Think of it as a mega database. Because OneSearch indexes and searches across many of our databases, it is an excellent tool to use when starting a new research project.
Learning Activities
Pollak Library & OneSearch Tutorial 
Take this interactive tutorial to learn about navigating the Library's homepage and using the OneSearch tool to locate articles, books, and more!
OneSearch in One Minute (1:01) 
Watch this Pollak Library video to learn how to use OneSearch in just sixty seconds!
Finding the Full-Text PDF & Suggested Citation
Following are examples of how to look for the full-text downloadable PDF copy of an article, and where to export the suggested citation.
ProQuest Databases
Sage Journals
Science Direct
MLA Citation Style
Professor Perlis's classes use the MLA citation style.
Learning Activities
This tutorial offers an introduction to MLA 9th edition citation style and the resources available for consultation.
Explore the Pollak Library's Citations guide, in particular the two visual Infographic cheat sheets for MLA 9th and 9th editions.
Writing Argumentative Essays
- Purdue OWL: Argumentative EssaysFrom the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): "The argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner."
- CSUF Writing CenterThe CSUF Writing Center provides assistance to students through all stages of the writing process.