Academic Encyclopedias
COCC’s Barber Library provides access to a number of excellent academic encyclopedias for you to use in your research. Most are available online. We even have an entire encyclopedia called Witchcraft in America that covers the Salem Witch Trials extensively.
Unlike Wikipedia, articles in these encyclopedias are written by experts and are signed, so that you know who wrote them. Even better, you CAN cite these academic encyclopedias in your paper.
You can find a searchable collection of the Library’s encyclopedias on the Library’s website. Click on the “Encyclopedias and More” button and then the link to “Encyclopedias.”
Once on this page, start with an entire collection of encyclopedias, like Credo Reference, which is an online reference collection containing over 550 books. Try a search by typing in:
Salem witch*
(note that the * symbol at the end of the word witch allows the database to look for different endings such as witches or witchcraft)
Articles
COCC’s Barber Library provides access to a number of article databases that allow you to search for full-text articles on any topic! Remember that the library purchases these databases so you can find reliable sources for your research, which is different from getting results from Google or other “free web” search engines!
To find these databases go to the Library’s website. Click on the “Articles and More” button. The next page will present you an alphabetical list of database choices.
For the subject of Salem Witch Trials I would recommend two specific databases that could be particularly helpful:
Academic One File
Academic Search Premier
When you do a search in these databases, here is a keyword search expression that might bring up the most useful results:
Salem Witch trials NOT review NOT book
This search will produce results of articles excluding any reviews of books published on this topic.
You may also wish to limit your results just to full-text articles. To do so, just place a check mark next to the Full Text box under “Limit your results.”
Select Web Sites
- Salem Witch Trials: The World Behind the Hysteria http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/The Discovery Channel offers an introduction to the witch trials by first explaining what life was like during the 1690s.
- Secrets of the Dead: Case File: The Witches Curse
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/case_salem/index.htmlPublic Broadcasting Service presents this companion site to the same-named broadcast program to help understand the science behind the hysteria during 1692.
Barber Library Research guides 