research & writing (mla style). … library.centennialcollege.ca distance access

15 FEB 2011

GS 140THOMAS HART, INSTRUCTOR; LIZ DOBSON, LIBRARIAN

Research & Writing (MLA Style)

Library resources & help…

…

library.centennialcollege.ca

Distance Access

2 component parts of your research proposal…

Statement of your research problem (“choose a research topic” - Assignment 2)

Write a literature review / bibliography with annotations (Assignment 3)

Your research question…

…

Which of these two research questions is probably better? Make sure your research question is practical. That is: can you find publications on your topic?

Literature review……

Annotated bibliography example of a citation + note

McIvor, Sam D. “Aboriginal women’s rights as ‘existing rights’”.

Canadian Woman Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme 2.3 (1995):

34-38. Print.

This article discusses recent constitutional legislation as it affects

the human rights of aboriginal women in Canada: the Constitution

Act (1982), its amendment in 1983, and amendments to the Indian

Act (1985). It also discusses the implications for aboriginal women

of the Supreme Court of Canada’s interpretation of the Constitution

Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991)

Annotated bibliography example of a citation + note

McIvor, Sam D. “Aboriginal women’s rights as ‘existing rights’”. Canadian

Woman Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme 2.3 (1995): 34-38. Print.

This article discusses recent constitutional legislation as it affects the

human rights of aboriginal women in Canada: the Constitution Act (1982),

its amendment in 1983, and amendments to the Indian Act (1985).This

legislation reverses prior laws that denied Indian status to aboriginal

women who married non-aboriginal men. On the basis of the Supreme

Court of Canada’s interpretation of the Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow

(1991), McIvor argues that the Act recognizes fundamental human rights &

existing aboriginal rights, granting to aboriginal women full participation in

the aboriginal right to self-government.

Start your research

► Get background information – Internet, encyclopedias, books…

► Get research reports & tune into the issues and debates - electronic databases (‘e-resources’) for journal & newspaper articles, Internet (selected sites)…

Need to revise your topic?

Once you have done some searching, you may find that you will need to revise your

topic

Possible Reasons: You can’t find publications on your topic Your topic is discussed, but not in the way you

expected Your topic is too general – you discover that it has too

many aspects (‘sub-topics’) to handle in one essay You see a lot of material on a related aspect that you

find more interesting and/or more practical

Google Scholar – for academic journal articles on the Internet

Google Books – for e-books on the Internet

Personal contacts…

E-resources in the library (journal & newspaper articles, & specialized databases) …

…

About E-resources & journal articles…

E-Resources (databases):

Licensed electronic resources - many let you search tens of thousands of articles at one time

Journals: Published in issues

regularly (weekly, monthly, etc.)

Each issue contains several articles (essays) by different authors

About databases & the Internet – what’s the

difference…? Internet Quality varies widely Inherent commercial bias Huge Limited user search tools

Databases (E-resources)

More academic info, more consistent reliable quality

Commercial free Big Precision tools for searching

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Is there already a literature review published on your topic?

You might be lucky?

Develop your own literature review

Searching for articles on your topic

Sample record in a database – Note: FIELDS

Manage your results…

print, email, save, etc…

Sample MLA style citation from

Business Source Complete database (EBSCO Vendor)

Sample search for full text scholarly articles in a database…

ORBoolean operator that collects

ANDBoolean operator that

combines…

LIMIT tools – e.g. fields

LIMIT tools – e.g. Scholarly (peer reviewed journals)

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More LIMIT tools available to you…

EXPANDER tools – e.g. thesaurus

EXPANDER tools – e.g. multiple database searching

EXPANDER tools – e.g. truncation *

Saving your searches…

Managing your results…

Go to Folder…

Books (print & electronic) & videos in the Library…

…

Websites……

Media literacy……

Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University (Chester, Pennsylvania) – a 10-minute av program, Evaluate Web Pages

http://www3.widener.edu/Academics/Libraries/Wolfgram_Memorial_Library/Evaluate_Web_Pages/659/

Writing help……

Your essay normally includes 3 types of material…

1. Your ideas

2. Your summaries of others’ ideas and facts (especially important for your literature review)

3. Quotations from your sources

(MLA Handbook, 2009)