cm121 basic library info part 1
DESCRIPTION
This is part 1 of 2 parts about the basics of library research at the Globe Education Nework Library: http://www.globeeducationnetwork.com/library/TRANSCRIPT
Introduction toLibrary Research
Part 1:
The research process
and searching strategies
Welcome! Contact me if you have questions.
Elaine Settergren: [email protected]
Jan 2009 – Elaine Settergren
Today’s Library Lessons
• The Research Process
• Three Types of Searching– Subject Searching
– Citation Chasing
– Keyword Searching• Boolean operators! • Narrow and Broaden your searches
What is research anyway?Research is a PROCESS
• Step 1: Choose a topic
• Step 2: Exploratory research
• Step 3: Working bibliography
• Step 4: Research question / tentative thesis
• Step 5: Focused research
• Step 6: Final thesis
Choose a topic1. Understand the assignment
2. Pick a topic that interests you
3. Start general• Explore possible avenues to your topic.• Think about related issues.
Brainstorm: What causes road rage? Why are people angry while driving? Has road rage increased recently?
Topic: road rage
Exploratory research
• Read some basic works on your topic– Reference materials, textbooks
• Use your topic term(s) in your search– A basic search on “road rage” to shows us a selection
of what’s been written on the topic
• Get ideas for future searches– Anger? – Psychology? – Aggressive driving?
Exploratory research
Why not skip this step? You need it to:
1. Get a basic understanding = intelligently refine your research question
2. Start gauging the scope of your topic.Is it feasible?
* There may be so much written on your topic you
will never fit it all in one class paper
* OR it may be really hard to find information on your topic.
It’s not cheating to adjust your topic to make it feasible.
3. Get ideas for keywords, topics, sources
Use your sources efficiently
• Articles– Focus on: Abstract, introduction, conclusions
• E-books– Search the book for relevant material
• You don’t have to read the whole thing!• But DO read enough to UNDERSTAND the CONTEXT
Working Bibliography
Start a bibliography and get in the practice of making proper citations for everything right away.
Why?• Need citations later anyway
• Harder to lose your work
• Easier to go back (to check info, for “chaining”)
Sample Working Bibliography
Brewer, A. (2000, January). Road rage: what, who, when, where and how?. Transport Reviews, 20(1), 49-64. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from EBSCO MegaFILE database.
Mann, R., Zhao, J., Stoduto, G., Adlaf, E., Smart, R., & Donovan, J. (2007, July). Road Rage and Collision Involvement. American Journal of Health Behavior, 31(4), 384-391. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from EBSCO MegaFILE database.
Lawton, R. and Nutter, A. (2002). A comparison of reported levels and expression of anger in everyday and driving situations. British Journal of Psychology,3 93, 407-423. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from ProQuest Psychology Journals database.
Joint, M. (1995, March). Road rage. The Automobile Association Group Public Policy Road Safety Unit. AAA. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.aaafoundation.org/resources/index.cfm?button=agdrtext#Road%20Rage.
Research Questionand Tentative Thesis
Research Question• Based on Exploratory
research• Usually more specific
than your brainstorming question
• Open ended
Tentative Thesis• Best guess to the
answer of your research question
• You’ll try to support this with your research
Research Questionand Tentative Thesis
Compare:
• Research question:
What causes road rage?
• Tentative Thesis:
The relatively recent phenomenon of road rage is caused by the latest influx of traffic and stress.
Does that sound like a lot of work?
Well don’t be depressed – in reality, you could easily go through steps 1-4 in an afternoon.
The heavy-duty work comes next!
Focused Research
• Answer your research question• Refine your tentative thesis with
specific information
With the road rage example, we might look for:– Case studies of road rage victims– Research papers on aggression or anger– Scholarly psychological analysis– Facts, figures, statements from authorities
Final ThesisUse your research and the arguments you’re going to use in your paper to revise your thesis.
At this time, you can take your tentative thesis• revise it to better reflect your findings, and • settle on your final thesis statement.
The final thesis often doesn’t finalize until you are working on your rough draft.
There’s also a lot of wiggle-room here.You can go back for more research and more thesis refining, as many times as you need to.
Final ThesisOh NO! My research findings are the opposite of
my thesis statement!
Don’t trash it!
Not every research paper has to prove that something is – lots of research proves that
something is not the answer.
Example Final Thesis
Example: Research question: Is hypnosis a good weight loss strategy?
Tentative thesis: Hypnosis helps you lose weight.
Research shows: Hypnosis has never been proven to aid weight loss.
Final thesis: Hypnosis has potentials to be a good weight loss strategy, but several medical studies show hypnosis to have no effect on weight loss or dieting.
In sum…
• Start with a question or general idea
• Research to find information, facts
• Build thesis statement that is based on reality (the information that you found)
THIS IS BACKWARDS
1. Brainstorm a specific thesis right away
2. Decide your arguments for the paper
3. Start writing your paper
4. Now start your research!
5. Despair and sorrow
Tragedy of Backwards Research
You might find:
• No facts to support your arguments
• Lots of data that disproves your thesis
• Research may partially support your thesis, but not with the arguments you had planned (and started writing out)
• You = Rewriting your paper =
OK!
Let’s research!
When you jump right in to research you may find that you
are…
www.sba.gov“Begin the endnotes on a new page after the last
page of the paper and preceding the bibliography.”
www.google.com/unclesamJames Knox Polk was born in
Mechlenburg County, NC on Nov. 2,
1795.
Matsushita is the largest
manufacturer of electrical
consumer goods in the world…
Certosina: a style originally associated with Carthusian monasteries, made with pieces of wood, bone and mother-of-pearl arranged in geometrical patterns
Alveolitis: inflammation of the alveoli
…by emphasizing different
components of the syllogism
covered in section A.
Vibrissae: stiff hairs within
the nostrils at the anterior
nares
Epoetin Alpha: Trade and other names: Epogen, epoetin alfa. Drug class: hormone.
www.msbcollege.edu 156846843
5165531313543216541321651
651681606546465404
65354 3541651035466
4384
654
6
364
3541
654065460454
540543
6361
4
FEELING OVERWHELMED
BY INFORMATION?
No need to panic!
Make sense of the information overload!
• Plan your search– Use the Research Project
Calculator tool: http://rpc.elm4you.org/
– Set aside the time!
• Trial and Error: Discover synonyms and related terms– Keep track of what & where you search and what you find
to stay organized
• Choose the right research tool– Match the sources to the topic
• Look for recent news on the web or newspapers • Look for scholarly info in a database
3 Ways to Search
• Subject Searching
• Citation Chasing
• Keyword Searching
Types of searchingSubject Searching“What’s the secret word?”
Databases and catalogs have indexes of words that their search already “knows”
Using the Subject Index will help you:
• Find the most efficient search terms for that resource
• Get ideas for new search terms to try
Subject Searching
These are all ways to search by subject:
• Search the subject index
• Some databases offer subject suggestions. Click on these to access the subjects.
• Or click on subject headings in your search results or in the article record.
Types of searchingCitation chasing
“Please sir, can I have some more?”
One great resource = many great resources!!!
Use the Bibliography!
Pros of citation chasing:• Authors usually cite sources that discuss similar topics• You’ll have all the information for easily searching the databases
Con of citation chasing:• No guarantees that the cited sources will also be in available online in the Globe Education Network library
Types of searchingKeyword
“Okay does ANYTHING mention left-handed Indonesian stunt kites?”
Always remember:
1. Keyword searching = “everywhere” • including author names, summaries and sometimes even full text of article (book, website, etc.)
2. Keyword searching by default is kind of “stupid” (unless we help it out)
Here’s an example…
Potential problemsof keyword searching
Topic = cats, as in :
A basic keyword search will give you results about
But also author’s last name of “Cats”,
even articles he wrote, even though
they may be about new
socket gears
or something unrelated to:
Potential problemsof keyword searching
And what about:
Reviews of “Cats: the musical”?
Excerpts from the book “Cat’s Cradle?”
Or writers using the word just once in an article, like in a saying or cliché: “The cat’s out of the bag: Apple introduced its new iPhone today at…”
All of this could come up when justkeyword searching on “cats”
The Good News about Keyword
Keyword is very useful when you:
• Are using specific terminology
• Building specific search strings
• Need to search full-text
• Need to do any sort of broad search
Okay - does ANYTHING mention left-handed Indonesian stunt kites?”
Keyword Word Choices
• Word (term) choices are important
• Be selective. Choose descriptive words.
• Strategies– Brainstorm– Select from thesis– Broader, narrower, and related terms
• Time, Place, Population, and Viewpoint• Trial and error
Strategies Brainstorming Keywords
• How many keywords can you think of that are related to the word “pitch”?
Selecting Search Terms
It’s good to have options so you can try different terms in different databases
Say your topic is: The economic impact of the great dust storms of the 1930’s on the farmers of the great plains.
What are the important terms here?
Selecting Search Terms
The economic impact of the great dust storms of the 1930’s on the farmers of the great plains.
Using the word “impact” on its own is useless. It’s not descriptive enough of the topic.
Using agriculture instead of farmers is a good option.
Selecting Search Terms
You can use these strategies to narrow or broaden your search:
Time, Place, Population, and Viewpoint
i.e. original topic: dust bowl
narrowed topic:
The economic impact of the great dust storms of the 1930’s on the farmers of the great plains.
Strategies Brainstorming Keywords
• Notice that some are broader or narrower keywords. Others are related.
Fruit
Agriculture Apples Canning
Keyword Strategies
• Use quotation marks for phrases– “total quality management”– “right to choose”– “macaroni and cheese”
• Truncation– Symbols (* ? !) take place of letters– Politic* = politician, politicians, political, politics– Wom?n = woman, women
• Combining with Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT
Boolean Operators: AND• AND makes your search more specific
– The more ANDs you include the more specific/narrow your search becomes
– children AND anxiety only items with both words
Children
in
Iowa
Anxiety
in
Iowa
Anxiety
in
Children
Anxiety
is
Okay
Children
in
Anxiety
Children
are
Okay
• OR broadens the search– The more ORs you include the more broad your search becomes– wages OR salaries items with either term
Wages
for
Mediocre
Work
Salaries
of Good
Salesmen
Getting
Paid
to Sleep
Dogs
Earn
Salaries
Minimum
Wage
Raise
Your
Wages
Boolean Operators: OR
May or may not be included in the results because it’s singular and you were searching plural
• NOT excludes unrelated terms– e.g. jazz NOT Utah leaves out items about the Utah
Jazz basketball team
Jazz
Through
Time
2004
Utah
Jazz
Lineup
Music
Is
Nice
History
Of
Utah
Jazz
Music Weekly:
Jazz Scene in
Utah
History of
Jazz
Music
Boolean Operators: NOT
Boolean Operators
Combine these as much as you need • Cats AND declaw* AND humane
– A more specific search
• Gender AND (movies OR film)– Combine them!
Get fancy!• (Gender OR women) AND (movies OR film) NOT “adult film”
Refine – Do it Again!• Too much? – Narrow it!
– Specific terms– Quotation marks– AND, NOT
• Too little? – Broaden it!– Broader terms– Synonyms– OR
• All wrong?– BE CREATIVE – brainstorm more keywords– Try a different database/search tool/source– Ask the librarian for help!
Stay tuned for Part 2:Using the GEN Online Library
and Evaluating Sources
Questions? Comments?
Contact the Online Librarian:
Elaine Settergren [email protected]
http://www.globeeducationnetwork.com/library/
Read the Library Lowdown Blog!