Transcript Drama 3001 - Mount Allison University

Religious Studies 1681
Quest for Enlightenment
Winter 2012
Today’s Class
• Where to begin: A few suggestions
• Types of Scholarly Information Sources
• Types of Research Tools (for finding scholarly
sources)
• Search Tips and Examples
• A few words about sources found on the Web
• Questions… welcome at any time
Where to Begin?
Reference books such as specialized encyclopedias,
historical dictionaries and companions are often a
good place to start your research.
Where to Begin?
Reference books such as specialized encyclopedias,
historical dictionaries and companions are often a
good place to start your research.
Reference books can help you:
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find a broad or introductory-level overview of a topic
find a summary of recent scholarship
identify specific issues and subjects (or people, objects, etc)
identify other key resources, major studies
discover names of scholars who have published in the field
become familiar with concepts and terminology that can
help with your search strategy (i.e. help you identify good
and relevant keywords!)
Examples of Reference Works
Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Irons, 2008)
One of three encyclopedias entirely devoted to Buddhism in the
library reference collection.
Encyclopedia of Religion (15 vols)
Vol. 2 includes lengthy articles on Buddhism, Schools of Buddhism,
Buddhist philosophy, the Buddhist religious year, Buddhist studies,
Buddhism in India, Buddhism in the West, etc.)
Human Rights and the World's Major Religions (5 vols)
Vol. 4: The Hindu Tradition (includes an Annotated Bibliography)
Additional examples are provided on the course guide accessible at:
http://www.mta.ca/library/rel1681_winter2012.html
Recently Published Books and Articles
The bibliographies of recent books and articles can
also help you identify other books and articles on
the same/similar topics.
Example:
Harding, John S., Victor Sogen Hori, and Alexander
Soucy, eds. Wild Geese : Buddhism in Canada.
Toronto: McGill-Queen's UP, 2010.
• The bibliography of this book will likely help you find
additional sources for topics related to Buddhism in
Canada/North America.
Types of Scholarly
Information Sources
• Books and e-books (single- or multi-author
monographs)
• Essays in anthologies (books with an editor; each
chapter/essay is written by a different author)
• Journal Articles
– Available in print format in the Library
– Available in digital format in Library Databases
– Available in digital format free on the Web (in open-access
journals, for example)
Types of Research Tools
• Library Catalogues
– Examples: The Mt.A Library Catalogue, other University
Library Catalogues, WorldCat
• Journal Indexes and Databases
– Subject-Specific Indexes/Databases
• Example: ATLA Religion Database, SocIndex
– Multidisciplinary Databases
• Examples: JSTOR, Project Muse, Oxford Journals Online , and
ProQuest
• Bibliographies (of books, of encyclopedia entries, etc)
• Also: Browsing library shelves, the Web
Which Tool for which Source?
Information Source
Primary Research Tool
Books and e-books (monographs)
Library Catalogue and E-book
Collections
Articles (from Journals, Magazines &
Newspapers)
Journal Index/Database (+ Library
Catalogue or Journal Finder)
examples: ATLA Religion Database,
SocIndex, JSTOR, etc.
Articles in Open Access Journals
Directory of Open Access Journals
(DOAJ); Google Scholar
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Other useful sources:
WorldCat, Other Library Catalogues,
Google Books, Google Scholar
Finding Books
Finding Books
Search Strategies
My Search: Gandhi and biography = 18 items
When searching for books:
• You may need to use less specific search terms
• Sometimes helpful to use broad, more general
search terms
• You can generally use more specific search terms
when searching for articles
Search Strategies
Examples:
Instead of a personal name, try something like:
• Hindu$ and biography
• Hindu$ and guru$
• Hindu$ and women
Search Strategies
Examples:
Instead of a particular object or technique, try
something like:
• Buddhis$ and material culture
• Buddhis$ and social life and customs
• Buddhis$ and (meditation or mindfulness or
insight or enlightenment)
Finding Articles
You cannot search for article in the
Library Catalogue…
Search Strategies & Keyword Selection
• Different keywords will lead to different
results.
• Once you’ve identified what you think are
relevant keywords, try to think of other,
additional words that could be used to
describe the same or similar thing or topic.
• In other words, try to account for variations in
terminology, spelling, language, etc., by using
synonyms, related words, variant spellings.
Keyword Selection
Searches in the ATLA Religion Database:
- Buddhist technique = 1 item
Keyword Selection
Searches in the ATLA Religion Database:
- Buddhist technique = 1 item
- Buddhist and meditation = 563 items
Keyword Selection
Searches in the ATLA Religion Database:
- Buddhist technique = 1 item
- Buddhist and meditation = 563 items
- Buddhism and meditation = 794 items
Keyword Selection
Searches in the ATLA Religion Database:
- Buddhist technique = 1 item
- Buddhist and meditation = 563 items
- Buddhism and meditation = 794 items
- Buddhis* and meditation = 894 items
Keyword selection matters!
Search Tip!
Truncation Symbol
• $ in the Library Catalogue
• * in most other library databases
Example:
Canad$ will find: Canada, Canadian,
Canadians, Canadiana…
Keyword Selection
Buddhis* and meditation = 894 items
(too many?)
Keyword Selection
Buddhis* and meditation = 894 items
(too many?)
• Add additional keywords to make your search
more specific.
Examples:
Buddhis* and meditation and japan* = 49 items
Buddhis* and meditation and women = 18 items
Buddhis* and meditation and enlightenment = 53 items
From Citation to Full Text
• The ATLA Religion Database and other library
databases will often provide access to the full
text of articles in digital format.
• In some cases, ATLA and other library
databases will only provide a citation for an
article (no full text).
In these cases, how do you find out if the article
is available at our library?
From Citation to Full Text
• To find out if an article is available at the
library, look up the title of the journal in
which the article was published in:
– The Library Catalogue
and/or
– Journal Finder
From Citation to Full Text
Example:
Vemsani, Lavanya. "Narasimha, The Supreme Deity
Of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition And Innovcation In
Hinduism -- An Examination Of The Temple
Myths, Folk Stories, And Popular Culture."
Journal Of Contemporary Religion 24.1 (2009):
35-52.
From Citation to Full Text
Example:
Vemsani, Lavanya. "Narasimha, The Supreme Deity
Of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition And Innovcation In
Hinduism -- An Examination Of The Temple
Myths, Folk Stories, And Popular Culture."
Journal Of Contemporary Religion 24.1 (2009):
35-52.
Other Databases
• The ATLA Religion Database is the primary
discipline-specific index for articles published in
Religious Studies journals.
• Databases that cover related disciplines, such as
History and Sociology, will likely also help you find
relevant articles. Examples include SocINDEX and
Historical Abstracts
• Multidisciplinary databases such as JSTOR and
Project Muse also include Religious Studies
journals (see list of journals on the course guide).
Sources from Other Libraries
• You are not limited to resources held only in
our library
• Books and articles not available at the Mount
Allison Libraries may be requested through
the library's interlibrary loan service
• WorldCat and the Catalogues of other (larger)
university libraries are good places to look for
additional materials you can request
Web Sources
• In addition to library catalogues and
databases, Web sources can also be used to
identify both resources that are and are not
available in our collections. Examples:
– Google Books may allow you to find information
on a topic in a book that we have in print.
– Google Scholar may allow you to find articles
online or to discover articles you can request via
Interlibrary loan.
Google Books and Google Scholar
Google Books: books.google.ca
• Google’s attempt to digitize the world’s books
• Many books in the public domain (no longer
protected by copyright) are available cover to
cover.
• Partial access to other books (level of access
varies from title to title)
• Can search the full text of books – useful for
finding material of interest in books we have at
the library (or which you can order via interlibrary
loan).
Google Books and Google Scholar
Google Scholar: scholar.google.ca
• Google’s attempt to provide access to scholarly
information available on the Web
• A good tool for finding scholarly web sources and
articles in open access journal, but…
• Much scholarly information still cannot be found
online (varies by discipline)
• Relying exclusively on Google Scholar would
mean overlooking much of the scholarly
information available in library databases
Evaluating Web Sources
• Good research involves more than simply
identifying and finding information related to
your topic.
• Research also involves critically evaluating the
information that you find.
• This is true for all kinds of information and
sources of information, but can be especially
true for sources you find on the web.
Evaluating Web Sources
• Not every book or article about a Religious
Studies topic is necessarily a scholarly source.
• The same is true for information you find on
the Web.
• Knowing how to distinguish scholarly from
non-scholarly sources can help.
What is a Scholarly Source?
• Are generally written by experts in the field
(look for: credentials, author affiliations)
What is a Scholarly Source?
• Are generally written by experts in the field
(look for: credentials, author affiliations)
• Are generally peer-reviewed (critically
assessed by other scholars and experts in the
field prior to publication)
What is a Scholarly Source?
• Are generally written by experts in the field
(look for: credentials, author affiliations)
• Are generally peer-reviewed (critically
assessed by other scholars and experts in the
field prior to publication)
• Engage and build on previous research on the
same subject (see next bullet)
What is a Scholarly Source?
• Are generally written by experts in the field (look
for: credentials, author affiliations)
• Are generally peer-reviewed (critically assessed
by other scholars and experts in the field prior to
publication)
• Engage and build on previous research on the
same subject (see next bullet)
• Always cite all sources quoted or referenced
(non-scholarly sources aimed at a non-academic
audience don’t normally do this)
What is a Scholarly Source?
• Are generally published by a university press
or publisher specializing in scholarly works
What is a Scholarly Source?
• Are generally published by a university press
or publisher specializing in scholarly works
• Make a contribution to the field (present an
original argument or interpretation)
Evaluating Web Sources
• For more information on evaluating web
source and for distinguishing scholarly from
non-scholarly sources, see sections 5 and 6 of
the course guide for links to:
– Guides to help you distinguish scholarly
from non-scholarly sources, and
– Evaluating Web Sources Guide
Wikipedia?
• Good enough? Good enough for scholarly
work?
• Good for “presearch”?
• A more egalitarian way of sharing and
presenting information? Embodies/enacts
collaboration, cooperation, decentralization...
• Accountability? Credibility?
• Subject-knowledge and expertise?
Do Wikipedia articles improve or decline over
time? Two views…
“Among my friends and acquaintances,
everybody distrusts Wikipedia and everybody
uses it…. Wikipedia is the ultimate open
source repository of information. Everyone is
free to read it and everyone is free to write
it…. The information that it contains is totally
unreliable and surprisingly accurate. It is often
unreliable because many of the authors are
ignorant or careless. It is often accurate
because the articles are edited and corrected
by readers who are better informed than the
authors.”
Dyson, Freeman. “How We Know.” NYRB 10 Mar. 2011. Web. 24
Feb. 2011.
Do Wikipedia articles improve or
decline over time?
“Over the long term, the quality of a given
Wikipedia article will do a random walk
around the highest level of quality permitted
by the most persistent and aggressive people
who follow an article.”
Sanger, Lawrence. “The Fate of Expertise After
Wikipedia.” Episteme 6 (2009): 52-73.
(Sanger is co-founder of Wikipedia and founder of
Citizendium)
Searching the Web
Web search engines work differently from
library catalogues and databases
For example: Google ranks search results using a
proprietary algorithm that factors in things such as
popularity of a site, your location, sites you have
previously visited
• Type "restaurants" in Google and the search results
direct you to the Marshlands, Vinh's Wok, and other
Sackville eateries. Google knows where you are.
Ranking search results by popularity:
implications?
• Newer, lesser known, more obscure works
(but works that may be very relevant to you!)
may not be as easy to find as works that are
already well known
• The already popular (or mainstream) stays
popular; the marginal stays on the margins
Personalized search results based on your previous
searches and web activity: implications?
Good for shopping and targeted advertising, perhaps,
but not necessarily good for learning: some scholars
suggest that personalized search results can lead to
information bubbles, where only sites you are likely
to agree with (or like) are presented to you.
This means you are less likely to be presented with new
ideas or ideas that might challenge you to reconsider
your current views or opinions.
Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT)
(a OR b) AND (c OR d)
finds:
ac, ad, abc, bd, etc.
(a AND b) OR (c AND d)
≠
finds only:
ab OR cd
__________
The examples that follow in the next two slides are from the Boolean
Searching on the Internet Guide,
http://www.internettutorials.net/boolean.asp
OR: College or University
AND: Poverty and Crime
Example
music AND (pop OR rock) AND (encyclopedia OR history)
Every item found will have:
• “music”
• either/both “pop” or “rock”
• either/both “encyclopedia” or “history”
Finds titles such as:
Canuck Rock : a History of Canadian Popular Music
Encyclopedia of Canadian Rock, Pop & folk Music