Transcript inst_250_-_lecture3

Lecture Three: Step 3 - The
Literature Search
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How does the formulation of the research
topic help you in your research?
What are some strategies to help you
discover a topic?
Why does one write up a preliminary thesis
and outline?
How does a thesis differ from a research
topic?
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A declaration
A statement that will control the paper’s
direction
A sentence that will confine the paper’s
content.
A thesis statement will propose a conclusion
The author will defend/ try to convince the reader/
argue the thesis statement in the paper.
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Keywords are words or phrases
Discrimination against young women in the
classroom, known as ‘shortchanging”
harms the women academically, socially
and psychologically.
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Early intervention programs aimed at improving the
literacy in children at risk of failure will lead to
societal benefits.
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early literacy
beginning reading
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programs
intervention
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at risk
potential drop outs
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benefits
impact, advantages
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Be as specific as possible to describe the
concepts in your thesis
Word endings
adolescents or adolescence
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Variant spellings
behavior or behaviour
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Avoid using words that have multiple
meanings (homographs)
primary
present
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Step 3: The Literature search
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Facts vs Opinions
Locating scholarly information
Types of sources
Primary vs secondary sources
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Library’s Online Catalogue
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Searching CLUES
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Known item search
Keyword search
Boolean operators and Wildcards
Limits
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Select your topic
Develop a preliminary thesis
Conduct a literature search
Create a working bibliography
Evaluate sources
Write the final thesis
Prepare the paper & bibliography
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Sources
Library catalogue
Indexes & abstracts
Web sources
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Multi-stepped and lengthy phase of
research process
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Focus will be on the use of databasedriven retrieval tools:
◦ Library catalogues
◦ Subject-specific, multi-disciplinary, and specialized
databases
◦ Web-based search engines
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Research papers contain both facts and
opinions taken from outside sources
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Fact
◦ Denotes something that exists
◦ Can be verified or proven
◦ Example: Number of children who are reading below grade level by the age of eight
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Opinion
◦ Is an idea about a fact or another opinion
◦ Is an interpretation, a deduction, or a supposition
◦ Example: Reasons why children are reading below grade level
A fact can be confirmed, whereas an opinion
can be explained or defended but not proven
definitively.
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Locating scholarly information
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Primary vs Secondary Sources
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Evaluating the information
◦ Documentation
◦ Currency
◦ Review
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◦ A document or object that was created as the original original
words of its creator/author
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (excerpts or translations acceptable): Diaries,
speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage,
autobiographies, official records, journals
CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry, drama, novels, music, art, photographs
RELICS OR ARTIFACTS: Pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings
◦ Can quote more extensively from primary sources as they will have direct
relevance to paper
◦ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html
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The Diary of Anne Frank - Experiences of a Jewish
family during WWII
The Constitution of Canada - Canadian History
Pottery - Native American history
Watercolour painting of Montreal – Canadian Art
History
A journal article reporting NEW research or findings
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Secondary sources
◦ Works about someone or about their
accomplishments or findings
◦ Discusses the primary sources
◦ An interpretation, evaluation or analysis
◦ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html
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A journal/magazine article which interprets
or reviews previous findings
A textbook
An analysis of poetry
A biography
◦ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008
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“Doing research is all about trust. If you trust
the person who created a secondary source,
then there isn't a problem about using it.
However, if you don't trust that person, if you
think their version is a exaggerated or biased,
or if you want to see the original evidence for
yourself, then you have to go to the primary
sources. “
◦ From http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html
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Newspaper
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Blog post
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Census data
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Weather report
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What is in CLUES?
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Books
Journals (Periodicals)
Video
Music
Reserve items
Theses
Special collections
Eresources – ebooks & ejournals
Indexes & abstracts
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CLUES contains links to full-text purchased
by the Library for Concordia students and
faculty.
The first place to start your research!
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Preselected fields
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Author
Title
Journal Title
Subject Heading
Call Number
Video Search
Advanced keyword
Author/Title
Government Document Number
ISBN/ISSN/Music Number
Other Number (OCLC)
Special Collections
Databases Search (Name & Subject)
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Known item search, use:
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Search Options (with tips)
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Boolean Operators
Three operators that are used to logically
combine keywords within a search statement
AND OR NOT
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AND
◦ Used between terms expressing dissimilar
concepts
◦ BOTH terms must appear in results
◦ Example: Literacy AND elementary
Literacy
(1426 recs)
Elementary
(4442 recs)
Total retrieved: 180 records
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OR
◦ Used between terms expressing a similar concept
◦ EITHER term must appear in results
◦ Example: Literacy OR Reading
Reading
Literacy
(5686 recs)
(1426 recs)
Total retrieved: 6734 records
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NOT
◦ Used to eliminate unwanted terms from search
results
◦ NOTed term(s) must not appear in the results
◦ CLUES uses “AND NOT”
◦ Example: Literacy NOT adult
Literacy
Adult
(1426 recs)
(2604 recs)
Total retrieved: 1237 records
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Using our keywords for the two main concepts…
Early literacy
programs
beginning reading
intervention
…we can design the following search statement:
(early literacy OR beginning reading) AND
(programs OR intervention)
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Phrase Searching
◦ Use quotes around two or more words
◦ Terms will appear side by side in the order specified
• Example: “food security”
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Wildcards
Words may be right-hand truncated using an
asterisk ('*') in place of other characters. The '*' wildcard may also
be embedded in a search string. You may use '?' to replace a single
character anywhere within a word.
Examples : environment* polic*, wom?n
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Limiting fields
◦ Those fields that contain information common to
many records
◦ Restrict search results by certain limits
◦ Examples: Language, Date, Material type
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Arrange your concepts into a logically correct
search statement:
 (Inuit OR Eskimo) AND (Food or nutrition) AND Canad*
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Use: Advanced Keyword
Look at the record to find your keywords –
what colour are they?
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Arrange your keywords into a logically correct
search statement:
Use: Advanced Keyword
Look at the record to find your keywords –
what colour are they?
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Beginning the literature search
◦ Form judgments about the type and quality of
information that is to be retrieved
◦ Scan material to learn about purpose, scope,
relevant ideas etc.
◦ Takes notes on discoveries
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CLUES
◦ Fields in CLUES records
◦ Keyword searches on CLUES
◦ Use of advanced commands in Keyword search
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Next week: Searching Subject headings
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