Transcript ENGL 212

Vince Graziano
English Librarian
[email protected]
Agenda
 What is research?
 Research process
1. Choosing a topic
2. Learning more with background information
3. Finding books
4. Finding journal articles
5. Creating a bibliography
Research Process
 Step 1: Choose a research topic, identify key concepts
 Step 2: Find encyclopedias for a starting point
 Step 3: Find books for detailed information
 Step 4: Find journal articles for research
 Step 5: Put together your bibliography
Step 1: Choose A Research Topic
 Narrow your research topic
 Write your research question
 Identify your key concepts
 Create your search words
Who/What/Where/When/How
Start by thinking of a broad topic
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic?
I know that I’m interested in thinking, researching and
writing about:
→ climate change
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic: climate change
Who? think of a group of people that would be related to,
or involved with your broad topic:
→ people/humans (psychology)
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic: climate change
Who:
people/humans (psychology)
What(s)? think of more specific aspects of your broad topic
or of topics related to your broad topic
think of issues/things on which your broad topic may
depend, what it might cause, or influence
Denial
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic: climate change
Who:
people/humans (psychology)
What(s): denial
Where? perhaps you can limit your broad topic to a
specific geographic location or context?
→ United States or Canada
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic: climate change
Who:
people/humans (psychology)
What(s): denial
Where:
United States / Canada
When? perhaps you can limit your broad topic to a
specific time period?
→ the present
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic: climate change
Who:
people/humans (psychology)
What(s): denial
Where:
United States / Canada
When:
the present
How? think of possible relationships/effects between
your answers
→ people denying the existence of climate
change
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic:
Who:
What(s):
Where:
When:
How:
climate change
people/humans (psychology)
denial
United States/Canada
the present
people’s psychology making them deny the
existence of climate change
You can certainly make a research question from this!
Who/What/Where/When/How
Broad topic:
Who:
What(s):
Where:
When:
How:
climate change
people/humans (psychology)
denial
United States/Canada
the present
humans denying the existence of climate
change
Focused Research Question:
Despite strong evidence, what are the psychological
reasons for denying that climate change exists?
Identifying Key Concepts
 What are key concepts?
 Main ideas of your research topic
 One word or short phrase
 Why identify key concepts?
 Search words for finding books, articles, and other
information sources
 Why identify synonyms?
 Different articles / databases use different words to
describe the same thing
What are the psychological reasons for
denying that climate change exists?
 Key Concepts: Climate change, denial, psychology
 Synonyms: global warming, unacceptance, personality
 Search statement
(“climate change” OR “global warming”) AND (psych* OR
personalit* OR culture) AND (deny* OR denial* OR
unaccept*)
AND limits your search
OR broadens your search (OR gives you mORe!)
Using “AND”
 Use “and” to combine your concepts in a
search strategy
 “climate change” and psychology and denial
Climate change
denial
psychology
Using “OR”
 Use “or” to combine your synonyms or similar
terms
 Climate change or global warming
Climate change
Global warming
Step 2: Use Encyclopedias
 General and Subject
 Available print and online
Finding Encyclopedias
 CLUES Search:
[broader subject of research topic] and encyclopedia*
 CLUES Title Search:
[title of your known encyclopedia] in search field
 Online Reference
Gale Virtual Reference Library (good starting point)
 www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com (Canadian, free)
Research Process
 Step 1: Choose a research topic
 Step 2: Find encyclopedias for a starting point
 Step 3: Find books for detailed information
 Step 4: Find journal articles for your research project
 Step 5: Put together your bibliography
Step 3: Use Books
 Find books using the CLUES Library Catalogue
What you can find in CLUES
 Books – encyclopedias, fiction, children’s books,
anthologies, dictionaries, etc., both in print and online
 Audio Visual Media - CDs, DVDs, etc.
 Newspapers, magazines, journals and conference
proceedings
 Building and engineering standards
 Maps
 And more . . .
Books
Not all books in Concordia Libraries are appropriate for you to use
Children’s Books
(Located in the Curriculum Collection)
Fiction
Scholarly Research
CLUES Search Tips
 “ ” searches for the exact phrase
 i.e. “climate change”
 * searches for all words that start with the word stem
 i.e. psych* = psychology, psychological
 and searches for both of the words (key concepts) LIMITS
 i.e. psych* AND “climate change” AND “deny* OR denial*”
 or searches for either of the words (synonyms) BROADENS
 ( ) groups key concepts and their accompanying synonyms
together
 i.e. (“social media” OR “climate change”)
Step 4: Use Journal Articles
 Find articles using databases
Popular magazines
VERSUS
Scholarly journals
Identifying a Journal
 Authors (Identified? Credentials?)
 References – Are there any?
 Peer-Review
 Graphics / Advertisements
 Language Level / Audience
 Structure
 Title (Descriptive? Catchy?)
 Length (of Article?)
Authors
 Journal articles: The authors of journal articles are always
identified, and their credentials are also usually listed
somewhere, either at the beginning or end of the journal
article or somewhere around the beginning or end of the
journal itself. The authors of journal articles are expert
researchers in the field.
 Magazine/Newspaper articles: On the other hand,
magazine and newspaper article authors are not always
identified and, even if they are, they tend to be
journalists, not expert researchers in the field about
which they’re writing.
References
 Journal articles: Journal articles always have references
within the article itself and also in a list at the end of the
article. This means that you always know where they’re
getting their information from and how to track it down
and read it for yourself.
 Magazine/Newspaper articles: Magazines and
newspapers rarely let you know where their information
came from or give you enough information to track it
down.
Peer Review
 Journal articles: Journal articles are reviewed by an
editor and experts in the field, who are editing from a
content standpoint.
 Magazine/Newspaper articles: Magazine and newspaper
articles are only reviewed by an editor, who is probably
not an expert in the field and just editing from a stylistic
standpoint.
Language
 Journal articles: Journal articles use scholarly language
and jargon, i.e. “big words,” because they expect their
reader to have the background knowledge/expertise
necessary to understand the jargon used in the field
 Magazine/Newspaper articles: Magazine/Newspaper
articles use non-scholarly language because they are
geared towards a general audience who don’t have
background knowledge/expertise
Structure
 Journal articles: tend to follow the same rigid structure,
varying slightly between the Humanities, Social Sciences,
and Sciences: Introduction (why they’re doing this
research), Methodology, Results (stats, tables, graphs),
Discussion of Results, Conclusions (why the research was
important, further research), list of references
 Magazines/Newspaper articles: not a lot of structure,
mainly paragraphs, magazine articles will sometimes have
headings as well.
Evaluation
 When deciding whether or not to use a book, article or
website for a research paper, you should consider:
Authority
Objectivity
Currency
Accuracy
Coverage
Database Searching
What is a Database?
Database
Journal
Article
Database Searching
Academic Search
Complete
Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning
“Is it a tool suitable for learning?
A critical review of the literature on
Facebook as a technology-enhanced
learning environment.”
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
Volume 29, No. 6
Pages: 487-504
Database Search Tips
 “ ” searches for the exact phrase
 i.e. “climate change”
 * searches for all words that start with the word stem
 i.e. psych* = psychology, psychological
 and searches for both of the words (key concepts) LIMITS
 i.e. psych* AND “climate change” AND (deny* OR denial*)
 or searches for either of the words (synonyms) BROADENS
 ( ) groups key concepts and their accompanying synonyms together
 i.e. (“global warming” OR “climate change”)
Database Search Tips
 Use Database Finder
 Use the Advanced Search option
 One key concept per search box
 Combine synonyms within search boxes
 Limit your searches to peer-reviewed/scholarly articles
 Try using SUBJECT HEADINGS
 Find your journal article using
Concluding Remarks
 Use the Library Website:
http://library.concordia.ca
 Try different strategies
 Ask for help at the Reference Desk, or on Chat