Transcript Developing your information skills

Research Sources and Strategies for
Classics
Margaret Forrest
Academic Liaison Librarian
Outline
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Library, museum and gallery essentials
Searcher
Library catalogue via Aquabrowser
eJournals
Literature searching guidelines
Databases for Classics
Classics Subject Guide
Library Databases A-Z
URL Link
Literature searching:
6-step guide
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Describe your research question
Highlight key concepts or topics
Consider alternative keywords
Decide how you will combine search terms
Select an appropriate database
Limit or expand your search results
1. Describe your research question
• In what way has the treatment of slaves
contributed to our understanding of the
development of the Roman household
from the first to the second century?
2. Highlight key concepts or topics
• In what way has the treatment of slaves
contributed to our understanding of the
development of the Roman household
from the first to the second century?
3. Consider alternative keywords
Roman Empire
Household
Family
Slaves
Slavery
Unfree Labour
First Century
Second Century
4. Combine search terms
Using Boolean Operators
Records contain
Records contain
both A and B
either A or B
Record contains A but not B
4. Combine search terms
Example using Boolean Operators
#
Search
Results
#1
Roman Empire
3,793
#2
Slaves OR Slavery OR
Unfree labour
10,517
#3
Household OR Family
>100,000
#4
#1 AND #2 AND #3
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5. Select an appropriate database
From MyEd to Launch Library Resources
> Databases A-Z
> Arts and Humanities Citation Index
From ISI Web of Knowledge
• Indexes 1100 arts and humanities
journals from 1975 to date.
6. Limiting or expanding
your search results
Too many results?
Too few results?
• Add additional
keywords with AND
• Use more specific
keywords
• Use thesaurus terms
• Limit by particular
fields (e.g. date)
• Check your spelling
• Use all possible
synonyms for topic
• Use alternative
spelling (UK/US)
• Combine keywords
using OR
• Use truncation
Truncation?
If you have too few results, truncation can help
widen your search…
• Truncation allows you to look for all forms of a
keyword….plurals, variant endings
• Type in the beginning of a word plus the
truncation or wildcard symbol ($ * ? #) depending
on the database
e.g. in AHCI
Rom* - will find Rome, Roman, but also romance and romantic
wom?n – will find women, woman
Snowballing
Just one useful reference can lead you to
more…
• Search for other publications by the same
author
• Follow up on references listed at the end of
an article or book
• Note keywords assigned to this article in
databases - use these to run a new search
• Use “cited by” or “more like this” links
– e.g. Lookout for the hypertext link Times Cited in
AHCI
Databases for Classics
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Arts and Humanities Citation Index
Brill's New Pauly
Dyabola
L'Annee philologique
Patrologiae Graecae
Patrologia Latina
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG)
URL Link
Classics Subject Guide
• Looking for more information?
Try the Classics Subject Guide
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Links to open access websites
Guide to finding academic literature
Information about Inter-Library Loans
Library news
Library Databases A-Z
Bookmark
this page!
Image Databases
• ARTstor
• Education Image Gallery
• SCRAN
[email protected]
Academic Liaison Librarian
School of History, Classics and Archaeology