Library Research SkillsDTS 2nd Years

Ronan Madden Arts & Humanities Librarian

1. Basics: Library resources, catalogue, website

2. Journals and e-journals:- what they are, how to source a journal article

3. Resource discovery using electronic databases

4. Off-campus access to e-resources5. A word on Google and information

quality

Topics

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

Library Web Site

N.B.

•Catalogue•Journal Portal•Databases A-Z•Searcher•Subject Guides•How do I?•Study & Research Help

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Subject Guide

Starting point for relevant library & web material

- databases- journals- websites

See ‘Drama & Theatre’ subject guide

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Catalogue: Tips

• Title searches: word-perfect• Keyword searches: you can ‘modify

search’ e.g. material type ‘Video/DVD’• Consider synonyms, American spellings• Use the ‘bag’ to export records• Use ‘Worldcat’ link to search beyond UCC• Use ‘My Library Account’ to request

books on loan, to see your reading history, to access e-resources from home, and to save ‘lists’ of books

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Off-Campus Access

• Use ‘My Library Account’(like when renewing or requesting books)

• Name + student number + six digit password (alpha-numeric)

• N.B. You should access e-resources through the Library web pages so that the ‘Your Library Record’ screen will appear

• Contact Information desk on Q floor for queries e.g. forgotten password

• See: Learn about Pin NumbersRonan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

What if an item is not in UCC Library?

Aside from Googling it (book/article title or author and you may be lucky):

• Inter-library loanSee: Inter-library loans service

• Visit other libraries: ‘Cork PAL’ Or ‘Letter of Introduction’ .Check with customer services in Boole Library

See: Accessing other librariesRonan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

Journals

• Serials/Periodicals: published continuously• New research, cutting-edge• Print and/or electronic (30,000+ e-journals

in UCC)• ‘Peer-reviewed’/‘refereed’ =academic

journals‘The process by which an academic journal passes a paper submitted for publication to independent experts for comments on it’s suitability and worth; refereeing’

• Quality control: Papers accepted/rejected based on contribution to the field/new ideas, bias/conflicts of interest, suitability for journal etc.

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

• Popular Magazines: (articles written by journalists)

- Newspapers

- Substantive news e.g. ‘The Economist’, ‘National Geographic’, ‘New Scientist’, ‘Irish Theatre Magazine’

- Magazines

• Trade Journals (specific industry, enable practitioners share market and product information within an industry)

Other Periodicals

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Finding a Journal Article

Example:

Salata, K. (2008). Toward the Non-(Re) presentational Actor: From Grotowski to Richards. TDR/The Drama Review, 52(2), 107-125.

• Check the Journals Portal first

• See online tutorial:

‘Learn how to find the full-text of a journal article’ on the ‘Study & Research Help’ page

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Practice

Find the following article online:

Werry, M., & O'Gorman, R. (2012). The Anatomy of Failure: An Inventory. Performance Research, 17(1), 105-110.

Is it also available in hard copy in the Library?

Password: Qfloor1Ronan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

‘Searcher’ Federated Search

• Good starting point

• Some results will be from non-academic periodicals

• N.B. you should still search specific databases individually

• You can set up an alert Ronan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

What are Databases? 1.

• Collections of logically related data, designed to meet information needs of one or more users e.g. library catalogue

• A bibliographic/research database: usually an electronic index to journal articles and books, containing citations & abstracts. Sometimes information about conference proceedings, theses, and other information formats is also included.

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What are Databases? 2.

• Sometimes the full text of the articles is included, or links to the full text.

• Some are indexing and abstracting only: i.e. metadata – not necessarily a link to the full text.

• Some are general e.g. Web of Science, others are more subject-specific e.g. Medline, RILM.

• Essential for literature searches. • Other types of databases: ARTstor for

images, Music Online for streaming music, ACLS & Ebrary for e-booksRonan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

How are Databases Organised?

• Records: one record for each article, book etc.

• A field is the basic unit of entry in a record• Journal article fields might include:

- Title, Author, Keywords, Source, Publication Year, Abstract etc.

• For each record (e.g. article) added to the database, these fields must be included, and data is entered in that format.

• Searches of the databases can be narrowed to one or more fields: e.g. Author, Title, Author + Keyword, Keyword + Publication Year etc.

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Ronan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

Search Skills

college OR university

poverty AND crime

Boolean Operators: AND, OR

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Search Skills

cats NOT dogs

Boolean Operator: NOT

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Some Youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tm-sDKCnO4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1LpTbzSKd0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsSZps3NH-Mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vube-ZcJFk4

Search Skills 3.

• censorship AND theatre• censorship AND (theatre OR theater OR

drama OR play OR stage OR “performing arts”)

____________________________________________________• (theatre OR theater OR drama OR play) AND

(stagecraft OR “stage design” OR “scenic design” OR “scene design” OR “set design” OR “stage setting” OR “costume design” OR “mis en scene”)

____________________________________________________• Theat*

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How to Find Relevant Databases

• Use Databases A-Z: (See ‘Search the Library’) Drop-down menu ‘Browse databases by Subject area’. Use Drama & Theatre’ list as a starting point.

• Depending on your topic, you may also need to search other lists e.g. – Humanities

• You could also check the Subject Guides• See online tutorial: Find

the best databases for your assignments and research on the ‘Study & Research Help’ page

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

Databases without full-text

• Indexing and abstracting databases• Metadata – descriptive information i.e. not

necessarily a link to the full text • Full-text might be available in UCC through

another database/resource• Check the Journals Portal to find out (or

Searcher)• You should use as many databases as

possible for a thorough literature search (don’t ignore something important just because full-text not readily available)

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Bibliographic Databases/Indexes

(Usually not full-text)• Examples:

- OCLC incl. Worldcat, Articlefirst- MLA International Bibliography- Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Web

of Knowledge)- British Humanities Index

Also worth a look: Film Index International, Oxford Music Online (full-text), Sociological Abstracts, ASSIA (Social Sciences Collection), SOCindex , RILM (Music)

Same applies to many of the references you might find through Google Scholar!

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Practice:

Role of the clown in theatre

• Search: Searcher, Wilson Omnifile, JSTOR, Project Muse, Academic Search Premier, LION etc.

• Search the ‘Irish Times Digital Archive’ for material on the Corn Exchange Theatre Company

• Look for explanations of the term ‘Poetics’ in reference databases like Oxford Reference Online

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Getting Started

Example:

Role of the clown in theatre

Keywords:

clown, clowning, fool, knave, jester, buffoon, “red nose”, theat*, drama, play, stage, “performing arts”

Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), truncation etc. to create appropriate search strings and apply the search (or variations of the search) to all relevant resources

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Getting Started

• Initial reviews: identify broad problem area, potential research problem, theoretical background, relevant terminology (keywords and terms): Scoping

• Once approved, further searches to refine research problem and methodologies: ‘Trawling’ and ‘Mining’

• There may be a number of strands to your lit search• Keep a record of all of resources searched, and the

search terms and strings that you applied• Keeps a record of all books/articles that you are

likely to need for your bibliography e.g. Endnote, Zotero

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Further Resources

[N.B. See also subject guides for links to free resources]

•Online Reference Resources: (alternative to Wikipedia) see: Reference Resources under ‘Search the Library’ N.B. Oxford Reference Online

•Images: ARTstor and others: See Images page

•Online Newspapers: Irish Newspaper Archive,

Irish Times Digital Archive

•E-books: ACLS Humanities E-book (HEB), Ebrary,

EEBO, ECCO, Shakespeare, Early 17c dramaRonan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

Google?

• Use Google scholar advanced search to improve quality and quantity of results

• Works better on-campus, or from home through the Databases A-Z

• If no full text, check the journal portal and the Library catalogue as usual

• See email alerts on Google Scholar• See tutorial:

Search the Web More Effectively for your Assignments and Research.

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Information Quality

• Fundamental to developing a literature review that will be a solid foundation on which you can build quality research and assignments

• See ‘Learn how to Evaluate information for your assignments and research on the ‘Study & Research Help’ page

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Recap: What to use?• Catalogue: what does the Library hold? Books, e-books, DVDs

etc.• Journal portal: to see if the Library provides access to a

particular journal/serial title• Searcher: search box on the library website - one quick search

for books, articles, and more.• Library Databases: to locate articles and other resources for a

specific subject area - a more thorough literature search• Worldcat: to discover resources that are not available at UCC

Library• Subject Guides: sources customized for a particular subject

area• Internet Search: for quick facts and a general introduction to

topic. Google, Bing, Wikipedia, etc.• Google Scholar: to locate academic (journal articles, books)

information on a topic. For full text check the Library’s resources.

• Social Web: for the latest news and updates on a topic/fieldRonan Madden Info Lit 2013/14

• Referencing: - See Study & Research Help

- See catalogue: Style guides- See Ebook: MLA Made Easy

• Endnote training:- Contact Richard Bradfield r.bradfield@ucc.ie and look for details on Library news

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Slideshare

www.slideshare.net/rmadden1/dts-2nd-years

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2013/14