1 Bibliographic Research for English course s By Vivian Zenari

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Bibliographic Research for

English courses

By Vivian Zenari

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Objectives

Understand the terminology required to do research.

Devise search strategies for doing bibliographic research .

Find articles and books useful for an English research paper through the NEOS library system.

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NEOS: The consortium of libraries in northern Alberta to which the U of A belongs.

NEOS has its own library catalogue, but you need to use the U of A’s library Web site because only there can you (as a U of A student with a U of A Campus Computing ID and password) access the U of A’s databases.

Terminology

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See list of terms at library Web site

Examples for some of these terms:bibliographic database, citation indexArts and Humanities Citation Index

full-text databaseProject Muse

Terminology

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Terminology (cont.)

citation (from U of A catalogue)

On the aesthetics of Beowulf and other Old English poems

Title: On the aesthetics of Beowulf and other Old English poems / edited by John M. Hill. Publication info: Toronto : University of Toronto Press, c2010. Physical descrip: vi, 299 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Series:

Toronto Anglo-Saxon series ; 6.

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Terminology (cont.)

citation (formatted in MLA style)

Hill, John M., ed. On the Aesthetics of Beowulf and Other Old English Poems. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2010.

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Terminology (cont.)

periodical

Henry James Review, Globe & Mail

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Terminology (cont.)

scholarly (or peer-reviewed) periodical

Henry James Review, Explicator

library location code / call numberUniversity of Alberta Rutherford-Humanities and Social Science (or UAHSS) / PR 6009 L76 Z9 M38

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Steps in Doing Bibliographic Research

1. Find a topic.2. List keywords that define your topic.3. Decide on what kind of research materials you need.4. Determine best tools (databases) for finding these research materials.

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Steps (cont.)

5. Search databases for relevant materials (e.g., titles or full-text of articles and books).

6. Physically retrieve materials (e.g., articles and books).

7. Read the material you find and determine their usefulness.

8. Repeat Steps 1 to 8 if required.

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1. Find a Topic

Use idea-generation techniques Select a text you like or that interests

you Use ideas given on assignment sheets Ask yourself questions about the text

and try to find the answers

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1. Find a topic (cont.)

-Beowulf and violence

ww.jnanam.net/beowulf_art/

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1. Find a topic (cont.)

-What is the role of violence in Beowulf? How is the representation of violence symptomatic of that role?

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2. Keywords

Keywords force you to think about your topic beyond your initial formulation

Keywords are necessary for doing searches on databases, so coming up with them early saves you hassle later

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2. Keywords (cont)

-Beowulf- Violence or violent- Blood or dismemberment or death or injury

or destruction- War or warfare or battle- Old English or Anglo-Saxon or medieval- Poetry or poem or verse or literature

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3. Kinds of Materials

For your assignments, you must find books (or chapters of books) and scholarly articles.

Quite possibly you may also need reference materials (e.g., encyclopedia entries) or non-scholarly articles (e.g., book reviews)

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3. Kinds of materials (cont.)

-books and scholarly articles on Beowulf and violence

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4. Research Tools

First, use only those tools that point to scholarly articles and books. Turn to other sources later.

Find databases that may contain citations or articles for your topic

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4. Research tools (cont.)

Look at databases listed under the Humanities and Social Sciences heading of the U of A database page

Also look at the English language literature database guide at http://www.library.ualberta.ca/subject/english/index.cfm

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The public access Internet is usually a poor source, though some scholarly web site exist. (Be cautious with Wikipedia.)

Don’t use: www.sparknotes.com or similar sites paper mills high school/junior high web sites Some guy’s blog

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-Books on Webb: check NEOS catalogue and, if desperate, Edmonton Public Library catalogue (OneCard holders qualify for EPL membership)

-Relevant databases for Beowulf: MLA, Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, Project Muse, British Humanities Index

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5. Search Databases

Each electronic database has a slightly different method for searching (so use the help features).

You will have to do some form of Boolean searching using keywords (see step 2).

Be sure to use truncation features.

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5. Search databases (cont.)

The library catalogue is an electronic database, too: search it like you search other bibliographic databases.

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-MLA is a good start for all literature topics

-Two search statements, two different sets of results

beowulf and violence (14 hits)VERSUSbeowulf* and violen* (15 hits)

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-For books use U of A catalogue-use same search as MLA but have to

use different truncation symbols ($)

beowulf* and violen* (0 hits)

beowulf$ and violen$ (2 hits)

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When searching electronically, the search statement is very important.

Make sure you have no typos, and make sure you use as many synonyms and truncation/wildcard symbols as you can.

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Tip: find one relevant citation, and look at its subject headings (descriptors) and search using those subject headings as keywords.

If you get too few results (or no results), use fewer keywords in the search statement

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6. Retrieve Materials

Databases Databases are commercial products.

Libraries subscribe to them. They are generic.

So the library may not actually have a copy of the book or the article’s journal that you want.

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6. Retrieve materials (cont.)

Articles Some databases contain the full-text of

articles, not simply a citation (Project Muse and JSTOR, sometimes Academic Search Premier).

U of A databases have the GET IT! system, which tells how to find a copy of the item you are looking for.

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U of A databases have the GET IT! system, a link to a window that tells how to find a copy of the item you are looking for (and usually takes you to the full-text).

But: if GET IT! does not point you to the full-text of an article, look up the periodical title in the library catalogue, and doublecheck if the library has an issue of the print periodical. (Do the same for books.)

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Books Comparatively few books are available

electronically. In most cases, you will need to get the physical book in the library.

This means you must look up almost all book titles in the catalogue.

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Library Catalogue For books and periodicals, you need the

location code and call number to find them on the library shelves.

You have to fetch the item from the shelf on your own (seek help if you can’t find it yourself.)

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Check on the catalogue if book or periodical is signed out. Recall it if you have to.

For periodicals, make sure U of A or other NEOS library has that particular issue.

Use Interlibrary Loan for items not at U of A.

You might have luck getting full-text or excerpts of books in Google Books or Amazon.

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Research Hits and Misses using MLA International Bibliography

- “Heaney, Beowulf and the Medieval Literature of the North” is a section in The Cambridge Companion to Seamus Heaney. U of A has this book, even though the GET IT! button doesn’t appear. A search on the library catalogue shows that the book in Ruth Lib North, call number PR 6058 E115 Z5745 2009 (5th floor).

-”Seamus Heaney's Audio Beowulf: An Analysis of the Omissions” is in the book Defining Medievalism(s), edited by Karl Fugelso. The GET IT! Button doesn’t appear for this citation. And, indeed, the library catalogue says the U of A doesn’t have this book.

-”Beowulf and the Enjoyment of Violence” is published in the journal Literature and Pscyhology. The GET IT! Button for it points to the full-text of the article.

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7. Read Materials

Use close and active reading Take notes to help you absorb material

(also saves you time later). Type into a computer if you can.

When taking notes, be sure you indicate direct quotes versus paraphrases.

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7. Read material (cont.)

For books, read relevant chapters, not the entire book.

Use the indexes of books to save time finding relevant sections.

If the text is difficult to grasp, find another text (but don’t give up too easily if it seems very relevant).

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8. Repeat if necessary

If you find too much or too little material for your topic, go through the process again.

Even if at first seems to have gone nowhere, rest assured that your research has given you some perspective, even if you are not yet satisfied.

Documents

1 Bibliographic Research for English course s By Vivian Zenari