Allison Library Winter 2015 Academic Writing: Research Getting from the ‘assignment’ to the ‘thesis statement’. Where do I begin?

Allison Library Winter 2015

Academic Writing:Research

Getting from the ‘assignment’ to the ‘thesis statement’. Where do I begin?

Academic Research Outline

Planning (explore and prepare) From possible idea to potential thesis statement

Allison Library catalogue Allison Library indexes & databases (journal articles) UBC Library resources: catalogue, indexes /

databases, subject guides, interlibrary loans Internet (Web) research More help


Planning: Get to know your topicGood research takes time

Reference sources: Subject encyclopedias (not Wikipedia), dictionaries, etc.

Good overview of topic Useful terminology for further research Available in the Reference section of library Some available electronically (online, E-book)

Library catalogue(s): Allison / VST / St. Mark’s & UBC Search for books Subject headings

Journals / serials: Articles

Indexes, either print or electronic


Planning: Plan your search Search Strategy

Use terminology from background research and synonyms of keywords

Natural language searching not always useful in electronic databases (e.g arian heresy)

Consider KeywordsUse reference material for: • names, • people, • concepts, • terminology

Consider Synonymse.g. ‘Church’, synonyms might be: • congregation, • assembly, • gathering, • ecclesical, . . . ecclesiology, denomination, ecclesiastical, body of Christ.


Searching: And, Or, Not (Boolean operators)

Arian AND Heresy

“AND” NARROWS the search

Arian OR Heresy

“OR” BROADENS the search

Arian NOT Heresy

“NOT” LIMITS the search

Use NOT with caution


Combining Boolean Operators

Refine a search by grouping synonyms

For example

Ethics AND (Christian OR Islamic)

(ethics OR integrity) AND (Christian OR Islamic)


Search strategies: Truncation and Wildcards

Truncation: use *Reform*

* = wild card for any letters after the “m” will search for . . .

Reforms

Reformed

Reformation

Reforming

Wildcards: use ?Wom?n will search for all occurrences of:

Woman

Women

Womyn



Theolog (Shared Catalogue)



Keywords:

atheism and Europe and history



Journals (scholarly aka peer-reviewed vs popular)

Journal Indexes & Databases Print Electronic

Citations (source only: author, title etc.)

Abstracts (short comment on articles contents)

Full Text (hardcopy, PDF or HTML)

Journal articles: Indexes & Databases


Allison Library subscribes to: EBSCO databases (five):

ATLA Serials New Testament Abstracts (NTA) Old Testament Abstracts (OTA) Catholic Periodical Literature Index (CPLI) Christian Periodical Index (CPI)

ProQuest Religion: Smaller database than ATLA but full text

Religious and Theological Abstracts (RTA) Routledge Religion Reference Online TREN Theological Research Exchange

Network Theses and Dissertations (some full text)



eResources • eBooks• Journals• Indexes • Databases


http://allisonlibrary.regent-college.edu/find/eresources-databases-journals

NEW!

A – Z =

A to Z


http://atoz.ebsco.com/Titles/9492

Remote Access: Ezproxy



EBSCOHost Index / Database


Essay = Chapter Article

START with EBSCO but LOOK beyond EBSCO to:


EBSCO, ProQuest Religion, & RTA

Publications Crux (overlap)

EBSCO RTA

Church & State (overlap) EBSCO 01/01/1986 (volume 39) [no full text] ProQuest 01/01/1992 (volume 45) [full text from 1999]

KEY THING to remember is that there MAY be overlap in the databases BUT the overlap may be limited HOWEVER there may also be FULL TEXT available



UBC Journal Indexes & DatabasesDatabases by subject


http://allisonlibrary.regent-college.edu/find/databases-by-subject

UBC Journal & Indexes Access

X


IF you have an Article title and Journal title

AND the article is NOT available in full text through our databases

THEN does UBC have full-text access?

Go to UBC Library > Advanced Search

UBC Library: article finding tool


EG

Faith myth and politics in Jewish Quarterly Review

AND Check the Allison / VST / St. Mark’s libraries first

UBC Library: Interlibrary Loans


Library.ubc.ca > Borrowing services > Borrowing from non-

UBC Libraries

Internet Resources: Links & Portals


http://allisonlibrary.regent-college.edu/find/theological-links

Research Information Sessions

“Bridging the Gap: A Library Intro“ Thursday, January 22, 1-2 pm, Library Computer Lab

"Search Strategies for Journal Articles“ Wednesday, January 28, 1:30-2:30 pm Library Computer

Lab OR

Thursday, January 29, 1-2 pm Library Computer Lab Zotero: A Citation Management Tool

Wednesday, October 4, 1-2 pm Library Computer Lab


Questions?


Additional help Reference Librarian

In person at the reference desk By phone: 604.221.3341

By email: [email protected]

By Skype: richard.matiachuk-jra

Follow on Twitter: @allisonlibrary

Slide presentation available at

theoreference.ca/tutorials--resources.html


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.theoreference.ca/tutorials--resources.html

http://www.theoreference.ca/tutorials--resources.html

Documents

Allison Library Winter 2015 Academic Writing: Research Getting from the ‘assignment’ to the ‘thesis statement’. Where do I begin?