Research using published
sources
Literature searching and
bibliographic referencing
Role of secondary sources in
research:
• Some research will be totally dependent
on published materials
– historical research
– overviews
– conceptual studies
• most research will require some use of
published sources
– to provide context
– to provide benchmarks
– to offer comparison
Literature searching for
MA/MSc:
• Remember the scope of the dissertation
– not a doctoral thesis
– searching need not be exhaustive
• BUT
• you should have enough sources:
– to properly reflect the state of affairs in
your topic
– to represent any differing viewpoints
– to include all important publications,
projects or initiatives
Systematic searching:
• You will almost certainly need to
include:
– monographs
– journal articles
– web based material
• you may also need (for example)
– theses and conference papers
– legislation
– statistics
Searching for monographs:
• Bibliographic databases don’t usually
cover books
• large library catalogues are a better
source
• COPAC is a good place to look for book
titles
• specialist library catalogues may be
more extensive in terms of foreign
material and non-standard formats
Some book databases:
• COPAC www.copac.ac.uk
– union catalogue of 24 universities + national
libraries
• British Library www.bl.uk
– this and other big libraries have specialised
catalogues independent of the main catalogue
• Library of Congress www.loc.gov
• For foreign language material:
– National library catalogues
– www.ifla.org
Commercial book databases:
• Not as comprehensive as catalogues
• may be better for new and forthcoming
publications
• College library has Books in print:
• be very wary of e-booksellers sites
Searching for journal articles:
• The primary source for journal material
is the bibliographic database
• general databases can provide a good
starting point, and enable crossdisciplinary searches
• College Library databases often link to
full text
General periodical databases:
• Provide access to journal references
• many include conference papers and other
formats
• zetoc
• Web of knowledge
• Current contents connect
• JStor
Specialist LIS databases:
• LISA
• LISTA
• Current awareness abstracts (Library
and information management)
• H.W.Wilson databases available via the
Art Fulltext link on MetaLib
• remember print resources for older
material
• Library literature
• hardcopy LISA
Subject specialist databases:
• The College Library has huge numbers of
these
• Useful ones may include:
•
Historical abstracts
•
INSPEC
•
Early English books online
•
ERIC
Electronic journals:
• Individual journals can be searched
• agents’/publishers’ websites can offer
cross-domain searching
• Swetswise
• Taylor and Francis
• Ingenta
• Emerald fulltext
Web-based material:
• Managed portals and hubs (RDN www.rdn.ac.uk)
• search engines
– a quick way to find research publications,
reports, government and official
publications
– use with discretion!
– don’t rely on these alone
• Good search engines
Alltheweb www.alltheweb.com
Altavista www.altavista.com
Ask Jeeves www.askjeeves.com
Google www.google.com
Lycos www.lycos.com
Hotbot www.hotbot.com
Teoma www.teoma.com
Profusion www.profusion.com
SurfWax www.surfwax.com
Vivisimo http://vivisimo.com
Kartoo www.kartoo.com
Fazzle www.fazzle.com
Search tips and hints:
•
•
•
•
•
Don’t make initial searches too complex
modify searches in the light of results
opt for more obscure keywords
remember to search for synonyms
not all search software works in the
same way
• advanced searches usually offer field
specific searching and Boolean search
• Use results to inform more searches
– look for additional keywords
– identify important authors or researchers
– note key journals
• don’t expect to find everything you
need at the first attempt
• follow up references in articles and use
hypertext links
Bibliographic referencing
How to get it right
Bibliographic referencing:
• Why reference?
• to add authority to your dissertation
• to support and reinforce your arguments
• to enable readers to follow up the sources
themselves
• to acknowledge other writers’ work
• failing to do this can constitute plagiarism and
have legal implications
What needs to be referenced?
• direct quotations
• allusions to content of other works
• statements of fact often need to be
supported by documentary evidence
• this needn’t be taken to extremes in the case
of common knowledge
What should be included in a
reference?
• For a book:
•
•
•
•
•
The name(s) of the author(s)
the title of the work
the place of publication
the name of the publisher
the date of publication
Book reference:
Broel, Albert, Frog raising for pleasure
and profit. New Orleans, La. : Marlboro
House, 1950
Berman, Sanford, The joy of cataloging.
Phoenix, AZ : Oryx Press, 1981
Heyl, Barbara S. The madam as entrepreneur :
career management in house prostitution.
New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Books, 1979.
Journal references should
include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
The name(s) of the author(s)
the title of the article
the title of the journal
the date of publication
the volume and issue numbers
the numbers of the first and last page
Journal reference:
Trickey, Keith, “From church work with
cowgirls to women and the sea and the
wider ocean: a random walk through Library
of Congress Subject Headings”, Catalogue
and index, 2003 No. 147 pp. 7-9
Website references should
include:
•
•
•
•
•
The name of the creator of the website
the name of the website
the url
the date of creation (or the last update)
the date that you accessed it
• some of these may be hard to establish for
individual websites, so you may have to omit
details
Website reference:
Lewis, Daphne Dogscooter.com.
http://www.dogscooter.com/index.html.
Last updated 04/24/2006 02:27:39 (Accessed 07.05.06)
Rangwani, Shanti White poison: the horrors of milk.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12002
Posted 3.12.2001 (Accessed 07.05.06)
Remember:
• Referencing is not cataloguing
• you don’t have to include any physical description
or other elements
• the order and punctuation of elements may differ
from standard cataloguing practice
Referencing styles:
•
•
•
•
There are many hundreds of referencing styles
they usually differ in minor details
SLAIS allows you to use whichever you wish
you can follow an established style, or use your
own
• referencing software such as Reference Manager
(Endnote, ProCite, etc.) can do the work for you
• the important point is to apply the style
consistently
Variations in citation styles of
different scholarly journals:
Adams JQ, Lincoln A, van Buren M, Truman HS: An imaginary conversation.
J Hist Fant 76:204-212, 1976
Adams, J. Q.; Lincoln, A.; van Buren, M.; Truman, H. S. An imaginary
conversation. Journal of Historical Fantasy 1976 , 76 (11), 204-212.
Adams JQ, Lincoln A, van Buren M, Truman HS. An imaginary conversation.
J Hist Fant 1976 November 5;76(11):204-12.
Adams,J.Q., Lincoln,A., van Buren,M., and Truman,H.S. 1976. An imaginary
conversation. Journal of Historical Fantasy 76(11):204-212.
ADAMS,J.Q., LINCOLN,A., VAN BUREN,M., TRUMAN,H.S., 1976. "An
imaginary conversation", Journal of Historical Fantasy, 76, S. 204-212.
Adams JQ, Lincoln A, van Buren M, Truman HS. 1976. An imaginary
conversation. Journal of Historical Fantasy 76: 204-212.
Basic types of referencing:
• There are two main sorts of referencing:
• Footnotes/endnotes
• Author date systems
• numerical systems also occur, but more
infrequently
Footnotes and endnotes:
• These are the same thing, except for their position in
the text; footnotes appear on the same page as the
reference, endnotes follow on from the text
• when you want to make a reference you put a
superscript number in the text
• the full reference follows an equivalent number at the
bottom of the page, or at the end of the piece
• Word will do much of this for you
• strictly speaking, there is no need for a separate
bibliography, but you may like to include one
Footnotes:
Footnotes:
1
Alan R. Thomas “Bliss classification update” Cataloging &
classification quarterly 19(3/4), 1995, 105-17
2
Bliss classification bulletin 37, 1995, 28
3
Clare Sargent “Classifying the undergraduate collection at Queens’
College, Cambridge” Bliss classification bulletin 32, 1990, 10-12
4
Elizabeth Russell and Heather Lane “Working towards an archaeology
schedule at the Haddon Library” Bliss classification bulletin 41,
1999, p.17
5
Karen E. Attar “The application of the Bliss Bibliographic
Classification in Cambridge College Libraries” New review of academic
librarianship 6, 2000, 35-49
6
Heather Lane “Managing organizational change: perspectives on
conversion” Bulletin of the Association of British Theological and
Philosophical Libraries 6(2), June 1999, 5-10
Footnotes:
Author-date systems:
• When you want to refer to a source, you put the
author’s name, and the date of the publication,
plus the page reference, in parentheses, or
brackets, in the text
• author-date is sometimes called parenthetical
referencing
• at the end of the text, you provide a list of the
references in alphabetical order of authors’ names
On a more practical level, a number of libraries adopted BC2 during
this period (Thomas, 1995). Of some significance for the development of
the classification was its take up by a number of Cambridge libraries,
and the formation of a Cambridge Bliss user group, CamBUG, which met
for the first time on the 23 March 1995.
BC had been used in a small number of Cambridge collections for some
years; Fitzwilliam and Queens’ were already using BC2, Queens’ having
begun reclassification in 1988 (Sargent, 1990 p.10). The Haddon Library
(the Faculty library for Archaeology and Anthropology) used Bliss’s
original scheme, but also began to convert to BC2 at an early stage,
the anthropology part of the collection being completed in 1988(Russell
and Lane, 1999 p.17). The second edition was now to be adopted by more
college libraries (Attar, 2000 p.35), including the Sidney Sussex
College library,1 and the Quincentenary Library at Jesus
Reference list in author-date system
Attar, Karen E. (2000), “The application of the Bliss Bibliographic
Classification in Cambridge College Libraries”, New review of academic
librarianship 6, 35-49
Bliss classification bulletin 37, 1995, 28
Lane, Heather (1999), “Managing organizational change: perspectives on
conversion”, Bulletin of the Association of British Theological and
Philosophical Libraries 6(2), June, 5-10
Russell, Elizabeth and Lane, Heather (1999), “Working towards an
archaeology schedule at the Haddon Library” Bliss classification bulletin
41, p.17
Sargent, Clare (1990), “Classifying the undergraduate collection at
Queens’ College, Cambridge”, Bliss classification bulletin 32, 10-12
Thomas, Alan R. (1995), “Bliss classification update”, Cataloging &
classification quarterly 19(3/4), 105-17
Author-date versus Footnotes
• Is simple and
straightforward
• suits references to
monographs and journal
articles
• most suitable for
references to personal
authors
• Is better for unauthored
works
• particularly suitable for
mss. and websites
• word processor will
‘manage’ the placing and
numbering for you
Forms of reference:
• The form of a reference varies slightly if it is:
• a footnote/endnote
• a reference in a bibliography
• a reference in a list for the author-date system
Footnotes:
C. H. Peters, Life and love in the aquarium. New
York : Empire Tropical Fish Import Co., 1934
William Alan Stuart, Nasal maintenance: nursing
your nose through troubled times. New York :
McGraw-Hill, 1983
Bibliography:
Peters, C. H., Life and love in the aquarium. New
York : Empire Tropical Fish Import Co., 1934
Stuart, William Alan, Nasal maintenance: nursing
your nose through troubled times. New York :
McGraw-Hill, 1983
Reference list (author-date):
Peters, C. H. (1934), Life and love in the aquarium.
New York : Empire Tropical Fish Import Co.
Stuart, William Alan (1983), Nasal maintenance:
nursing your nose through troubled times. New York
: McGraw-Hill
Op. cit., loc. cit., and ibid.
• The use of op. cit. (opus citatum/opere citato = the
work cited/in the work cited), to mean a work
previously referenced, is now generally discouraged
• loc. cit. (loco citato = the place cited) is sometimes
used if the reference is to the same page in the
previously referenced work
• ibid. (ibidem = the same) may be used for one or
more subsequent references to the same work
• none of these should be necessary with author-date
systems
1
Fran Slack “Subject searching on OPACs: problems an
Vine 83, August 1991, 4-9
1
ibid. p. 5
1
Rodney Brunt “Subject access standards” in Standard
future: proceedings of a workshop on the future of b
standards. Boston Spa : British Library, 1993 (NBS O
publications 2) pp. 23-38
1
ibid. p. 36
Things to remember:
• Keep punctuation, including capitalization of
initial letters, consistent
• Don’t cut and paste from other sources without
adjusting the style