Native Issues-CATC:
Research Strategies
Frederic Murray
Assistant Professor
MLIS, University of British Columbia
BA, Political Science, University of Iowa
Instructional Services Librarian
Al Harris Library
frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Outline of session
• Plan your search/Keywords/Boolean
• Choosing appropriate Sources/Databases
• Citations/Identifying//Reading/Tracking
• Google Tricks
• Sample searches
• Key Elements…
Major Concerns
• Topic Selection
• Narrowing the search
• Using the library effectively
Define what you want to know
“I am looking for literature and sources
that focus on Spanish exploration
and settlement. ”
Use this statement to choose
keywords and key phrases
Define key words and phrases
Spanish
or Mexican
Exploration
or Conquest
Settlement
or Colonization
Accurate Search
Requires
Accurate Language
Identifying Keywords
• Identify the significant terms and
concepts that describe your topic from
your thesis statement or research
question.
• These terms will become the key for
searching catalogs, databases and
search engines for information about
your subject.
Boolean
• AND = Narrow
• OR = Expand
• NOT = Exclude
Class Exercise
• Keyword Building Exercise
Topic: Spanish Exploration & Settlements
• Thesaurus.com
Spanish Exploration & Settlements
Missions
Texas
Jesuits
Southwest
Explorers
Mexico
Conquest
Exploration
Trade
Books
• Al Harris Catalog
• Open World Cat
• Ebrary
Open World Cat
• Meta search engine for online catalogs
of libraries all over the world. Search
for any book using a geographic
location for the closest sources.
• Over 9000 libraries combined.
• If you find it in WorldCat, and it's not
in our library, we can get it through
ILL.
• CREATE A USER ACCOUNT
Ebrary: eBooks
•
•
•
•
•
•
24/7
Full Text Searching*
Highlight Markup
Note Taking
Changeable Font Size
Multiplicity of Use
• CREATE A BOOKSHELF
Choose Appropriate Databases
• Google is not (usually) the answer
• Start with Library Resources for your
Subject First
• Search a range of databases
• Think about the range of sources:
books, journal articles, statistics,
websites, conference reports…
Databases: Social Sciences
•
•
•
•
America: History and Life with Full Text
JSTOR
North American Indian Thought & Culture
Project Muse
• And Many More…..
EBSCO Databases
• America: History
and Life with Full
Text
JSTOR
• Includes archives of over one thousand
leading academic journals across the
humanities, social sciences, and
sciences.
• Search by discipline: History
Project Muse
• Peer-reviewed journals
• Wide variety of humanities and social
science subjects
• Complete journal content, including
charts, graphs, and images
North American Indian Thought &
Culture
•
The collection is comprised of
material that covers the entire
history of North America; from
17th century accounts of the
first encounters involving
Indians and European colonists
to the stories of aboriginals
living in a 21st century world.
We think of citation patterns as the
flow of information," says Carl
Bergstrom, a biologist at the University
of Washington. "That's what a citation
is — the trace that an idea flowed
from one place to another."
Handout:
Identifying types of citations
•
•
•
•
•
Book
Journal or Magazine
Conference Reports
Newspaper Article
Website
Handout:
Reading citations
A citation is a short, multi-part description of a specific information source. It provides
the information that is needed to find a particular source. Journal citations contain such
basic information as:
Snowballing
• Building on the works of others
• A scholarly article will always have
References/Bibliography
• A bibliography is always ripe for the
picking…
Tracking Citations
Tracking Citations
Damp, Jonathan E., Stephen A. Hall
and Susan J. Smith 2002 Early
Irrigation on the Colorado Plateau near
Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. American
Antiquity 67: 665-676
Tracking Citations
Damp, Jonathan E., Stephen A. Hall
and Susan J. Smith 2002 Early
Irrigation on the Colorado Plateau near
Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. American
Antiquity 67: 665-676
The Citation Video
Class Exercise
• Is it a book or a journal?
• Check the appropriate source
– Open WorldCat/Ebrary/Al Harris Catalog
– Periodicals List
• If the citation is an article, do we have
access through the databases?
Google: Improve Your Searches
Site Specific Command
What it does: searches only specific domains
What to type: Zuni Indians site:edu
Zuni Indians site:gov
Google Scholar
• Google Scholar provides a simple way
to search for scholarly literature.
Search across many disciplines and
sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses,
books, abstracts and articles, from
academic publishers, professional
societies, preprint repositories,
universities and other scholarly
organizations.
Google Scholar
• Works best for Citations
• Restrictions to Content
– Fee-based
– Often your Library already owns material
– We’re working on improving access
Native Issues:
Internet Resources
• Tribal Government and Native
American Resources
• Native American Documents Project
• Indian Affairs Laws & Treaties
Review
• Keywords/Boolean
• Books:
– Ebrary/Open WorldCat/Catalog
• Databases:
• America: History and Life with Full
Text/JSTOR/North American Indian
Thought & Culture/Project Muse
• Google Site Search/Scholar
Class Exercise
• Divided into teams of four
• Find 2 articles & 2 books on Spanish
Settlement and Exploration in the North
American Southwest
• Use JSTOR/Ebrary/Open WorldCat
• Jot down Titles & Sources
KEY Elements for Your Paper
• Stress analysis: Do not simply parrot your
sources i.e. “radical leaders” “Marxist
Professors.”
• Who says they are radical? Marxist?
• Watch your assumptions.
• Do your own analysis.
Questions?
• Contact me:
– Frederic Murray
• 774-7113
• frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Thanks!