Native Issues-CATC:Research Strategies

Frederic Murray Assistant ProfessorMLIS, University of British ColumbiaBA, Political Science, University of Iowa

Instructional Services LibrarianAl 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

Exploration

Settlement

or Mexican

or Conquest

or Colonization

Accurate SearchRequiresAccurate 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 ExerciseTopic: Spanish Exploration & Settlements

• Thesaurus.com

Spanish Exploration & Settlements

Missions

Jesuits

Explorers

Southwest Exploration

Mexico

Texas Conquest

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 citationsA 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 SearchesSite 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 Am

erican 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!