Information research skills for projects and dissertations classics2015
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This document provides an overview of library services available to support academic research projects and dissertations. It outlines a 5-step process for conducting effective literature searches: 1) defining research topics and keywords, 2) selecting relevant resources, 3) evaluating sources, 4) searching databases using keywords, and 5) managing and referencing sources. Contact information is provided for library research consultations.
Information research skills for projects and dissertations classics2015
- 1. LibraryServices Academic Skills: Information & Research Methods for Projects & Dissertations May 2015 Russell Burke libguides.rhul.ac.uk/
- 2. Library Services Aims of the session • Overview of Library Services available to support your essay research • Step 1 - Plan and prepare a literature search • Step 2 - Use LibrarySearch and subject specific resources to find information • Step 3 – Evaluate your sources • Step 4 – Adapt & refine your searches • Step 5 - Manage your references (& generate bibliographies using RefWorks) • Access eresources off-campus • Using other libraries 2
- 3. Step 1: think about your own research topic & related concepts and write down the keywords that you need to search for
- 4. Library Services My essay question / research topic: What do I want to find out?
- 5. Library Services Developing your search strategy 5 “How Athenian democracy worked in the fifth century BCE.” Main concepts Alternative terms 1. Athens Athenian … 2. Democracy Democratic system, Political system, Government 3 fifth century BCE Before Common Era, 5th Century, BC …. In pairs: try the example on the ClassicsTraining page for this session
- 6. Step 2: Use your Library SubjectGuide and select the resources or types of resources you think you would need to use to carry out your research
- 7. Library Services Now that I know what I want to find out: What resources would I use? See part 1 of the following prezi for an overview of the types of material available via the Library: http://prezi.com/24tl5r36eel5/developing-your-search-skills/
- 8. Library Services Selecting information sources Library Subject Guides: libguides.rhul.ac.uk/ Online databases (eresources): libguides.rhul.ac.uk/Databases LibrarySearch: librarysearch.rhul.ac.uk Senate House Library catalogue (& eresources): ull.ac.uk Other internet resources… These can also be found on the main Library webpage Go to the Classics Subject Guide & search on JSTOR and Loeb
- 9. Library Services Can’t I just use Google? Well it’s like this …. 9
- 10. Step 3: evaluating your sources: checking for quality and validity
- 11. Library Services Now that I have found some information on my topic: How do I know that it is what I want and good quality material?
- 12. Library Services Reviewing & evaluating your research See: evaluating information sources http://prezi.com/q5jglgamre6c/evaluating-information/
- 13. Library Services Reviewing & evaluating your research Do you have enough / too much information? Is it relevant to your research? Does it answer the whole question? Is the information current / within the date you require Do you need to review your underlying research question?
- 14. Step 4: think about how you combine keywords and enter your search queries in your selected eresources (adjusting terms as you need to)
- 15. Library Services Now that I know what I want to find out & where to find the resources: How do I carry out relevant searches to find information on my topic? (By combining your search terms in meaningful way!) See your Library Subject Guide >Training > Searching for videos & more help
- 16. Library Services Combining keywords - AND Narrow your search using AND (useful if you have too many results) e.g. VirgilAND pathos 16 Results containing VIRGIL Results containing BOTH TERMS Results containing PATHOS ie. only brings back results where all the words searched for are included somewhere in the title, summary and/or full-text
- 17. Library Services Combining keywords - too few results? Broaden your search using OR (useful if you have too few results) e.g. role OR function 17 ie. brings back results where any the words searched for are included somewhere in the title, summary and/or full-text
- 18. Library Services Making the most of synonyms As well as searching for alternative terms, you can use wildcard characters ($ ? * -) to replace letters in search terms or to truncate a term: Examples theat* - finds theatre, theater, theatrical, etc. wom*n - finds women, woman. NB: Help pages in the online resources will explain which character is used as the wildcard 18
- 19. Library Services Combining keywords – phrase searching 19 “Greek tragedy” “Fifth Century BCE” Use quotation (speech) marks to search for phrases where word need to appear next to each other (e.g. specific terminology, title of books / films, names & places).
- 20. Step 5: save the results that you need (references, abstracts, URL links, full text) and organise these so that you can find them when you need them & reference them in your assignments
- 21. Library Services Now that I have the information (books, chapters, journal articles, webpages etc) that I need: How do I manage & reference them? (You may have a lot of references and research material to keep track of!)
- 22. Library Services Keeping track of useful items • Emailing links to yourself • Using the e-shelf in LibrarySearch • Log in to LibrarySearch • Click on the star icon beside useful results • Go to ‘e-shelf’ • Create baskets, email, export results • NB - most other eresources provide these functions (you can do the same in JSTOR / ProjectMuse / MLA Bibliography / L’Annee Philologique ) • OR you can keep all of your references in ONE PLACE and organised them by topic, essay title or course etc. by exporting references to RefWorks – this is really easy to do! 22
- 23. Library Services RefWorks Bibliographic reference management software Capture, save and organise references Create a bibliography for your essay from containing 1 to 1000 items in your Departments Referencing Style in seconds! Access it via the Library Subject Guides (Citation & Referencing) Contains online self-help tutorials Sign up to a free Library RefWorks training session: Check the Library Information SkillsTraining Session on the Subject guide: http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/
- 24. Library Services Access online resources off-campus Royal Holloway ‘Campus Anywhere’ (VPN) The only way to access all of our electronic resources off campus is to install theVirtual Private Network (VPN) service, known as 'CampusAnywhere'. This is quick and easy to set up and works on PCs, laptops & Macs Go to the IT Services website to find out more: http://www.rhul.ac.uk/it/home.aspx
- 25. Library Services Using other libraries Royal Holloway students all get free access to Senate House Library (SHL): take along your RHUL Id card if you want to borrow books or use the study space there. Online registration for SHL’s eresources: see the ‘Beyond RHUL’ section on the Library Subject Guides for more information Access to other Libraries using SCONUL Access: see the ‘Beyond RHUL’ section on the Library Subject Guides for more information
- 26. Library Services Questions? Russell Burke Information Consultant 2-07 Bedford Library Royal Holloway University of London Russell.Burke@rhul.ac.uk 01784 414065 Please remember to always check: • LIBRARY SUBJECT GUIDES • @RHUL_Library onTWITTER • the Library’s FACEBOOK PAGE for the latest information and updates! 26 Leo Reynolds. Flickr. CC-BY-NA