Download - English dissertation 2013
English
Information for your Dissertation
Library Skills
Linda Crane Liaison Librarian for the Arts [email protected]
PreparationSearch tips
Resources - some searching – mainly what is ‘out there’
Reference management software
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called
research, would it?Albert EinsteinGuide to ‘getting there’
Research is the act of going up alleys to see if they are blind.
PlutarchStop you going down the same alleys
What today is about
PreparationSearch tips
Resources - some searching – mainly what is ‘out there’
Reference management software
Types of information you will need
Importance of preparation – the bare bones of your dissertation in less than an hour???
Resources – not just the obvious
Bringing it all together – a brief mention of reference management software
What today is about
Looking for a variety of relevant, quality resourcesNeed to evaluate and analyse those resources
GoogleThe leading Internet search company, whose primary business mission is to organize the world's information.
Anyone can write a webpage
Anyone can write/edit a Wikipedia entry
Types of information
Primary, Secondary & Tertiary sources
Primary.
Original materials which have not been filtered through interpretation,
condensation, or, often, even evaluation by a
second party.
Novel
Secondary.
Information about primary, or original, information, which usually has been modified, selected, or
rearranged for a specific purpose or audience
Article critiquing the novel
Tertiary.
Information which is a distillation and collection of
primary and secondary sources
Encyclopaedia with an entry on the author
The types of information that can be considered primary sources may vary depending on the subject discipline, and how you are using the material
DairiesLettersManuscripts
Types of information -decide what you need
Established facts and figures
General information on a topic
Reviews of the literature of a topic
Publications of recent research results
Primary sources – actual documents or scanned images of original texts
Scholarly debates
Reference books- encyclopaedias, ‘companions to’, biographies
Books of collected articles, text books, research monographs, scholarly websites
Journal articlesBooks of collected articles
Journal articlesProceedings of conferences
On-line digitised collections,Library’s Special Collections and Archives.National archive organisations
Journal articles, newspapersWebsites of relevant organisations
Define your topic.
What is it you want to say? What is the scope?
Literature, women and politics in Renaissance England
Literature
Fiction
Play
Drama
Women
Female
Gender
Politics
Government Renaissance England
?
Preparation is key
Do a rough and ready keyword search on the catalogue
Choose a few relevant items - organise your thoughts
Print books
Added keywords. Defined your topic.
Defined the scope.
Literature, women and politics in Renaissance EnglandLiterature
FictionPlay
DramaPoetry
Linguistics
Investigate the portrayal of real
people in drama
WomenFemaleGender
MonarchWhoreWitch
PoliticsGovernmentParliamentMinisters
Renaissance England
TudorElizabeth INorthern
Renaissance
Compare two
dramatists
Could also search reference works e.g. Oxford Reference On-line
Oxford Reference On-line
May also want to look at other Thesis & DissertationsGood for keywords / layout/ ideas / bibliographies
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Search
Relationships between your keywords (Boolean searching)
Shakespeare AND Sonnet
Playwright OR Dramatist
Renaissance NOT Italian
Search tips
TruncationPolitic* Politics Politician Political
Wild card Wom?n Globali?ation
“Search for a phrase in quotation marks”
Check the Help pages on electronic sources before you start
Record what you find
Make sure you have enough detail to find the information again
Source used and the date you used it
Searches undertaken and results found
Keywords used, date range searched, location of material
Full bibliographic details of the material found
Take a photocopy of the title page
Record search strategies
Be flexible – review searches
Remember to:-
Plan ahead
Inter-Library loans
Visits to archives
Interviews
Keep up to date
RSS feeds
Set up alerts in databases
Resources
3 main access points
Off campus access
Catalogue – all the items, print and electronic the Library has. Mainly used for in-depth works (print & ebooks)
Catalogue features
Click on the 'Search' link associated with any of your preferred searches in the list and your search will be quickly executed for you again, finding any new items that have been added to the catalogue as well as the ones you found before.
What books are ‘out there’ that the University of Liverpool doesn’t have?
VisitInter-library loan
Special Collections & Archivesfinding primary resources
University of Liverpool Special Collections:books/manuscripts. Primary sources
Primary resources: University of Liverpool Archive
Ted Hughes
Search results – click on full record
Primary resources: external archives – the Archives Hub – available via LibGuides or Google search
Full record: where it is, what it consists of, how to accessArchivist will advise you as to copyright
Journals
Use University catalogue to search for a journal (s) that fits your topic.
(Search for it using keywords and limit to journals)
Browse through back copies – don’t just search
Catalogue can only find journal titles – not articles
DISCOVER
Easy to search as GoogleCross searches a number of databases at any one time
Contains peer reviewed materialCan search for journal articles
Is largely material not freely available on the Internet
Can find articles that are full text or just bibliographic citations
Also has the University of Liverpool Library Catalogue loaded on to it as well – in theory a one stop shop for
information
Accessing DISCOVER
Simple search on DISCOVER
Renaissance AND drama
Automatically defaults to material available at Liverpool
If want external content take off limiter
External content results
If want full text but not printed books
Un-tick
Tick
Limit publication dates to 2012 -2013
Accessing full text
What if no PDF?
Individual databases
Why bother if DISCOVER so good?
Not all databases are loaded onto DISCOVER
Easier to customise individual databases.
Easier to manipulate individual database
LibGuides brings resources for English together
Where can you find individual databases?
Electronic library LibGuides
Literature online database (LION)
LION Homepage
Browse complete contents
Browse contents 2
Browse: Author Index
Browse author index(Literary movements)
Browse author index (Literary movements)Search results
Results for Kingsley Amis
LION- use my archive
Cambridge Companions to Literature and Classics Contains 271 full-text books
Information on Margaret Atwood
Shakespeare Survey on-line – now separate database
British Literary Manuscripts Online 1660 -1900
Primary sources – digitised Aphra Behn manuscript
Conference papers
Conference proceedings papers are often more up to date than journal articles
Often published in journals together as body of work.Brings together ideas in a particular area of interestShows who is working in the field – can look for other articles
written/booksGood for projects were there is little established literature & ‘hot
topics’
Not peer reviewedOften need time to see how effective these ideas are. This can be a
plus – what didn’t work (and why?) – what made an academic change their opinion?
Zetoc (under general databases in LibGuides)
Search for wom?n and Renaissance literature
Just the record is good for authors / keywords
http://www.conferencealerts.com/search?searchTerm=english+literature&x=0&y=0
Conference papers 2Subscription element - browse for contact names / website for
no charge
What conferences do your lecturers attend /speak at? Sometimes authors will put up their papers on their websites via Google Scholar Web of Knowledge contains ISI Proceedings, so you can search by keywords for
conference papers on your subject
Just to mention a few more resources.
Don’t forget TLS Historical Archive!
The back numbers of the TLS have long been legendary as a store of treasure for anyone interested in 20th century literature.
Newspapers – good for updating a dissertation
Lexis Library
Pros Cons
Average date of digitization 1996 (decent archive)
Contains UK nationals and many local papers
Good for comparing tabloid and broadsheet
Good for seeing how a national story is treated locally
No foreign pressNo photographsDifficult to interpret gravitas
of a story
Lexis Library homepage need to click on ‘news’ tab
Lexis Library
Library PressDisplay
Pros
Foreign & UK Press
Fully digitised
Fully searchable
Can browse latest editions
Good for comparing how the same story is treated in different countries
Cons
60 day archive
University has only 4 licences – only 4 people can use it at any one time
Library PressDisplay
British Cartoon Archive
Websites
Evaluating sources - websites
Accuracy - is the information reliable and error free?
Authority - is the source of the information reputable?
Coverage - does it provide the evidence or information you need?
Currency - when was the information published / updated?
Objectivity - Does the information show bias?
If unsure of how to use internethttp://www.vtstutorials.co.uk/default.aspx?s=1
Recommended websites
National Library websites – e.g. British Library
Websites 2
Links to web pages on LibGuides
Managing references
store and manage your referencesformat the in-text citations and
bibliographies for your documents
RefWorksEndnote
Referencing LibGuide(Also available via Architecture LibGuide)
RefWorks
Training Sessions
Summary
Types of information
Preparation
Catalogue /Special collections / Archives Hub
DISCOVER – one stop search engine
LibGuides - individual databases
Websites
Reference Management tool – RefWorks
Linda CraneLiaison Librarian for the [email protected]