LIBRARY RESEARCH

Methods and Databases

Library Research as Research• Begins with a question

• What resources are available to study about . . . ?

• Solves a problem• In order to study . . . , I need to find . . .

• Requires skills• Specialized techniques• Specialized resources

• Leads to a discovery

The Challenge• Ask a question• Find sources of information

– Acquire the sources

• Examine their content– Read; take notes

• Analyze what you find– Outline, write, re-read, write,

• Answer the question– Reasoned, defensible

• Present results

The Information Environment

Internet

Libraries

Library

You

Developing an Overview• Preliminary reading

• Reference books• Journal articles• Internet articles

• Looking for• Issues• Personalities• Context• Bibliography

• Summary: Become oriented to the literature on your topic

Virtual Reference Library

Building Blocks of Library Research

Results

Research Question

Search Methods

Repositories of

Information

Methods of Research

• Key word/phrase by field

• Controlled vocabulary• Citation searches

• Combinations of the two• Hierarchal• Browsing• Types of media or

literature

These methods can be used with both electronic and printed repositories of information.

The methods work with electronic repositories because these are all some form of database.

Database Basics• Records• Fields• Words

Author (au) Title (ti) Subject (su)

Hesselgrave Edinburgh Error Missions--History

Eitel Evangelical Agnosticism Cross-cultural theology

Key words in all fieldsKey word in specific fields

A Database Record

Searching with Keywords

• Keywords are usually nouns or are phrases that include nouns• Islamic fundamentalism• Muslim fundamentalists

• Keywords can also be proper names• Osama Ben Laden (person)• Afghanistan (place)• Iraq war (historical event)

Choosing Keywords• Terms you know

• People• Places• Events• Words and phrases that

describe your topic

• Terms you learn• Other persons• Variations in name• Broader context of event• Buzz words,

colloquialisms• Jargon, clichés• Words found often in

titles• Words found in reading

Combining Keywords• Boolean searches

• AND narrows a search• OR combines synonyms (broadens a search)• NOT excludes words from a search (narrows a search)• ( ) changes order of operation (think algebraic equations)

• Proximity searches• “enclose in quotes”• With (w) or adj (adjacent)

• Truncation symbols• ? or *

• Pre-coordinated subject terms

More about keyword searching

1. Think about the terms you will use

2. OR broadens a search• Used to find synonyms

3. AND and NOT narrow a search• Use NOT exclude terms, dates, etc.

4. The more concepts you link with AND or NOT, the fewer results you will have

5. Keyword searches promise “high return, low precision”

Principles of Keyword Searching

Searching with Controlled Vocabulary• Definition

– One word or phrase used consciously and repeatedly to describe a cluster of synonyms related to a topic

• Some strengths– Finds material on common subject despite variations in descriptive

language– One title can have multiple subject headings– Follows set patterns of construction– Widely used throughout North America

• Some weaknesses– Requires human judgment– Terms chosen are not always those in common use

Examples

Luke’s Case for ChristianityApologetics—Early church, ca 30-600

Bible. N.T. Luke—Theology

Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian CallingThought and thinking—Religious aspects—Christianity

Intellect—Religious aspects--Christianity

Epistemology: Becoming Intellectually VirtuousKnowledge, Theory of (Religion)

Christianity—Theology

Wrestling with the Word: Christian Preaching from the Hebrew BibleBible. O.T.—Homiletical use

Preaching

The Act of Bible Reading: A Multi-disciplinary Approach to Biblical InterpretationBible—Hermeneutics

Bible—Reading

Reading with a Passion: Rhetoric, Autobiography, and the American West in the Gospel of JohnBible. N.T. John—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Reader-response criticism

Staley, Jeffrey Lloyd, 1951- .

The Art of Biblical HistoryBible—Hermeneutics

Bible—Historiography

History (Theology)

Christianity—Essence, genius, nature

Poetry and WisdomHebrew poetry, Biblical—History and criticism—Bibliography

Wisdom literature—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—Bibliography

Successful Dissertations and ThesesDissertations, Academic—Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Research—Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Report writing—Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Finding Controlled Vocabulary

• Cataloging in Publication (“CIP”) data

• Browse subjects by first words

• SWBTS catalog ignores punctuation, unfortuantely

• WorldCat’s “find preferred subject headings” feature

• EBSCOHost's Subject, Places People search

“Click on blue”

Using CV Lists• “Used For”• “Broader Terms”• “Narrower Terms”• “Related Terms”• See• See Also

Comparing the Two Approaches

Key Word

Indexing Relies on computer

Can be any word

imaginable

Any language

Uses the author’s terms

High recall/low precision

Controlled Vocabulary

Relies on human

indexing

Words chosen

from a list

Uses one language

Uses librarian’s

terms

Low recall/high precision

Citation Searches• Definition

• Finding the sources cited in book or journal, or finding books and articles that cite a particular source—either while reading or by using a database.

• Some strengths• Authors generally cite sources that are related to their topic. Some

articles are cited by several articles. • Authors are familiar with the sources they have listed

• Some weaknesses• Sources cited are always older than the book or article that cites

them.• However, the book or article citing a source is always more recent than the

source itself

• Possibility of author’s bias in choice of sources.Learn about Citation searches in EbscoHost

Searching by Type of Media or Literature

Hierarchal Searching• Definition

• Limiting results by context

• Advantages• Quick way to narrow searches yielding thousands of results• Useful with terms whose meaning varies by context

• Disadvantages• May still yield hundreds of results

• Technique varies by database• JSTOR : “Narrow by discipline and/or publication title”• SWBTS catalog: “You found Titles in Categories” • EBSCOhost: “Refine results . . . Subject”• WorldCat.org: “Refine your Search . . . Topic”• ATLA Hierarchical Scripture Authority index• Dissertations (ProQuest): “Narrow results by . . . Subject”

Comparing and Choosing DatabasesName Subjects Types Other

Methods Personal Accounts Years Foreign

Languages

ATLA Religion

Index

Bible, theology,

etc.

Articles, Essays, Reviews

Scripture Index

My EBSCOhost

English and Non-English

JSTOR Humanities and SocSci

Articles, Reviews

Browse, Lookup

My JSTOR

V.1 to within last 5 yrs.

Yes

Academic Search

All academic

Citation Searches

My EBSCOhost

No

DissertationsTREN

Bible, theology

Diss.; theses

usual NoEnglish,

Some Asian

DissertationsProQuest

Humanities and SocSci

Diss.;Citations

English

Google Scholar/Bks

Potentially unlimited

CitationsCitation

SearchesYes

Theological JournalsSearch

Bible, theology,

etc

Articles, reviews

Hierarchal Yes

ATLA Religion Index (EBSCOhost)ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials combines the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with ATLA's online collection of over 80 major religion and theology journals. The ATLA Religion Database includes more than 575,000 article citations from more than 1,679 journals (506 currently indexed), more than 239,000 essay citations from over 16,800 multi-author works, and more than 530,000 book review citations.

Full text is provided for more than 294,000 electronic articles and book reviews.

• Some coverage goes back to the 19th century;• Good coverage of German language resources• Scripture verse indexes • Personal accounts• Export option uses EndNote’s “RIS” import filter

Academic Search (EBSOhost)

Academic Search Complete is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.

• Coverage mostly since 1990s to within last 12 mo• Search and list cited references in many journals• Personal account for storing records and searches• Schedule repeat searches• Export option uses EndNote’s “RIS” import filter

Search Cited References

Refine your

results

JSTORJSTOR offers high-quality, interdisciplinary content to support scholarship and teaching. It includes over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. Journals are always included from volume 1, issue 1 and include previous and unrelated titles. The entire corpus is full-text searchable, offers search term highlighting, includes high-quality images, and is interlinked by millions of citations and references.

• Basic coverage in religion, philosophy, and history• Searchable full text• Save citation and searches in MyJSTOR• Export option uses EndNote’s “RIS” import filter

Dissertations Online (ProQuest)Includes 2.7 million searchable citations to dissertation and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with 1.2 million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format.

The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works.

More than 70,000 new full text dissertations and theses are added to the database each year through dissertations publishing partnerships with 700 leading academic institutions worldwide.

Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Simple bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637. Where available, PQDT provides 24-page previews of dissertations and theses.

• Refine results by limiting searches to title and abstract• Includes citations to some British dissertations• Use “Look up citation” to find specific title• Save searches to MyResearch• Export option uses EndNote’s “RIS” import filter

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Theological Journals SearchA Google custom search of over 340 religion journals related to scripture studies, systematic theology, practical ministries, and cognate disciplines for which full text is freely available on the Internet. Among the searchable ejournals are many of those listed in major religion Internet directories and ejournal sites.

• Based on articles gathered by Google • Includes online versions of print journals• Search as you would Google; refine results • Enter information into EndNote manually

TREN DatabaseThe Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) is a library of over 10,000 theological thesis/ dissertation titles representing research from as many as 70 different institutions. Many of the resources are not otherwise indexed or available online.

SWBTS students can download e-docs at no charge.

• Use * as wildcard in title, author subject keywords• Add citations to EndNote manually

Google Scholar and Google BooksComb through more than 500 billion words from more than 5.2 million books spanning from 1500 to recent years with a few taps and a click. Includes books from seven languages.

Uses regular Google Search techniques.

Many books can be previewed or read online. Books published before 1924 can be downloaded.

• Advanced search screen at http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

• Every book has a summary page• Save titles to My Library• No apparent way to export to EndNote