My Research: HumanitiesModule 2

Sharon RankinSean Swanick

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“It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only one of these modes, whichever one it is, you’re in deep trouble.”

--Carl Sagan

“The Burden of Skepticism.” Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 12, Fall 1987.

The research mindset…

Skepticism in action…

After today’s workshop, you will be able to: Develop an effective search strategy for a research

topic Find relevant material for your topic using the

library catalogue Search general academic databases for article

literature Locate information beyond McGill

Learning outcomes

The Research Process

Clara M. Chu, “Literary Critics at Work and Their Information Needs: A Research-Phases Model,” Library & Information Science Research 21, no. 2 (1999): 263.

It can seem long and circuitous…

The Research Process

Christine D. Brown, “Straddling the Humanities and Social Sciences: The Research Process of Music Scholars,” Library & Information Science Research 24, no. 1 (2002): 88.

Long and circuitous = normal…DON’T PANIC!

Case study: The New Woman, 1890-1920

Cybill Shepard in the movie of Henry James’s 1878 novella Daisy Miller

By 1890 a new, more modern culture was emerging in the United States....As women pushed the boundaries of the private sphere to participate more fully in wage earning, education, the professions, or community service, the concept of “true womanhood” was pushed aside in favor of the “New Woman.” Lucille A. Adkins, "Women's Movement, United States, 20th Century," in The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, edited by Immanuel Ness. Blackwell Reference Online. Accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.blackwellreference.com/subscriber/tocnode.html?id=g9781405184649_yr2011_chunk_g97814051846491608 .

Case study: The New Woman, 1890-1920

How did the idea of the “New Woman”

impact depictions of domesticity

in American literature?

Sample research question

Relevancy

Retrieval(# of search results)

Broad Questions

Narrow Questions

High = lots of articles

Low = very few articles

High = directly relevant articles

Low = mostly irrelevant articles

How questions influence search results

How did the idea of the “New Woman”

impact depictions of domesticity

in American literature?

Break it down: pull out key concepts

Strategies:

Generate synonyms and related terms

• Brainstorming• Concept maps• Reading articles and books• Mining bibliographies• Using thesauri and subject headings

“New Woman” “domesticity” “American literature”

feminismFirst Wave feminism

women’s suffrageSuffragists

Progressivismwomen’s rights

marriage family

gender femininity sexuality

“True Womanhood”

American novelsAmerican poetry

Henry JamesWilla Cather

Edith WhartonKate Chopin

Mina Loy

American literature -- 19th century -- History and

criticism. American literature -- 20th

century -- History and criticism.

Generating keywords

Your turn

Boolean operators

Combine terms

AND

“New Woman” “domesticity” “American literature”

feminismFirst Wave feminism

women’s suffrageSuffragists

Progressivismwomen’s rights

marriage family

gender femininity sexuality

“True Womanhood”

American novelsAmerican poetry

Henry JamesWilla Cather

Edith WhartonKate Chopin

Mina Loy

American literature -- 19th century -- History and

criticism. American literature -- 20th

century -- History and criticism.

Boolean Operators

AND AND

“New Woman” domesticity

OR

“New Woman” “domesticity” “American literature”

feminismFirst Wave feminism

women’s suffrageSuffragists

Progressivismwomen’s rights

marriage family

gender femininity sexuality

“True Womanhood”

American novels American poetry

Henry JamesWilla Cather

Edith WhartonKate Chopin

Mina Loy

American literature -- 19th century -- History and

criticism. American literature -- 20th

century -- History and criticism.

Boolean Operators

OR OR OR

domesticity marriage

NOT

American literature

Poetry

NOTE: The symbols used will vary from one database to another.

Truncation

* ! ?Suffrag*

SuffrageSuffragistSuffragistsSuffragetteSuffragettes

Use to retrieve variant endings or plurals

#

Wildcard

* ! ?wom?n woman

women

Use to replace character(s) within a word

#

NOTE: The symbols used will vary from one database to another.

Quotation marks Use for phrase searching

Example: “New Woman” “First Wave Feminism”

Parentheses Device that allows you to control the order of your search

Example: (“New Woman” OR suffrag*) AND (domesticity OR marriage)

More advanced search techniques

(“New Woman” OR “First Wave Feminism” OR “women’s suffrag*”)

AND

(domestic* OR marriage OR family OR gender OR sexuality)

AND

(“American literature” OR “American poetry” OR “Kate Chopin” OR “Willa Cather” OR “Mina Loy”)

Putting it all together

Putting it all together

McGill WorldCat vs.

Classic Catalogue

One Catalogue, two ways to search

McGill WorldCat

Classic Catalogue

Advanced Search – Classic Catalogue

Advanced search in WorldCat

Your turn

Library catalogue exercise

General academic databases

http://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/connect

EZProxy: “EZproxy is a quick, easy, and convenient method to gain off-campus access to McGill Library subscription databases and other online resources.”

VPN recommended. Install it on your computer. If you have any problems, call 514.398.3398.

Off-campus access

Your turn

Using Boolean logic, run some searches in your subject area using one of the general academic databases.

Save at least one relevant article to your EndNote library.

Exercise

Use the Google tips handout to have more control over your searches.

Set up Library Links in Settings.

If using citation management software, set up for direct export in Settings.

Take advantage of the Alert option.

Maximizing Google Scholar

Your turn

Run some searches in Google Scholar.

Use at least 2 of the Google search tips from the handout.

If you are happy with the search results, set up an alert.

Exercise

What will you get in your results?

Academic journal articles

Book chapters from Google Books

Theses and dissertations

Searching in Google Scholar

For more details: http://www.mcgill.ca/library/find/theses

Theses and Dissertations

eScholarship ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

27 500+ full text McGill theses• Allows searching by faculty

advisor

McGill theses from 1934 to present day• Full text 1997-• Selected full text before 1997

Also contains: journal articles, conference papers, technical reports, book chapters written by McGill faculty and students

Also contains: theses written by students from North American and European universities

Use for: McGill-specific search requirements

Use for: Broader scope of current research

1. Conduct a keyword search in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses to find a thesis related to your research.

Check the bibliography to see if any articles could be useful for your research

2. Search eScholarship to find a thesis supervised by your current supervisor, or by a professor in your department.

Specialized Resources

Borrow in person from other libraries BCI

http://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/otherloans/CREPUQ

Interlibrary loan COLOMBO

http://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/otherloans/interlibrary

Access beyond McGill

Allows you to borrow books from other universities in Quebec and Canada.

Obtain a BCI card at any Library Services Desk on campus.

BCI (formerly CREPUQ)card: what is it?

Use when McGill and other local universities do not have an item.

Administered through COLUMBO; instructions here.

Interlibrary loan: what is it?

What do you need to borrow books from Concordia?

BCI card

Which will retrieve more results?

1) “new woman” OR feminism

2) “new woman” AND feminism

ANSWER: 1

Name a multidisciplinary, general academic database database we used today.

Academic Search Complete, Web of Science, Google Scholar are all good examples.

Name a source for locating theses and dissertations.

Proquest Dissertations and Theses Full-Text, eScholarship@McGill, Google Scholar

Review

Liaison librarians http://www.mcgill.ca/library/contact/askus/liaison

Subject guides http://www.mcgill.ca/library/find/subjects

Subject-specific databases

Next time…

Complete the brief Module 2 survey online:

bit.ly/myresearch-module2

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