Finding Scholarly Sources for English ENGL 1020E Christy Sich October 16 th, 2012 Huyette, Marcia. The Annotated Frankenstein.

Christy’s Literary Anecdote

Learning Objectives: Develop a research topic Evaluate sources Choose the best research tools for your essay Get additional help when you need it After today’s session, you should be able to...

Looking at Sources Group Activity (5 min) What is it? What do you know about the author(s)? Can you tell where the author(s) get their information? Would you use this source for a paper?

The Research Process Wohlpart, A. James. “A Tradition of Male Poetics: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as an Allegory of Art.” Midwest Quarterly 39, no. 3 (Spring 1998): 265:79. Read Essay Instructions!

Turning a Topic into a Search Is the monster in Frankenstein a depiction of male creativity? Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: e:Punch_Anti- Irish_propaganda_% %29_Irish_Frankenstein.jpg

Constructing a Search Identify concepts and list synonyms Use truncation (insert * at end of root word) Connect keywords using AND and OR Frankenstein AND Shelley AND (creativity OR imagination)

Choosing the Best Resources Find books using the Library Catalogue – look at the Tables of Contents when available Consult Western Libraries Program Guides – Find subject-specific databases and reference tools recommended by a librarian

Finding Books

Popular vs Academic Journals geared to a general, non- academic audience covers a wide range of popular interest topics usually glossy with pictures and advertising does not usually contain bibliographies and is not “refereed” they contain original research or experimentation written by and for scholars or specialists further research sources are cited with footnotes or a bibliography at the end of the article they contain little, if any advertising Sometimes “refereed” or “peer reviewed” Magazines Academic Journals Modified from:

Peer Review / Referred Journals

Types of Databases

Types of Bibliographic Databases Art Full Text

English Program Guide Use the English Program Guide to find resources specifically geared to literature.

English Program Guide

The Mighty MLA Contains over 2.5 million records that pertain specifically to language and literature. Includes publications not available on the Web. Professional indexing staff and scholars Materials covered come from reputable publishers in over one hundred countries. Indexers use controlled vocabulary as subject headings = more precise searching Each citation contains the information users need to create a bibliography. Why is searching the MLA International Bibliography better than searching Google? Source: Modern Language Association. “About the Database." September 16, 2008.

Ulrich’s Use this database to look up information about a journal to discover whether it is peer-reviewed / refereed or not

Ulrich’s Not Refereed!

Ulrich’s

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