Starting Your Research Anthropology 306 Library Instruction Fall 2002

What is the assignment? Paper, Presentation, Annotated Bibliography? Due date – when is the last date for ILL? Citation Style? APA? MLA? Types of publications?

Basic Search Strategies: Sources Available Does your topic cover recent events or research? Newspapers, magazines, journals or the Internet are the best sources. Do you need current, general information? Try a popular magazine. Do you need current, in depth information? Try a scholarly journal. Do you need an overview? Try an encyclopedia, handbook or dictionary Do you need something more detailed? Try a book on the subject

Types of Periodicals: Scholarly Journals Articles must go through a peer-review or refereed process. Scholarly/academic articles that are read by academic or scholar "referees" for advice and evaluation of content when submitted for publication. Referees recommend to the editor/editorial board whether the article should be published as is, revised, or rejected. Also sometimes know as "peer-reviewed" articles. Articles are usually reports on scholarly research. Articles use jargon of the discipline.

Popular Magazines and Newpapers Authors are magazine staff members or free lance writers. Authors often mention sources, but rarely formally cite them in bibliographies. Individual issues contain numerous advertisements. There is no peer review process. Articles are meant to inform and entertain. Illustrations may be numerous and colorful. Language is geared to the general adult audience (no specialized knowledge of jargon needed).

Evaluating Print Resources Every book, periodical article, or other resource should be evaluated to determine its quality and its relevance to your topic and the nature of your assignment. Use the criteria below to help you evaluate resources.criteria Authority Content & Coverage Timeliness Accuracy Objectivity

Evaluating Internet Resources Types of Web Sites: the url is a key.gov.edu.org.com Authority Content & Coverage Timeliness Accuracy Objectivity World Wide Web sites come in many sizes and styles. How do you distinguish a site that gives reliable information from one that gives incorrect information? Below are some guidelines to help.guidelines

Internet Resources vs. Surfing the Web Internet Resources include: Internet accessible databases and journals Use a Web interface Usually require subscription Exception: ERIC Wizard Equivalent to print indexes and journals Authoritative and reliable Surfing the Web: Use free search engines E.G.: Yahoo, Google, HotBot Critical evaluation required Anyone can put up a Web page! Evaluating Web pages ( Evaluating Web pageshttp://library.csun.edu/mwoodley/Webeval.html

Use Databases to Find Resources Books – online catalog CSUN Library Online Catalog Articles – index, abstracting service, or full-text database Find Articles and More Web pages – search engines Internet Search Tools

Basic Search Strategies: Words to Search by Jargon Keyword Controlled vocabulary – Subject words/phrases

Key WordsControlled Vocabulary

Basic Search Strategies: Putting concepts together “English mathematician who helped establish modern symbolic logic and whose algebra of logic, now called Boolean algebra, is basic to the design of digital computer circuits. “ Boolean Operators: and, or, not "Boole, George" Encyclopædia Britannica [Accessed August 18, 2002]. George Boole,

Basic Search Strategies: Putting concepts together Boolean operator and Venn diagrams serve as a visual expression of the Boolean operations Indians gambling

Basic Search Strategies: Putting concepts together Boolean operator or burials

Basic Search Strategies: Putting concepts together Boolean operator not Indians gambling casinos and not

Truncation Symbol used at the end of a word to retrieve variant endings of that word. Allows you to search the "root" form of a word with all its different endings. Broadens or increases search results. For example: bank* will retrieve: banks, banking, bankers, bankruptcy However: cat* will retrieve cat, cats, but also cataclysm, catacomb, catalepsy, catalog, etc. Use OR instead: cat or cats Databases and Web search engines use different symbols to truncate. Check “Help”to find the correct truncation symbol.

Wildcards Some databases allow for wildcards to be embedded within a word to replace a single character. For instance, in InfoTrac, you can also use ? within a word to replace a character. For example: comp???tion retrieves composition, competition, computation, etc. wom?n retrieves woman, women

Searching Tips Journal Titles: Look in Online Catalog to see if we own Subject access: very broad subject headings Book Titles: Look in online Catalog to see if we own Subject access: general terms that describe the book as a whole Articles Titles: Look in indexes and full-text databases to find titles of articles Subjects: specific for the article

Databases PopularGovernmentScholarly Lexis-Nexis American History (index) Ethnic NewsFirstGovAnthropological Index Academic Search EliteBIAAnthropological Literature (index) Expanded Academic ASAPeHRAF ABI NewstandJSTOR Academic Search Elite Expanded Academic ASAP

Contact Information Mary S. Woodley