Research using published sources

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Research using published sources

• Literature searching and bibliographic referencing

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Role of secondary sources in research

• Some research will be totally dependent on
  published materials
• historical research
• overviews
• conceptual studies
• most research will require some use of published
  sources
• to provide context
• to provide benchmarks
• to offer comparison

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Literature searching for MA/MSc

• Remember the scope of the dissertation
• not a doctoral thesis
• searching need not be exhaustive
• BUT
• you should have enough sources
• to properly reflect the state of affairs in your
  topic
• to represent any differing viewpoints
• to include all important publications, projects
  or initiatives

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Systematic searching

• You will almost certainly need to include
• monographs
• journal articles
• web based material
• you may also need (for example)
• theses and conference papers
• legislation
• statistics

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Searching for monographs

• Bibliographic databases dont usually cover books
• large library catalogues are a better source
• COPAC is a good place to look for book titles
• specialist library catalogues may be more
  extensive in terms of foreign material and
  non-standard formats

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Some book databases

• COPAC www.copac.ac.uk
• union catalogue of 24 universities national
  libraries
• British Library www.bl.uk
• this and other big libraries have specialised
  catalogues independent of the main catalogue
• Library of Congress www.loc.gov
• For foreign language material
• National library catalogues
• www.ifla.org

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Commercial book databases

• Not as comprehensive as catalogues
• may be better for new and forthcoming
  publications
• College library has Books in print
• be very wary of e-booksellers sites

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Searching for journal articles

• The primary source for journal material is the
  bibliographic database
• general databases can provide a good starting
  point, and enable cross-disciplinary searches
• College Library databases often link to full text

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General periodical databases

• Provide access to journal references
• many include conference papers and other formats
• zetoc
• Web of knowledge
• Current contents connect
• JStor

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Specialist LIS databases

• LISA
• LISTA
• Current awareness abstracts (Library and
  information management)
• H.W.Wilson databases available via the Art
  Fulltext link on MetaLib
• remember print resources for older material
• Library literature
• hardcopy LISA

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Subject specialist databases

• The College Library has huge numbers of these
• Useful ones may include
• Historical abstracts
• INSPEC
• Early English books online
• ERIC

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Electronic journals

• Individual journals can be searched
• agents/publishers websites can offer
  cross-domain searching
• Swetswise
• Taylor and Francis
• Ingenta
• Emerald fulltext

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Web-based material

• Managed portals and hubs (RDN - www.rdn.ac.uk)
• search engines
• a quick way to find research publications,
  reports, government and official publications
• use with discretion!
• dont rely on these alone
• Good search engines

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Alltheweb www.alltheweb.com Altavista
www.altavista.com Ask Jeeves www.askjeeves.com Goo
gle www.google.com Lycos www.lycos.com Hotbot
www.hotbot.com Teoma www.teoma.com
Profusion www.profusion.com SurfWax
www.surfwax.com Vivisimo http//vivisimo.com Kart
oo www.kartoo.com Fazzle www.fazzle.com
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Search tips and hints

• Dont make initial searches too complex
• modify searches in the light of results
• opt for more obscure keywords
• remember to search for synonyms
• not all search software works in the same way
• advanced searches usually offer field specific
  searching and Boolean search

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• Use results to inform more searches
• look for additional keywords
• identify important authors or researchers
• note key journals
• dont expect to find everything you need at the
  first attempt
• follow up references in articles and use
  hypertext links

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Bibliographic referencing

• How to get it right

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Bibliographic referencing

• Why reference?
• to add authority to your dissertation
• to support and reinforce your arguments
• to enable readers to follow up the sources
  themselves
• to acknowledge other writers work
• failing to do this can constitute plagiarism and
  have legal implications

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What needs to be referenced?

• direct quotations
• allusions to content of other works
• statements of fact often need to be supported by
  documentary evidence
• this neednt be taken to extremes in the case of
  common knowledge

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What should be included in a reference?

• For a book
• The name(s) of the author(s)
• the title of the work
• the place of publication
• the name of the publisher
• the date of publication

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Book reference
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Journal references should include

• The name(s) of the author(s)
• the title of the article
• the title of the journal
• the date of publication
• the volume and issue numbers
• the numbers of the first and last page

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Journal reference
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Website references should include

• The name of the creator of the website
• the name of the website
• the url
• the date of creation (or the last update)
• the date that you accessed it
• some of these may be hard to establish for
  individual websites, so you may have to omit
  details

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Website reference
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Remember

• Referencing is not cataloguing
• you dont have to include any physical
  description or other elements
• the order and punctuation of elements may differ
  from standard cataloguing practice

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Referencing styles

• There are many hundreds of referencing styles
• they usually differ in minor details
• SLAIS allows you to use whichever you wish
• you can follow an established style, or use your
  own
• referencing software such as Reference Manager
  (Endnote, ProCite, etc.) can do the work for you
• the important point is to apply the style
  consistently

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Variations in citation styles of different
scholarly journals
Adams JQ, Lincoln A, van Buren M, Truman HS An
imaginary conversation. J Hist Fant 76204-212,
1976 Adams, J. Q. Lincoln, A. van Buren, M.
Truman, H. S. An imaginary conversation. Journal
of Historical Fantasy 1976 , 76 (11),
204-212. Adams JQ, Lincoln A, van Buren M,
Truman HS. An imaginary conversation. J Hist Fant
1976 November 576(11)204-12. Adams,J.Q.,
Lincoln,A., van Buren,M., and Truman,H.S. 1976.
An imaginary conversation. Journal of Historical
Fantasy 76(11)204-212. ADAMS,J.Q., LINCOLN,A.,
VAN BUREN,M., TRUMAN,H.S., 1976. "An imaginary
conversation", Journal of Historical Fantasy, 76,
S. 204-212. Adams JQ, Lincoln A, van Buren M,
Truman HS. 1976. An imaginary conversation.
Journal of Historical Fantasy 76 204-212.
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Basic types of referencing

• There are two main sorts of referencing
• Footnotes/endnotes
• Author date systems
• numerical systems also occur, but more
  infrequently

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Footnotes and endnotes

• These are the same thing, except for their
  position in the text footnotes appear on the
  same page as the reference, endnotes follow on
  from the text
• when you want to make a reference you put a
  superscript number in the text
• the full reference follows an equivalent number
  at the bottom of the page, or at the end of the
  piece
• Word will do much of this for you
• strictly speaking, there is no need for a
  separate bibliography, but you may like to
  include one

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Footnotes
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Footnotes
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Footnotes
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Author-date systems

• When you want to refer to a source, you put the
  authors name, and the date of the publication,
  plus the page reference, in parentheses, or
  brackets, in the text
• author-date is sometimes called parenthetical
  referencing
• at the end of the text, you provide a list of the
  references in alphabetical order of authors names

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Reference list in author-date system
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Author-date versus Footnotes

• Is simple and straightforward
• suits references to monographs and journal
  articles
• most suitable for references to personal authors

• Is better for unauthored works
• particularly suitable for mss. and websites
• word processor will manage the placing and
  numbering for you

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Forms of reference

• The form of a reference varies slightly if it is
• a footnote/endnote
• a reference in a bibliography
• a reference in a list for the author-date system

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Footnotes
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Bibliography
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Reference list (author-date)
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Op. cit., loc. cit., and ibid.

• The use of op. cit. (opus citatum/opere citato
  the work cited/in the work cited), to mean a
  work previously referenced, is now generally
  discouraged
• loc. cit. (loco citato the place cited) is
  sometimes used if the reference is to the same
  page in the previously referenced work
• ibid. (ibidem the same) may be used for one or
  more subsequent references to the same work
• none of these should be necessary with
  author-date systems

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Things to remember

• Keep punctuation, including capitalization of
  initial letters, consistent
• Dont cut and paste from other sources without
  adjusting the style