Linfield College Libraries Arts and Humanities Senior Seminar Library Introduction Fall 2007

The information on this page combined with Linfield Library Services for ADP/DCE Students and the Linfield Libraries Research Tips should give you the background you need to do the library research necessary to write an academic research paper. If you have questions about any of the material on these pages or on the library research process contact Carol McCulley, Reference and Distance Learning Librarian (cmccull@linfield.edu; 1-800-452-4176 ext. 2595 or 503-883-2595).

Research is a process, where do I start?

• It takes time!
• Reflect, think, ask questions.
• Keep a record of what and where you have searched.

Words matter.

• Think of as many words and synonyms to describe your topic as possible.
• Keep a list of relevant words or subject headings you find as you search for sources.

Evaluate your sources.

• Print sources are not always scholarly enough for inclusion in an academic research paper. EBSCOhost, for example, indexes scholarly and popular journals so you need to have criteria to use to evaluate these journals. A good list of these criteria can be found at this site from Cornell or search the title in Ulrich's International Directory of Periodicals.
• Web sites must be critically evaluated before using their information in your research paper.
  • Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources from UCLA's library is an excellent list of criteria.
  • Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask from Berkeley.

Think

• Find a topic that you feel passionate about; you will spend much of your time involved with it.
• What do you know about your topic? What interests you the most about it?
• Ask yourself what kind of information you need. Is it historical, medical, educational?

Reference sources

• ex. print or online dictionaries and encyclopedias (check reference collections of libraries or go to Linfield's Quick Links Encyclopedia and Reference for online sources)
• The Database Oxford Reference Online
• a source of background information, words, authors, and references. Print reference sources at Nicholson Library (call #s beginning with REF), which are in WildCat, may not be checked out, but they may be available to use in other Orbis Cascade Alliance libraries or at other libraries in your neighborhood. We can also copy chapters or sections on specific areas that you need; a particular author, for example. E-mail me with the title of the reference book and I can look to see of there is something on your topic and send it to you.

• WildCat- Linfield libraries catalog
• Summit-(Orbis Cascade Alliance catalog of OR & WA academic libraries) Need a 3 minute tutorial on using Summit? Click here.
• WorldCat- world-wide list. You will need off campus access.

Databases for Periodical articles: You will need off campus access to these databases. Need a 1 minute tutorial on where to find articles? Click here.

• General
  • EBSCOhost- a good place to start
    • many full text articles
    • choose Academic Search Premier
    • Need a 3 minute tutorial on how to get articles in EBSCOhost? Click here.
  • Lexis-Nexis- full text- major newspapers- business, and legal information
• Subject specific- linked from the Articles andLibrary Databases link on the library homepage
  • EBSCOhost- subject databases in the list (under Academic Search Premier)
    • Humanities International Complete- the online Humanities International Index
    • MLA International Bibliography for literature
    • Religion and Philosophy Collection
  • under Databases- some examples:
    • ArtStor- a database of full images
    • AH Search- general index for material in the arts and humanities- 1980 to present
    • JSTOR
      • full text archive of journals in the arts & sciences
      • Use link to first page of match to get your keywords in the context of the article

• Use sites that have already been evaluated.
• Internet Sites by subject- recommended sites on the Linfield Libraries Homepage
• Suggested web site for your class
  • The E-Server at Iowa State University- site publishes works in the arts & humanities
  • Voice of the Shuttle- links to humanities works on the Internet
  • Librarians' Internet Index for Arts and Humanities
• Links from relevant, credible web sites you have found.
• Know your search engine
  • learn how to use two or three search engines well so you can refine your search and limit the number of results you get to a manageable number
  • use this search tool chart to help you refine your search
• Try different search engines, that may give you more relevant or credible pages
  • Google and Google Directory (subject list)
  • Google Scholar for scholarly literature only
• Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate!
  • think critically about credibility of the web pages you find; who wrote it, why?
  • ask: are they relevant; do they offer something more than my other sources

• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
• Print Sources The Chicago Manual of Style Ref Z253.U69 2003 (in the library reference room)
• Citing Electronic Resources under web sites by subject on the library homepage.
  • Choose Turabian's Manual- it is a PDF document from Bucknell University: go to page 9 VII. Format for Citing Electronic Sources
    • for online periodicals from a commercial database with print counterpart, follow the examples, but do not include the URL of the databases
    • for online only journals, follow the examples as they are given
  • Choose Research and Documentation online for a link to History sources using Chicago Style.
• Bedford St. Martins Writing and Citing Resources (use Bedford Bibliographer for formatting references. annotations, and content notes)
• Avoid Plagiarism

page updated 10/07