Research Guides

 

            GUIDE 1

Getting an overview:

If you don’t know much about a potential research topic, it’s a good idea to get some background. Specialized encyclopedias can be a starting point, as they contain articles written by experts and offer reference lists for suggested reading. Sometimes they can be a source of ideas when you need to narrow or broaden a topic. Here are some examples of specialized sources that may be helpful for topics chosen by members of this class:

 The Holocaust Encyclopedia, Reference 940.5318 H7545h

The Encyclopedia of Genocide, Reference 364.15103 E56e (predates Darfur, but has an overview of genocide)

Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Reference 935 R628c

Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, Reference 200.935 B627g

November 22, 1963: A Reference Guide to the JFK Assassination, Reference 012 K35 S431n

Master Index to the JFK Assassination Investigations, Reference 364.1524 K35 M482m

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Reference 973.9 S143s

The 1960s Counter Culture in America Reference 973.92303 H219a

The Sixties in America (multivolume) Reference 973.92 S6252s

Encyclopedia of World Cultures (multivolume), Reference 306.097 E56e

Encyclopedia of Energy (multivolume) Reference 333.7903 E56e


Planning your research:

Think about what types of sources are likely to be the most helpful. For example, if your topic is recent, magazines or websites may have more information than academic journals or books. It takes time for topics to generate enough interest and/or scholarship for publication of academic articles or books.

  • Books are useful for locating in-depth research and historical information. Humanities, languages, arts, and philosophy tend to be subjects that are dominated by books
  • Magazine articles are useful for new topics, popular perspectives on scholarly topics, or introductory level articles that may refer to research articles in journals 
  • Journal articles are useful for scholarly analysis, and are the dominant form of scholarly communication in the sciences. 
  • Web sites are good places to research hot topics, popular perspectives, or information on and from organizations.

 

Locating material

Books: Use the Drew Library catalog and start with a Keyword search. When you find a book that seems like it is a good source, click the title to view the complete record. Write down the call number and locate the book in the library. Also look at the list of subject terms. If one seems especially appropriate, click on it and you may find other books.

Magazine articles:

Try two of our multidisciplinary databases: Academic Search Premier and ProQuest Research Library. We also have specialized databases. See Journal articles, below.

Journal articles:

The multidisciplinary databases (see above) contain some scholarly articles, but you may want to try a specialized database. Go to the Research Resources by Subject page, and click on the broad subject you are researching (for example, to research Darfur, you might choose political science; for body piercing you might choose psychology or sociology, or biology). Most lists of resources by subject will indicate a core resource, which is a good place to start.

Locating magazine or journal articles:

From the databases, click on PDF or HTML links if they are available. Otherwise, click on the article linker logo icon to determine if the article is available electronically. If it is not available that way, click the “Search the Library Catalog” link to see if the articleis available in paper or microform.

Public Web sites

Anyone can put up a web site, so you must carefully evaluate what you find. You can also use a directory like Librarians’ Internet Index or Infomine from UC Riverside, which should return sites that have undergone some evaluation. Google is also good, but you must evaluate the sites. For each site you view, ask yourself: Who? What? When? Where? Why? Be wary of sites that are biased, out of date, poorly maintained, or that have no contact information beyond an email address.

 

 

 

GUIDE 2

Finding material midstream:

Often questions come up in the course of doing research or writing that don't require the careful development of a bibliography and further research. For such questions, think about the type of information you need, since that will determine where you look:

Quick facts or overviews:

Often an encyclopedia or dictionary is your best option. Although you can certainly consult Wikipedia, that might not give you the carefully reviewed and edited responses you would want for research. Some more authoritative alternatives include both electronic and print sources.

Electronic sources:
Many of the full-text encyclopedias or dictionaries that we have available are listed on Research Resources, under Electronic Books/Electronic Reference Books. Recommended starting points:

Credo Reference
This collects over 350 encyclopedias and dictionaries, on a range of topics.

Britannica Online
A long-standing classic, this provides excellent, reliable overviews, and selected (and therefore more trustworthy) websites. It does not have the high granularity of articles in Wikipedia, but it's very useful for academic subjects.

If you're looking for information in more specifically subject-focused works, the listings under Indexes and Databases/Resources by Subject are useful. Click on the discipline, and check the recommendations under the specific subject area.

Print sources:
If you are in the Library, stop by the Reference Desk and ask! You can also retrieve information about encyclopedias or dictionaries by going to the Drew Library Catalog in Keyword, clicking on "Add limits," selecting "Reference Collection" from the Locations menu, and then searching your basic subject area:

CatRef

Analysis of a tangential topic:

Analysis frequently involves (alas) more journal articles or books. Use Indexes and Databases/Resources by Subject to identify appropriate bibliographies for searching. Often (but not, again alas, always) it's most productive to start in a general database such as Academic Search Premier or ProQuest Research Library.

Opinions:

Polls and surveys:
To find out what the "person on the street" thinks, you can check polling services, such as Gallup or NORC/General Social Survey(general), Quinnipiac College or Eagleton Institute (for political opinions).  For more suggestions of resources, check Finding Survey Information.

Informed opinions:

For editorials, go to Advanced in ProQuest Research Library, enter editorial in the first box, select "Document type" from the drop-down menu, and then search for your topic.  You can select scholarly journals or magazines to further narrow your results.  (NOTE: this does not retrieve pure, non-editorial opinion pieces, but it may retrieve some.)

Statistical information:

Statistics show up in almanacs (eg. World Almanac) and similar sources (eg. Statistical Abstract of the United States), many of which are available in print in the Library.  Since statistics on the open web can be, er, a shade unreliable unless sponsored by a serious organization or agency, you may be better off looking for stats in published sources.  Some possibilities include:

Lexis/Nexis Statistical
Includes statistics from a range of formally published sources.  Click on "Find a table" and continue your search.

FedStats
A compilation of the statistics gathered by the federal government.

United Nations Statistics Division
International statistics.

 

 

 

 

GUIDE 3

This guide covers the following:

  • Search Engines
  • Metasearch Engines 
  • Specialized Search Engines 
  • Invisible Web
  • Directories 
  • Web site evaluation


Search Engines:  Best for finding sites on specific people, or topics that are described in distinctive phrases or words (not American literature or the like!).

Use the Advanced Search page option whenever available. Advanced Search lets you manipulate your search. Different search engines use different search tools. Check the Comparison Table for searching tips.

  • Google (http://www.google.com) - Huge, with growing search options, and often yielding impressively pertinent results by ranking sites by the number of other sites that have linked to them.  This favors the older, established sites, but does identify the most highly regarded. Google has expanded its ability to search non-html files, and does well retrieving image files. About a quarter of the included sites are not fully indexed. Despite its deserved popularity, Google does not search the entire Web. Supplement your search with other search engines.
  • Yahoo! Search (http://search.yahoo.com) - More flexible search options than those offered by Google, and it has full indexing of all the text on included sites. Yahoo! started as a human-generated tool, and still has something of that flavor.
  • AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com/) - Freshly refocused on searching, AltaVista uses Yahoo! results in a less distracting interface.
  • Ask (http://search.ask.com/) - Uses ExpertRank algorithm to determine subject-specific popularity, their brand of editing for relevance.

Metasearch Engines: A metasearch engine sends your query to multiple search engines simultaneously, and reports their results, often sorted by search engine. Since the search protocols vary from one search engine to the next, you're unable to refine your search to take advantage of specific features.

  • Dogpile (http://dogpile.com), Metacrawler (http://metacrawler.com) - These search Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, Ask, About, LookSmart, etc. Dogpile can sort by search engine.
  • Clusty (http://clusty.com/) - Provides 'cluster' option, that groups results by perspective. (It's done mechanically, but can be helpful in narrowing in.)
  • Kartoo (http://kartoo.com) - A great source for the visually-oriented. Arranges search results in a conceptual map, which allows you to see connections and dig further in interesting spots.
  • Sortfix (http://www.sortfix.com) -- drag and drop additional terms to narrow your search
  • Zuula (http://www.zuula.com/) - Allows you to compare results in at least six search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN, Gigablast, Exalead, Alexa and several others.

Specialized Search Engines: Some search engines select segments of the web based on subject. Search Engine Watch provides lots of information on Specialty Search Engines. (http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156351).

  • Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/)
    An academically-oriented specialized search engine, listing journal articles and books whose citations are found on the public Web, or which are listed in indexes with whom Google has agreements. This is an excellent, if occasionally woolly, means of identifying the growing literature contained in open access journals - but be careful of the level of authority. Much of the material is not available full-text, or is available only for a price. Check Drew's resources before you pay a cent!
    Use the academically-based indexes and abstracts available on the Library's Research Resources page for more complete lists of journal articles and books. Still stronger in the sciences than in the humanities or social sciences. 
  • Usa.gov (http://www.usa.gov) is a search engine / web portal created and maintained by the United States Government to search and provide access to U.S. government websites and web publications. Compare to: Google U.S. Government Search: http://www.google.com/ig/usgov
  • Google Books (http//books.google.com)
    Retrieves books, with some limited text options (often the Table of Contents, Index, and a selection of the actual text).  Useful for identifying possible books to pursue - check to see if the Drew Library holds the book, or request it through InterLibrary Loan.

Invisible Web Searching:  The invisible or "deep web" is not indexed by search engines for a variety of reasons including: no sites link to this information; the information is dynamically generated; the information is password protected; various technological reasons. A library catalog is a good example, but statistics, legal information, some full-text resources are other types of sources that are publicly available, but not directly retrievable. Other examples:

  • Blog search engines such as technorati.com
  • Government search engines: www.usa.gov ; www.fedworld.gov
  • A list of Google specialty search engines (http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/index.html)
  • Google Book Search (http://books.google.com/)
    A real revolution in progress here! Google Book lets you search the text of books for which there is an electronic copy available. It's most likely to permit access to books that are out of copyright. However, some publishers are allowing at least 'snippets' to be available for searching. As in Amazon's Search Inside the Book, you may be limited in the number of pages you can view.

To find such information, think of general terms for your topic, and include the term "database" in a search engine query. Or use directories.

Evaluating Web Sites:
Two test web sites for you to try -- look at these and compare them:
Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet 
Vegetarian Diet 

Directories are a great way to access both the visible and invisible web. Directories arrange sites by topic. Most directories list recommended site. Dome of the below directories are compiled by editors or librarians. Most permit you to search for terms without going through the hierarchy of subjects.For focused directories, use a search engine to search for your topic and "web directory."

Some useful, general but very selective public directories are:

  • Infomine (http://infomine.ucr.edu/)
    The University of California/Riverside's list of recommended sites. A bit stronger on the scientific/technical end than many other academic directories. Expand your search by adding "Robot Selected."
  • Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/)
    This indexes the Scout Report, a long-standing publication from University of Wisconsin, listing  recommended sites in the social sciences, business, science and technology.  Sites are selected by "librarians and educators" and have substantial annotations.  Since this database draws from reviews of sites as they come up or are suggested, subject coverage can be spotty.
  • BUBL Information Service (http://bubl.ac.uk/link/)
    An academic, UK-based directory of recommended sources, with annotations.
  • Intute (http://www.intute.ac.uk/)
    Another academic, UK-based directory of (fairly) reliable internet sources.
  • Librarians' Index to the Internet (http://lii.org/)
    An extremely selective list, maintained by the UC Berkeley Library. (Berkeley does good work!)  Each link has a helpful description. Slightly less academically oriented than the other directories listed.
  • DMOZ: Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org)
    One of the largest humanly-generated search tools, this relies on volunteer editors. The focus is more general audience, but it picks up a good portion of open access journals.
  • Some directories include databases among their listings.

o                                Geniusfind (http://www.geniusfind.com)
Loooong lists of databases available for searching.

o                                Direct Search (http://www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm)
This directory is browsable; has limited searching capabilities and a confusing interface.

Helpful sites: 


Evaluating web sites:
Caveat emptor!  Be critical of web sites.  While you can't always assess the actual information provided, there are a host of clues to help you sort out The Good Stuff:

1.  Authority clues:

  • Who wrote it?  Is a name or organization provided?
  • Are the credentials of the author or sponsoring agency provided?
  • What domain is it in?  Is it for-profit?  An organization?  A government site?
  • Does it provide footnotes links to other web sites?   Are they reputable sites?
  • Is the page subject to an editorial process? 

2.  Objectivity clues:

  • Is the purpose of the page clear?
  • Is it designed to shape readers' opinion?
  • Do the facts presented correspond to your best understanding of the topic?

3.  Currency clues:

  • Does the page indicate when it was produced?
  • Does it indicate when it was updated?
  • Do the links work?

4.  Audience:

  • Is the intended audience of the site identified?  
  • Is the audience appropriate with your project?

A word on Wikipedia:
Just a couple of links that discuss Wikipedia.

 

 

Questions?

If you've tried the sources above, and you're stumped, or if you need information in a hurry, check the following:

 

 

Above information taken from the Drew University library course page: http://www.drew.edu/depts/library/courseguides.aspx?id=7023