Lecture Three: Step 3 - The Literature Search

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How does the formulation of the research topic help you in your research?

What are some strategies to help you discover a topic?

Why does one write up a preliminary thesis and outline?

How does a thesis differ from a research topic?

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A declaration A statement that will control the paper’s

direction A sentence that will confine the paper’s

content. A thesis statement will propose a

conclusion

The author will defend/ try to convince the reader/ argue the thesis statement in the paper.

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Keywords are words or phrases

Discrimination against young women in the classroom, known as ‘shortchanging” harms the women academically, socially and psychologically.

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Early intervention programs aimed at improving the literacy in children at risk of failure will lead to societal benefits.

• early literacy beginning reading• programs intervention• at risk potential drop outs• benefits impact, advantages

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Be as specific as possible to describe the concepts in your thesis

Word endings adolescents or adolescence

Variant spellings behavior or behaviour

Avoid using words that have multiple meanings (homographs)

primarypresent

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Step 3: The Literature search◦ Facts vs Opinions◦ Locating scholarly information◦ Types of sources◦ Primary vs secondary sources

Library’s Online Catalogue

Searching CLUES◦ Known item search◦ Keyword search◦ Boolean operators and Wildcards◦ Limits

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1. Select your topic2. Develop a preliminary thesis 3. Conduct a literature search4. Create a working bibliography5. Evaluate sources6. Write the final thesis 7. Prepare the paper & bibliography

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Sources

Library catalogueIndexes & abstractsWeb sources

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Multi-stepped and lengthy phase of research process

Focus will be on the use of database-driven retrieval tools:◦ Library catalogues◦ Subject-specific, multi-disciplinary, and

specialized databases◦ Web-based search engines

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Research papers contain both facts and opinions taken from outside sources

Fact◦ Denotes something that exists◦ Can be verified or proven◦ Example: Number of children who are reading below grade level by the age of

eight

Opinion◦ Is an idea about a fact or another opinion◦ Is an interpretation, a deduction, or a supposition◦ Example: Reasons why children are reading below grade level

A fact can be confirmed, whereas an opinion

can be explained or defended but not proven

definitively.

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Locating scholarly information

Primary vs Secondary Sources

Evaluating the information◦ Documentation

◦ Currency

◦ Review

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◦ A document or object that was created as the original original words of its creator/author

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (excerpts or translations acceptable): Diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records, journals

CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry, drama, novels, music, art, photographs

RELICS OR ARTIFACTS: Pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings

◦ Can quote more extensively from primary sources as they will have direct relevance to paper

◦ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html

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The Diary of Anne Frank - Experiences of a Jewish family during WWII The Constitution of Canada - Canadian History Pottery - Native American history Watercolour painting of Montreal – Canadian Art History 

A journal article reporting NEW research or findings

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Secondary sources◦ Works about someone or about their

accomplishments or findings◦ Discusses the primary sources

◦ An interpretation, evaluation or analysis

◦ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html

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A journal/magazine article which interprets or reviews previous findings 

A textbook   An analysis of poetry A biography

◦ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html

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“Doing research is all about trust. If you trust the person who created a secondary source, then there isn't a problem about using it. However, if you don't trust that person, if you think their version is a exaggerated or biased, or if you want to see the original evidence for yourself, then you have to go to the primary sources. “  ◦ From http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.html

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Newspaper

Blog post

Census data

Weather report  

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• What is in CLUES?◦ Books◦ Journals (Periodicals)◦ Video◦ Music◦ Reserve items◦ Theses◦ Special collections◦ Eresources – ebooks & ejournals◦ Indexes & abstracts

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• CLUES contains links to full-text purchased by the Library for Concordia students and faculty.

• The first place to start your research!

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Preselected fields◦ Author◦ Title◦ Journal Title◦ Subject Heading◦ Call Number◦ Video Search◦ Advanced keyword◦ Author/Title◦ Government Document Number◦ ISBN/ISSN/Music Number◦ Other Number (OCLC)◦ Special Collections◦ Databases Search (Name & Subject)

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Known item search, use:

Search Options (with tips)

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Boolean Operators Three operators that are used to logically

combine keywords within a search statement

AND OR NOT

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AND◦ Used between terms expressing dissimilar

concepts◦ BOTH terms must appear in results◦ Example: Literacy AND elementary

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Literacy (1426 recs)

Elementary (4442 recs)

Total retrieved: 180 records

OR◦ Used between terms expressing a similar concept◦ EITHER term must appear in results◦ Example: Literacy OR Reading

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Literacy (1426 recs)

Reading(5686 recs)

Total retrieved: 6734 records

NOT◦ Used to eliminate unwanted terms from search

results◦ NOTed term(s) must not appear in the results◦ CLUES uses “AND NOT”◦ Example: Literacy NOT adult

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Literacy (1426 recs)

Adult (2604 recs)

Total retrieved: 1237 records

Using our keywords for the two main concepts…

Early literacy beginning readingprograms intervention

…we can design the following search statement:

(early literacy OR beginning reading) AND (programs OR intervention)

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• Phrase Searching◦ Use quotes around two or more words◦ Terms will appear side by side in the order

specified

• Example: “food security”

• Wildcards Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk ('*') in place of other characters. The '*' wildcard may also be embedded in a search string. You may use '?' to replace a single character anywhere within a word.

•

Examples : environment* polic*, wom?n

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• Limiting fields◦Those fields that contain information common to many records◦Restrict search results by certain limits

◦Examples: Language, Date, Material type

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Arrange your concepts into a logically correct search statement:

(Inuit OR Eskimo) AND (Food or nutrition) AND Canad*

Use: Advanced Keyword Look at the record to find your keywords –

what colour are they?

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Arrange your keywords into a logically correct search statement:

Use: Advanced Keyword Look at the record to find your keywords –

what colour are they?

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Beginning the literature search◦ Form judgments about the type and quality of

information that is to be retrieved

◦ Scan material to learn about purpose, scope, relevant ideas etc.

◦ Takes notes on discoveries

CLUES◦ Fields in CLUES records◦ Keyword searches on CLUES◦ Use of advanced commands in Keyword search

Next week: Searching Subject headings

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