McGill Library and your thesis

MCGILL LIBRARY AND YOUR THESIS

Psychiatry PGSA Thesis Day

May 23, 2014

The library’s role in your thesis

Part 1: Other people’s work (or, looking at other theses)

Part 2: The literature review: why & how

Part 3: Library services & the Writing Centre

Starting point: Look at other theses

Why bother? Understand expectations Discover extensive

bibliographies

Check out the library guide to finding theses

Image source: http://wani-loneranger.blogspot.ca/2011/02/reading-habit.html

Finding theses online

eScholarship@McGill: McGill’s digital repositorySearch by:

Keyword Faculty or Department

ProQuest Theses & DissertationsSearch by

Keyword Subject (Search options > Subject heading

(all) > Look up subjects)

Why write a literature review?

Your literature review situates your research within the scholarly conversation on your topic.

Source: Single, P. B. (2009). Demystifying dissertation writing: A streamlined process from choice of topic to final text. Sterling, Va: Stylus.

Set out to understand the conversation

Secondary sources: Textbooks,

government sources, associationsSecondary

sources: Literature reviews

Primary sources: Original research

Timeline for research dissemination

event hours days months years …and years …

social media

research-in-

progress conferenc

e proceedin

gs

news outlets

conference

proceedings

journal articles

collected articles

textbooks

Adapted from http://www2.lib.unc.edu/instruct/tutorial/index.html?section=searching

Using McGill Library to find resources

Using the WorldCat Local discovery tool (especially helpful for known items)

Finding key resources: the Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology Subject Guide

Look to other subject guides (e.g. Social Work, Nursing, Education, etc.)

Scavenger Hunt!

Image source: http://research.dejanseo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/searching-web1.jpg

What about Google Scholar?

Strengths: Finding the

needle in the haystack (full-text searching)

Bringing your literature forward (who cited my most relevant articles?)

Image source: http://www.tophc.ca/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=42

If you can’t find what you need

Use COLOMBO for inter-library loan (remember to “Create a request”)

Books, DVDs: contact me to suggest for purchase

Remember the 15-minute rule!

Image sourcehttp://www.analomba.com/anas-blog/part-2-only-15-minutes-for-spanish-then-be-aware-of-this/

Evaluate sources critically!

• For help in assessing sources, consult: “How to read a paper” articles by Tricia Greenhalgh (PubMed Central) 10 papers on assessing different article types

Organize your research

Create accounts (e.g. Ovid, EBSCO) and save your database searches

Set up alerts to discover new information on your topic

Track what you read using a synthesis matrix (see handout)

Citation assistance

EndNote: download it here Create a library Import references directly from database Organize references into groups Attach full-text PDFs Cite While You Write (syncs with Microsoft Word) Format citations

Citing in APA: See Purdue University’s Citation Guide, Purdue Owl

Citation assistance: contact [email protected]

Library Services

Consultations (1 on 1) Search strategy Consulting the Grey Literature EndNote troubleshooting

Workshops (group) MyResearch EndNote

Non-library resource: The McGill Writing Centre

Graphos: free programs offered by the McGill Writing Centre for grad students, including: General courses Workshops* Peer Writing Groups* Tutorials (McGill Writing Centre)

*Not offered in the summer

Questions?

Pamela Harrison, Liaison LibrarianPhone: 514-398-6272

Email: [email protected]