SMLLC - Dissertations: information and research skills

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Academic Skills: Information & Research Skills for Dissertationslibguides.rhul.ac.uk/

February 2015Russell Burke

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Aims of the session

4 key steps to planning your searching and information research:• Step 1 - Plan and prepare a literature search• Step 2 - Use LibrarySearch and subject specific resources to find

information• Step 3 – Adapt & refine your searches• Step 4 - Manage your references (& generate bibliographies

using RefWorks)

Don’t forget!• Accessing eresources off-campus• Using other libraries

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My essay question / research topic:

What do I want to find out?

(Describe the next slide: what do you see?

What words would you search for to find information on what is

depicted?)

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Keywords ….

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Task 1 – go to the Padlet on the Subject Guide for this session

“In the avant-garde films of the 1920s, everything we see, including the human being, is subservient to rhythm & movement.”

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Developing your search strategy

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“In the avant-garde films of the 1920s, everything we see, including the human being, is subservient to rhythm & movement.”

Main concepts Alternative terms1. avant-garde films Experimental, art,

modernist / cinema, filmmaking …

2. 1920s Early 20th Century, pre-war, silent era …

3. What we see on film

Mise-en-scène, frame(d), screen, shot, represented …

4. Rhythm & movement

Pace, flow, repetition, alternation, patterns, editing …

In summary: Step 1 - think about your own research topic & related concepts and write down the keywords that you need to search for

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Now that I know what I want to find out:

What resources would I use?

in your own time, see part 1 of the following prezi for an overview of the types of material

available via the Library:http://prezi.com/24tl5r36eel5/developing-your-search-skills/

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Task 2 – go to the Padlet on the Subject Guide for this session

Which resources and sources would you use in your research?

Please list as many resources or types of resources that you can think of.

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Selecting information sources

Library Subject Guides: libguides.rhul.ac.uk/

Online databases (eresources): libguides.rhul.ac.uk/az.php

LibrarySearch: librarysearch.rhul.ac.uk

Senate House Library catalogue (& eresources)Other internet resources…

These can also be found on the main Library webpage

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Why can’t I just use Google?

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In summary: Step 2 - use your Library Subject Guide and select the resources or types of resources you think you would need to use to carry out your research

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Now that I know what I want to find out & where to find the resources:

How do I carry out searches to find

information on my topic?

(By combining your search terms in meaningful way!)

See the SMLLC Library Subject Guide > Training > Searching

(for videos & more help)

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Combining keywords - AND

Narrow your search using AND (useful if you have too many results)e.g. avant-garde AND film

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Results containing AVANT-GARDE

Results containing

BOTH TERMS

Results containing

FILM

ie. only brings back results where all the words searched for are included somewhere in the title, summary and/or full-text

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Combining keywords - too few results?

Broaden your search using OR (useful if you have too few results)e.g. role OR function

15ie. brings back results where any the words searched for are included somewhere in the title, summary and/or full-text

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Making the most of synonyms

As well as searching for alternative terms, you can use wildcard characters ($ ? * -) to replace letters in search terms or to truncate a term:

Examples theat* - finds theatre, theater, theatrical, etc. wom*n - finds women, woman.

NB: Help pages in the online resources will explain which character is used as the wildcard

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Combining keywords – phrase searching

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“French New Wave”

“À la recherche du temps perdu”

Use quotation (speech) marks to search for phrases where word need to appear next to each other (e.g. specific terminology, title of books / films, names & places).

In summary: Step 3 - think about how you will combing keywords and enter your search queries in your selected eresources (adjusting terms as you need to)

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Now that I have found information on my topic:

How do I know that it is what I want and good

quality material?

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Evaluating information sources:

In your own time have a look at http://prezi.com/q5jglgamre6c/evaluating-information/

Reviewing & evaluating your research

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Reviewing & evaluating your researchDo you have

enough / too much

information?

Is it relevant to

your research?

Does it answer the

whole question?

Is the information

current / within the date you require

Do you need to

review your underlying research question?

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Now that I have the information (books, chapters, journal

articles, webpages etc) that I need:

How do I manage & reference them?

(You may have a lot of references and research material to keep track of!)

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Keeping track of useful items

• Emailing links to yourself• Using the e-shelf in LibrarySearch• Log in to LibrarySearch• Click on the star icon beside useful results• Go to ‘e-shelf’• Create baskets, email, export results• NB - most other eresources provide these functions (you can

do the same in JSTOR / ProjectMuse / MLA Bibliography• OR you can keep all of your references in ONE

PLACE and organised them by topic, essay title or course etc. by exporting references to RefWorks – this is really easy to do!23

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RefWorks

Bibliographic reference management software Capture, save and organise referencesCreate a bibliography for your essay from containing 1 to 1000 items in your Departments Referencing Style in seconds!Access it via the Library Subject Guides (Citation & Referencing)Contains online self-help tutorialsSign up to a free Library RefWorks training session:

Check the Library Information Skills Training Session on the Subject guide: http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/

In summary: Step 4 - save the results that you need (references, abstracts, URL links, full text) and organise these so that you can find them when you need them & reference them in your assignments

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Access online resources off-campus

Royal Holloway ‘Campus Anywhere’ (VPN)The only way to access all of our electronic resources off campus is to install the Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, known as 'CampusAnywhere'. 

This is quick and easy to set up and works on PCs, laptops & Macs

Go to the IT Services website to find out more:http://www.rhul.ac.uk/it/home.aspx

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Using other libraries

Royal Holloway students all get free access to Senate House Library (SHL):

take along your RHUL Id card if you want to borrow books or use the study space there.Online registration for SHL’s eresources:

see the ‘Beyond RHUL’ section on the Library Subject Guides for more informationAccess to other Libraries using SCONUL Access:

see the ‘Beyond RHUL’ section on the Library Subject Guides for more information

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Questions?

Russell BurkeInformation Consultant2-07 Bedford LibraryRoyal Holloway University of [email protected] 414065Please remember to always check:• LIBRARY SUBJECT GUIDES• @RHUL_Library on TWITTER • the Library’s FACEBOOK

PAGE for the latest information and updates!

Leo Reynolds. Flickr. CC-BY-NA