AMER STD 191: American Studies Thesis

Library Prize

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:26:18 -0700

The UCB Library sponsors the Library Prize for Undergraduate Research. Win $1000 (upper division students) or $750 (lower division students) for your research paper!

Quick Links

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 11:51:54 -0700

Read an introduction to the campus libraries for undergraduates.

Set up your computer for off campus access to library databases.

Need a map of the campus libraries?

Each library has its own hours. Click on the calendar for each library to view a month at a time.

Brainstorming Academic Disciplines

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:20:02 -0700

Example:

Topic: Image of African American women in advertising

potentially relevant disciplines:

African American Studies
Gender and Women's Studies
Ethnic Studies
Media Studies
Psychology
Sociology
Business
etc.

Keywords - Brainstorming

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:30:35 -0700

Developing appropriate keywords/search terms is an essential part of research. First, break your topic into components. Develop a list of synonyms and alternative terminology for each component. Think about broader and narrower concepts and word variants. What words can you exclude?

Topic: Image of African American Women in Advertising

image(s) or stereotyp(es)(ing) or depict(ion) or portray(al)...

african american(s) or black(s) or minorit(y)(ies)

women or gender

advertis(e)(ing) or media

Remember to be creative with your terminology! More examples:

people of color and environmental activism*
environmental justice
environmental justice and hazardous waste*
environmental equity
environmental discrimination
environmental racism
environmental injustice

Search Results

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:23:31 -0700

click on the title to see full record (including abstracts and descriptors)
to limit by publication type (peer-reviewed journals, conferences, books, etc.) click on the appropriate tab or link
if necessary,look for other limits (latest update, journal articles only, english only) and more advanced searches
select records to save to your personalized list; lists may be e-mailed, downloaded, printed

UC-eLinks - Find Article Text/Location

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:45:40 -0700

Once you've searched a database to find articles, you may need to use to link to a PDF or html file if the full text is not immediately available. Each database is a bit different, but a good rule of thumb is this: when you see the Uc-eLinks icon click on it to view your article access options, which can range from full text to a call number to an Interlibrary Loan request:

For more information, here's a tutorial on using UC-eLinks.

Searching

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:47:35 -0800

Sample searches in CSA Illumina Social Science databases:

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > Sociology > Sociology Abstracts: click on the CSA Illumina Social Sciences link to search multiple social science databases

1. Example of a search using multiple terms, phrase searching, alternative terms, truncation,etc

african american* or black*
television
comed*

keywords = searches most important parts of the record

add a term to narrow your search results

male* or masculin* (keywords)

* = truncation symbol or wildcard; child* = child, childs, children, childish, childhood

2. search using official subject terms ("descriptors")

free university (keywords)
san francisco (keywords)

look for official subject terms that could be useful, for example:

experimental colleges (descriptor)

3. cannabis or marijuana (keywords)
decriminalization (keywords)

note other search terms that could be useful, such as: policy legalization marijuana laws etc.

4. to find more results, especially when the topic is too new for academic journal articles: broaden your terms

yankee stadium

broaden your terms:

stadium* or arena* (keywords)
impact (keywords)
communit* (keywords)

Sample searches in Business Source Complete:

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > Business > Business Source Complete

alcohol or tobacco (select a field)
strategic market* (select a field)

too broad? try changing the field you're searching:

alcohol or tobacco (subject term)
strategic market* (select a field)

Article Databases

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:37:16 -0700

Search an article database to find citations (title, author, title of journal, date, page numbers) for articles on a particular topic. The Library gives you access to over 200 article databases covering different disciplines.

1. Think about which academic disciplines might write about your topic. Examples: literature, film, anthropology, history...

2. Find the appropriate article database by subject (academic discipline or department). Look for "Recommended" databases.

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject

Citation Management Tools

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:21:33 -0800

Citation management tools help you manage your research, collect and cite sources, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but any are easier than doing it by hand!

Zotero: A free plug-in that works exclusively with the Firefox browser: keeps copies of what you find on the web, permits tagging, notation, full text searching of your library of resources, works with Word, and has a free web backup service.

RefWorks - free for UC Berkeley users. It allows you to create your own database by importing references and using them for footnotes and bibliographies. Use the RefWorks New User Form to sign up. Refworks Help is pretty good.

How to link from the Refworks record to a pdf on your hard drive

Exporting from OskiCat to Refworks

EndNote: may be purchased from UC Berkeley's Software Central. The Library's Guide to EndNote. And more Tips from EndNote.

It's always good to double check the formatting -- sometimes the software doesn't get it quite right.

Google Research Tools

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:00:50 -0700

Google Scholar is an easy way to do interdisciplinary research, and with some settings changes can become even more useful. You may need a Google account to use some of these features.

Set up Google Scholar to display links to full text of articles that Berkeley subscribes to:

Open Scholar. Click on scholar preferences [upper right corner]. Under Library Links, enter the word Berkeley. Choose UC Berkeley eLinks and Open WorldCat - Library Search and Save your preferences. UC e-links will now appear in Google Scholar search results.

Set up a Google Scholar Alert to be automatically notified when new articles are added to Google on topics of interest:

Do your search in Google Scholar. Look in the green toolbar for the envelope icon, and click it. New items will be sent to your email account as they are found by Google.

Ever wanted to trace an article’s impact? Google now permits searching within citing articles.

Do a Google Scholar search. Click on the "Cited by" link under a citation and select the "Search within articles citing..." checkbox.

Corliss Wants Your Feedback!

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:56:06 -0800

Please take a few minutes to give me some feedback about the library workshop and this course page! Anonymously, of course.

Research Advisory Service

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:34:47 -0700

Research Advisory Service for Cal Undergraduates

Book a 30-minute appointment with a librarian who will help refine and focus research inquiries, identify useful online and print sources, and develop search strategies for humanities and social sciences topics (examples of research topics).

Schedule, view, edit or cancel your appointment online (CalNetID required)

This service is for Cal undergraduates only. Graduate students and faculty should contact the library liaison to their department or program for specialized reference consultations.

Ask a Librarian 24/7 Chat

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:03:23 -0700

Getting Help

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:44:57 -0800

Other ways to get help: in person, by e-mail, using specialized chat services

And of course: e-mail Corliss or email Theresa (Bancroft Library)