MEDIAST 130: Research Methods in Media Studies

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) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:10:10 -0800

1. Read an introduction to the campus libraries for undergraduates.

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

3. Need a map of the campus libraries?

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

5. Information about Citing Your Sources and links to guides for frequently used citation styles here.

For Media Studies

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:29:31 -0700

Library web page for Media Studies

To find online resources, start with the Library home > Electronic Resources > Browse: By subject > Media Studies > Encyclopedias (or dictionaries, or...)

Media Resource Center

lists of DVDs/videos by subject; see especial Ethnic Studies and Immigration

View lists of documentaries and feature films by topic; Film Studies resources, bibliographies, and more.

Keywords

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:45:29 -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)	African American(s)	Women	Advertising/Advertisement(s)
Stereotyp*	Black(s)	Gender	media
Depiction(s)	minority/minorities
Portrayal(s)
(etc.)

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

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.

Sample Searches OskiCat Media 130

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:31:57 -0700

Sample searches in OskiCat or MELVYL

immigration juvenile literature
immigra* agricultur* labor*

immigra* media

look at long form of relevant records and try out official subject headings

subject: united states emigration and immigration public opinion

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

in MELVYL:

you may limit your results to Berkeley
to borrow materials owned by other campuses, use the Request button
pull down the "University of California Libraries" menu to "Libraries Worldwide" to search thousands of libraries

in most library catalogs you may:

modify your searches or use Advanced searching to limit results to English, specify years of publication, limit to a library location, limit to a format (videos, manuscripts, etc.)
save items to a list and e-mail the list to yourself

Catalogs

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:39:03 -0800

To find books, DVDs, maps, sound recordings, manuscripts, and much more - everything except articles - use a library catalog.

OskiCat = most UC Berkeley libraries

MELVYL = all UC campus libraries, including all UC Berkeley libraries

What's the difference? more details here

For each item make sure you know the name of the physical library, call number, and whether or not it's checked out, library use only, etc.

Call numbers are on the spine of the book; l earn how to read them so you can find what you need on the shelves.

SMS and QR Codes in OskiCat

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:39:46 -0800

You can now text yourself a call number or use a QR code reader to find the location of an item in the UCB Library. Just click on a title in your OskiCat search results, and both options will be displayed on the right.

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 CSA Illumina Social Sciences

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:59:17 -0700

Note: remember, some very current topics won't retrieve any academic journal articles yet. You'll have to search for broader, related topics for articles that can provide you with the scholarly background for your paper, and use popular articles for the current information. Check with your instructor.

Sample searches in CSA Illumina Social Science databases:

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

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

Topic: media coverage of immigrants

     immigra*             (keywords)
     portray* or media or public opinion           (keywords)
     united states or america* (keywords)

keywords = searches most important parts of the record
two or more words together in one box = phrase (words found together, in that order)
select "English only" checkbox if desired

narrowing down search results - use official subject terms (descriptors)

immigra* (keywords)
portray* or media or public opinion (descriptor)
united states or america* (keywords)

narrowing down search results - add a term, OR use a narrower term:

add a row

immigra*             (keywords)
portray* or media or public opinion           (keywords)
united states or america* (keywords)
latino* or mexican* or hispanic*   (keywords)

immigra*             (keywords)
portray* or media or public opinion           (keywords)
united states or america* (keywords)
labor* or agricultur* or jobs      (keywords)

CSA Illumina: the Movie! (3:38 minutes) searching, includes UC e-links, saving to a list, displaying in citation format...

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

Searching multiple article databases relating to Media Studies

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:28:53 -0700

Library home > Articles > General Article Databases > Academic Search Complete

Academic Search Complete is an interdisciplinary database (covers all disciplines)

     illegal or undocumented        (keywords)
     immigra* (keywords)
     media or news*     (keywords)

type or if you need it between two terms

click on academic journals in the left column to limit to peer-reviewed journals

add more databases!

click on choose databases (at the top)

select Communications Abstracts, Film & Television Index, then OK

finally, try using official subject terms:

   illegal or undocumented        (keywords)
     immigra* (keywords)
     media or news*     (subject terms)

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.

Zotero Tips

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:37:22 -0700

If you've never used Zotero before, use the QuickStart Guide to get started.

Change your preferences if you want Zotero to

set your default citation style
search the full text of pdfs you save
Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items

To use Zotero to find specific articles in our library's databases, set up the Open URL resolver with this link: http://ucelinks.cdlib.org:8888/sfx_local?

An in-depth discussion of the relative virtues of Endnote and Zotero,

How to Avoid Plagiarism

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:37:56 -0700

In order to avoid plagiarism, you must give credit when

You use another person's ideas, opinions, or theories.
You use facts, statistics, graphics, drawings, music, etc., or any other type of information that does not comprise common knowledge.
You use quotations from another person's spoken or written word.
You paraphrase another person's spoken or written word.

Recommendations

Begin the writing process by stating your ideas; then go back to the author's original work.
Use quotation marks and credit the source (author) when you copy exact wording.
Use your own words (paraphrase) instead of copying directly when possible.
Even when you paraphrase another author's writings, you must give credit to that author.
If the form of citation and reference are not correct, the attribution to the original author is likely to be incomplete. Therefore, improper use of style can result in plagiarism. Get a style manual and use it.
The figure below may help to guide your decisions.

This content is part of the Understanding Plagiarism tutorial created by the Indiana University School of Education.

And When You Find It...Evaluate It!

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:53:56 -0700

You already know that you should evaluate anything you find on the Internet. Here are some reminders of what to look for.

Why Can't I Just Use Google?

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:37:48 -0800

If you want to use Google for research, use Google Books or Google Scholar.

Use the Advanced Search for more searching options.

Please note that Google Books search results do not necessarily include the full text of the book; some include no text at all, some include a limited preview (only some pages of the book).

When you use Google Scholar, make sure to update your Scholar Preferences (see below) so you'll be able to use UC e-links to find the UC Berkeley library locations/online availability of the articles.

Step 1: If you haven't already done this, set up your proxy server access by following the directions at http://proxy.lib.berkeley.edu/. When you get to a point where you are accessing resources that the Library pays for, you will be prompted for your CalNet ID and password. For more help see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/tutorials/proxy.html

Step 2: Change your “Scholar Preferences.” Access these by clicking on the small icon in the upper right of the screen.

Step 3: In search box next to "Library Links," type in University of California Berkeley and click on “Find Library”

Step 4: Check all the boxes next to "University of California Berkeley"

Step 5: Click on "Save Preferences" at bottom of page

Corliss Wants Your Feedback!

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:30:59 -0700

Please take just a second to give me some feedback on the workshop/course page. Anonymously, of course. Future generations of students will thank you!

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)