HIST 103: Religion in the 20th Century United States

Doe, Main Stacks, Moffitt Library floorplans

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:11:09 -0700

Looking for a location in Doe, Main Stacks or Moffitt? Try the floorplans, or ask for assistance!

Library Prize for Undergraduate Research

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:53:30 -0800

The Library Prize for Undergraduate Research recognizes excellence in undergraduate research projects that show evidence of significant inquiry using the library, its resources, and collections and learning about the research and information-gathering process itself.

Graduate Theological Union

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:00:20 -0800

The Graduate Theological Union is "is the largest and most diverse partnership of seminaries and graduate schools in the United States", located a few blocks north of UC Berkeley. The GTU Library is one of the most comprehensive theological libraries in the country.

Read information for UC Berkeley students on using the GTU Library.

To find materials, search the GTU Library online catalog, GRACE.

Map and directions.

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.

Guide to writing history papers

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:34:30 -0700

The Research Process

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:02:39 -0700

Choose a topic.

Do a brain dump: Note down what you already know about your topic, including

Names of people, organizations, companies, time period you are interested in, places of interest [countries, regions, cities]

Fill in the gaps in your knowlege: get background information from encyclopedias or other secondary sources. Wikipedia can be good here.

Select the best places/ databases to find information on your topic. Look under the History Databases tab of this guide for article database suggestions. Or use a catalog like Oskicat or Melvyl to search for books and other resources.

Use nouns from your brain dump as search terms.

Evaluate what you find. Change search terms to get closer to what you really want.

Refine Your Topic - Using the information you have gathered, determine if your research topic should be narrower or broader. You may need to search basic resources again using your new, focused topics and keywords.

Take a look this short tutorial on beginning your research for more ideas.

Background Sources

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:09:36 -0800

Reference sources may be a good place to browse for topics, get an overview of a subject, find names, places, dates and facts that you can use in your research.

To find reference sources, try these strategies:

Library home > Electronic Resources > Electronic Resources: Subjects A-Z

Select a subject and browse "Other Resources for this Subject" in the left column (ex: dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.)

or search Oskicat by official subject heading and add appropriate subheadings, ex:

religion united states encyclopedias

ALSO: search for bibliographies

Jews United States Bibliography
Mormon* United States Bibliography

Examples of a few sources for background information, names, places, and possibly titles of primary sources:

How to Narrow Your Topic

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:09:43 -0700

"I'm writing a paper on World War II."

Often students start their research with a very general topic, even though they may realize the topic is too large to deal with in a 10-15 page paper. Faculty and librarians tell them, "You have to narrow this down." But how do you narrow a topic?

Ask yourself--

What discipline am I working in? If you are in a sociology class, ask a sociological question about World War II, like "How did WWII affect women?" If it's a political science class, your question might be something like "How did WWII affect presidential elections in the US?"

What are some subsets or aspects of your topic. Some good aspects are:
- by place, such as a country or region
- by time period, such as a century, decade or year
- by population, such as men, women, ethnic group, youth, children or elderly

You can combine these ideas, "What were the major impacts of WWII on women in France, in the decade after the war?"

More ideas in our brief tutorial on topic selection and narrowing.

Library Workshop: Research 101

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:08:25 -0700

Unsure how to start a paper or research project? Think maybe you could stand to brush up on search strategies?

If this sounds familiar, Library Workshop: Research 101 has you covered. This interactive tutorial explores six stages of the research process. You can view it from start to finish, or focus on specific sections as needed:

1: Begin Your Research

Starting strategies, from choosing a topic to finding the right keywords.

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.

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.

Searching OskiCat

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:13:02 -0800

Search OskiCat for both primary and secondary sources. Examples:

(keywords) military chaplain* vietnam*
(keywords) chinese catholic* san francisco

* = truncation symbol/wildcard for variant word endings
ex: child* = child childs children childish childhood

to retrieve more items, use fewer search terms (or broader search terms):

(keywords) chaplain* vietnam*
(keywords) chinese religion* san francisco

sometimes you have to try over and over to find a term:

(jews university/jews academia/jewish professors...none of these work out)

(keywords) jewish intellectuals

look at the titles and official subject terms and find other terms:

jews intellectual life
jewish scholars
jewish college teachers

if you know the name of a person or organization, search it both as an author and as a topic:

author: o'connor, john joseph

subject: o'connor, john joseph

Try out these OskiCat features:

limit your search to a type of material (DVDs) or a library location (Doe Reference)
save items to a list you can e-mail/download/print
place a recall request online
request items from storage (NRLF)
view a list of items you have checked out
send call numbers to your cell phone (see below)
receive alerts of new items that match your search terms ("preferred search")

Article Databases - Selected

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:25:23 -0800

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.

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

Primary Source Databases - Selected

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:25:42 -0800

For a complete list, start with the Library home > Electronic Resources > Electronic Resources, Types A-Z > Archival Collections and Primary Sources

Searching OskiCat for Primary Sources

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:54:13 -0800

Search OskiCat for primary sources using keywords and adding terms that denote primary sources, such as:

-correspondence
-sources
-diaries
-personal narratives
-interviews
-speeches
-documents
-archives
-newspapers

Examples:

puerto rican* interviews
african american soldiers personal narratives
irish american* newspapers

Primary Sources

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:49:33 -0800

Primary sources can be found in a variety of library tools:

Catalogs: OskiCat and Melvyl
Online book and text collections
Primary Source databases provided by the Library
includes databases for finding newspaper articles, such as Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) or magazine articles, such as Reader's Guide
Vetted sites on the web:

For specific search strategies, see the Library's Guide to Finding Historical Primary Source s

Learn more about your topic in advance:

names of relevant individuals and organizations
dates of events
places
what terminology was used at the time by participants and observers? (ex: negro or colored instead of african american)

Use the bibliographies of secondary sources and reference sources to find citations to specific primary sources; search OskiCat to locate them on campus, or ask for assistance at the Library.

Citation Management Tools

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:05:51 -0700

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.
EndNote: may be purchased from UC Berkeley's Software Central.

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

Citing Your Sources

clee@library.berkeley.edu (Corliss Lee) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:59:25 -0700

The UCB Library Guide to Citing Your Sources discusses why you should cite your sources and links to campus resources about plagiarism. It also includes links to guides for frequently used citation styles. Also:

MLA handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
Doe Reference Reference Hall LB2369 .G53 2009
Main Gardner Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009
Many older editions available throughout the UCB libraries.
The Chicago Manual of Style (UCB-only access)
15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003. Searchable, online version of the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition).
Many print editions available throughout the UCB Libraries.
Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More (UCB-only access) Charles Lipson. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006.
Many print editions throughout the libraries.
Columbia Guide to Online Style (UCB-only access)
Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. 2nd ed. NY: Columbia Univ. Press. 2006.
Many print editions throughout the UCB libraries.

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.

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.

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)