COLWRIT R1A: Grassroots Movements for Peace

SMS and QR Codes in OskiCat

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:46:37 -0700

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.

The Research Process

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:30:01 -0800

1. State your problem as a question as succinctly as possible.

2. 'Brain dump': Write 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], conceptual terms...

3. Decide what disciplinary methodologies you plan to use: e.g., sociology, political science, literature, psychology...

4. Fill in the gaps in your knowlege: get background information from specialized encyclopedias or other secondary sources. Wikipedia can sometimes be good here, or Google News.

5. Select the best places/ databases to find information on your topic from the Library's list of databases by subject. Or use a catalog like Oskicat or Melvyl to search for books and other resources.

6. Use nouns from your brain dump as search terms.

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

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

Campus Library Map

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:50:03 -0700

Click on the image below to see a larger interactive version of the campus library map.

You can also view/download a PDF map of library locations. For library contact information and building addresses, visit our directory.

News databases

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:18:51 -0700

The newspaper databases listed here contain articles published mostly after 1985. For historical topics use Historical Newspapers [Proquest] database

Peace and Conflict Studies databases

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:36:48 -0700

SMS and QR Codes in OskiCat

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:43:02 -0700

Search Terms for PeaceTopics

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:49:02 -0700

Within OskiCat, you can do either a keyword or subject search for your topic; usually you will get more results with a keyword search, while subject searching will retrieve fewer but more relevant results (if you use the correct subject terms). Subject terms are created by librarians and database vendors, so may not use natural language terms. But when you find a specific subject heading, your searching will be much more efficient

Here are some examples of subject headings for peace topics:

Peace movements
Peace movements-- History
Peace movements--[country name]

Related terms:

disarmament
peace-building
peaceful change
pacifism

The term 'grassroots' is informal. One possible subject heading is 'local government'; another is 'community organization.'

How to Avoid Plagiarism

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:39:23 -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.

Research Advisory Service

ljones@library.berkeley.edu (Lynn Jones) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:36:28 -0800

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.

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.