Transcript SFU Library: Resources and Research – Criminology Honours

SFU Library: Resources and
Research – Criminology Honours
Presented by
Yolanda Koscielski,
Liaison Librarian,
Criminology & Psychology
[email protected]
Outline
1. What is a Literature Search?
2. Where to Search
3. Information Sources
4. Working your Topic
5. Library Surprise
1. What is a Literature Search?
“ A systematic and thorough search of all
types of published literature in order to
identify as many items as possible that are
relevant to a particular topic” (Ridley, 2008).
Q1
• In addition to being an essential source of
information for your thesis project, what are
some of the other reasons & benefits for
conducting a literature review?
Purposes of a Literature Search
1. To identify the field and specific context in which your work is
situated.
2. It can assist you in identifying your approach to the research
and the methodology you wish to adopt.
3. It will help you identify the type of data you might collect and
use, sites of data collection, the sample size, and how you
might analyze this data.
Purposes of a Literature Search con’t
4. A means of extending your understanding of the key
concepts, theories, and methodologies in your field.
5. To find out what others have done in the area so as to
avoid duplicating previous work.
6. Identify key people, organizations, and texts which are
relevant to your research.
The Landscape of the Lit Review
“We can see reported speech [i.e., text in
journal articles] as mapping a set of positions in
the territory of knowledge producers. On this
map, no spot can be occupied simultaneously by
more than one publication; that is, the
publication must be “original”. Some disciplinary
locations on the map are very heavily
populated….Competition for space is keen, and
researchers vie for position”.
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The Landscape of the Lit Review
“One way they can get title to a location on the map is by
claiming to add to existing knowledge: a space that has
been recognized as unoccupied or only tentatively claimed
gets filled up with new data and further reasoning.
Sometimes the space has not yet been recognized: it has
gone unnoticed by others. Another way scholars get title to
a position on the map is to evict the current occupant. They
show that previously established knowledge cannot hold
that ground because it is faulty or undeserving in some
way” -- Janet Giltrow, Academic Writing, (1995, 2nd
edition), pg. 286
2. Where to Search
SFU Library Website = Your gateway to research
resources
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1.35 million books
400,000 ebooks
63,000 ejournals
500 database subscriptions
GIS + Maps, images, streaming music + movies, video games, etc.
Research data library with specialized datasets
• Key sources: Subject Research Guides, Publication
Type Research Guides, Databases by Subject Area
Where to Search…?
Catalogue
Fast
Search
Library
Search
Databases
Google
Q3: What is the difference between the search tools?
Fast Search
Library Search
SFU Library’s
matryoshka dolls
Catalogue
aussiegall. (2006). Russian dolls. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/288377539/
The Catalogue
• The base source, ingested and displayed by the more
general sources
• Strength: searching for books using subject headings
• Contains info on all books and other individual items
(moves, maps, journal titles, database titles)
• Weaknesses: no journal or newspaper article-level
indexing; less aesthetically pleasing
• DEMO: 3 fields to note, typical book record, online icon
SFU’s “Google” – Fast Search
•Books
•eBooks
•Journal Articles
•Newspaper Articles
•Images
•Videos/DVDs
•Music
All catalogue
content, PLUS
journal articles +
newspaper articles
– *many*
•Maps
•SFU
theses/dissertations
•Government
documents
•Sound recordings (CBC
Ideas)
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FastSearch
Subject
Terms ≠
Subject
Headings
Use with
caution
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Fast Search
• Key advantages of Fast Search:
– Broad search can capture unique terms/proper
names across thousands of sources
– Tool for beginning research outside your discipline
– 3 Branch availability facet, peer-review checkbox
– Easy export to citation managers
– Add results beyond your library’s collection
– Search for books and articles at the same time
– Easy faceted searching, DOI search
Fast Search
• Beware:
– Subject terms not useful for literature review
– Missing journal content; coverage is maybe 95% of
SFU Library content
– Not mapped to a specific discipline, with associated
search limiters and features (controlled vocabularies,
populations, etc.)
– Lots of citation “noise”
– Peer-review limit facet not completely accurate (as
with most databases)
DEMO:
Library Search
Library Search
All catalogue content,
PLUS Fast Search
Content, PLUS the
library’s website,
Summit, Best Bets,
external pages.
Criminology 220
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Library Search
• Searches 100% of Fast Search content, plus more; top of the data
food chain
• Divides Fast Search content by info type, including newspapers
• Plus:
– Summit (the Institutional Repository)
– The library website – FAQs, Research Guides & special collections
– Better for known item book search
– Course reserves
– ISBN search  ILL request form if not filled
– “Best bets”, e.g., Criminal Code
– Often too broad for searches
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Some Google Strengths
1.Known-item searching (excellent with
keywords)
2.Long-tail searching (i.e., low occurrence of
word)
3.Times Cited tool (use with caution)
4. Books – out-of-copyright full-text access,
locating a quote
5. One search box
6. US case law
7. Extremely user-friendly
Some Google Weaknesses
1. Low level of subject + author collocation
2. Not mapped to a specific discipline
3. Less search sophistication
4. Missing deep data (e.g. statistics)
5. Not usually free
• Search via library
6. Mysterious algorithms (Coverage? Publishers?
Opposite of transparent sources like PsycINFO).
7. Dirty data
Subject-Specific Databases
• Examples: PsycINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts
• Benefits:
– Mapped to a disciplinary perspective
– High quality metadata
– Search limiters unique to discipline, allow finetuning of search results
– Search history and search sets
– Subject headings that are key to a lit review
• But: more time-consuming, more narrow
Q3. Information Sources
• In order to conduct a thorough literature
review, you will need to search a broad range
of sources. What are some databases you
might use for journal articles?
• What about for other sources like statistics,
policy papers, books?
The Usual Suspects for Crim Articles
• Criminology databases:
– Criminal Justice Abstracts, National Criminal
Justice Reference Service
• Other discipline-based databases:
– PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts
• General databases:
– Academic Search Premier, Web of Science
The above are great for journal articles.
Consider Specialized Databases:
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PC Census or Simply Map
Canadian Public Policy Collection
PsycTESTS
Sage Research Methods Online
Inter-university Consortium for Political and
Social Research (ICPSR)
Encyclopedias
• Overview of your topic / the “big picture”
• Particularly helpful if working outside your area
• Written with the academic in mind, often by specialists in
the field
• Use the bibliography to identify key articles, studies,
authors, etc.
• Gale Virtual Reference Library (multiple subject areas)
• Sage eReference Library ( about 15 Crim titles)
• Check research guides, Online Reference Sources web page
Featured Resource
Oxford Bibliographies Online
-Subject module for Criminology
-Written and peer-reviewed by international
experts
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“Crime Victims' Rights Movement”
“Routine Activity Theories”
Provides:
• Key Readings
• Ideas for keywords for searching
4. Working Your Topic
• Do you have a subject area, topic, or thesis?
– Subject is very broad: freedom of information,
Charter of Rights and mental illness
– Topic adds a second concept, explores a
relationship or question between the two
concepts: testosterone levels in sex offenders,
effect of art therapy on recidivism
– Thesis: you are making an assertion and providing
supportive evidence: Art therapy decreases
recidivism in young offenders
Working Your Topic
• Subjects can be researched at the exploratory
level (browse journals, use encyclopedias)
• Effective literature review searching requires a
working thesis
• Try posing your thesis in a question format:
– What is the impact of art therapy on recidivism in
young offenders?
Working Your Topic
Next, think of synonyms, plus broader, narrower
and related terms for each of your concepts:
What is the impact of art therapy on recidivism in
young offenders?
Art therapy
Recidivism
Young offenders
Music therapy (RT)
Dance therapy (RT)
Graffiti club (NT)
Repeat offender
(synonym)
Early adolescent offenders
(NT)
Juvenile Delinquents
(synonym)
Criminals (BT)
Working your topic
• Test your keywords out in the database: find the
best keywords and subject headings for your
searches.
• Subject headings: a systematic, hierarchical, and
finite language used for describing
subjects/concepts.
• Articles and books will usually have 3-8 subject
headings assigned to their bibliographic record.
These are provided by live humans (as opposed
to their robot counterparts).
Subject Headings
• Each database may have a slightly different look and feel,
but they all work in the same general way, usually with
subject headings/descriptors as a field in each database
• Subject heading languages will usually be unique to each
database, e.g., MESH (Medical Subject Headings) of
PubMed, PsycINFO thesaurus for PsycINFO
• Demo: our 3 concepts in PsycINFO
• Can start with thesaurus directly or keyword search
• Sometimes keywords = subject headings
Search Operators
• Boolean operators AND and OR used to join keywords in
database searching (often automatic in search forms)
• Use AND to narrow or focus the search (using key
words/terms)
• Example: creative arts therapy AND criminals
Creative
arts therapy
Criminals
AND
creative
arts therapy
Criminals
• Use OR to expand your search results (using related
words/concepts)
• Example: music therapy OR art therapy OR dance
therapy
Art
Dance
Music
therapy
therapy
therapy
Search Tips
• Use quotation marks to search for an exact
phrase
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Example: “art therapy”
• Use truncation (*) to search for related words
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Truncation. This expands a search term to include all forms of a
root word
Example: technolog* will search for technology, technologies,
technological, etc.
Art therapy
(a broad
“subject”) +
something
else
Art therapy AND
criminals, or
Criminals AND
recidivism
Art therapy
AND recidivism
AND young
offenders
Journal Article Citations
• Use the Times Cited/Cited By feature
– Caveat: you’ll only see results from journals the
vendor or database indexes, so try a few sources
Q4: You have a key citation in hand for a journal
article. What is the best way to see if the library has
it?
Grascia, A. M. (2004). Gang violence: Mara salvatrucha -"forever salvador". Journal of Gang Research, 11(2), 2936.
Articles – Multiple Ways to Track Down a
Citation
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Library Search
Catalogue—Journal Title Search
Databases
Fast Search
Citation Finder
Electronic Journals Link
Google via the Library
Most accurate way of determining SFU access is the
journal title search in the catalogue. Simplest is
LibrarySearch.
Library Surprise
Good things to know…
• Fun stuff: Videomatica documentary
collection
• Interlibrary loans available
– Book checked out already
– Print preference
• Many service points for research help
• BrowZine – A virtual bookshelf of SFU Library's scholarly
online journals on your tablet device.
Submit your Honours Theses!
• You are welcome to submit your Honours
Theses to Summit, SFU Library’s
Institutional Repository
• Other Crim Honours Theses
• Criminology grad theses & dissertations
Citation Management Software
Software which allows you store, organize and
cite your citations
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Refworks
Zotero
Endnote Web
Mendeley