Transcript Resources Used in Research Research Methods and Data, College of Advancing Studies Brendan Rapple.

Resources Used in Research
Research Methods and Data,
College of Advancing Studies
Brendan Rapple
Information Explosion
 No longer just a 4 walled library
 The world of global material
Information Produced by Academic Institutions
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Research universities and colleges are major producers of knowledge.
Information Produced in the Private Sector
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Commercial newspapers
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Magazine and book publishers
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Film and television industry
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Corporate laboratories
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Business research firms
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You and I and everyone – posting to the web!
Print Material in Libraries
For most research papers in most disciplines, it is still necessary to
use the physical library and consult some traditional print material.
Print still lives!
Journal Articles
General Interest Magazines
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Time
Newsweek
Car and Driver
Vogue
Industry and Trade Magazines
• Advertising Age
• ComputerWorld
Peer Reviewed Journals
• Also referred to as "scholarly", "professional" or "refereed journals".
• Contain articles written by experts.
• Professionals from the field, (the author's peers), review the articles to ensure
that the information and research methods are correct.
How to Determine if a Particular Journal
is Peer Reviewed?
• Some databases permit one to limit one’s results to peer reviewed
journals, e.g.
Academic OneFile
• These limits are not always fool proof, but will help you narrow your
search significantly.
11/6/2015
If a Database Doesn't Permit One to Limit to
“Scholarly" or “Refereed" Journals?
Check the following:
• Are the author's credentials listed? Is the author even listed?
• Is there any information about the author(s) to help determine the
knowledge or expertise in the subject about which he is writing?
• What is the intended audience for this particular article – scholars,
children, general audience, etc.?
• Is there a list of reference, citations or a bibliography of sources used
by the author(s)? Are there footnotes or endnotes?
• Is there an abstract or "author's abstract" at the beginning of the article?
• Is there a bibliography/sources/references/citations/endnotes section?
• Does the journal have a "serious" look to it:
• Few, if any pictures, and fewer still in color?
• Does it have graphs, charts or tables?
• Few advertisements?
• If you locate the journal in print format, look at the first few pages.
• Journals will indicate their selection and editorial process there.
• In addition, you can consult the "Ulrich's Periodicals Directory" which
usually indicates if the journal is scholarly.
• Still, bear in mind that there are different levels of “scholarly”!!
Electronic Journals
• BC Libraries E-Journals Database
• ScienceDirect
• Project Muse
• and many others
Newspapers and News Services
• Many different types of newspapers
• Scores of national and foreign newspapers are now available online
• See the database PressDisplay:
o Same-day access to more than 2200 newspapers from the U.S. and more
than 97 other countries (54 languages represented). All papers are exactly
as they appear in print. Issues remain available online for 60 days.
Useful Newspaper Indexes, Databases, and News
Services
• LexisNexis Academic :
A vast resource of news sources: newspapers, magazines, wire
services, newsletters, journals, company and industry analyst
reports, broadcast transcripts, and abstracts.
• Reuters (http://www.reuters.com)
• CNN Interactive (http://www.CNN.com/)
• BBC
Other News Databases
 Boston Globe
 NY Times
 Ethnic Newswatch
 etc.
Zines
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Self-Published Online Periodicals
e.g. Quantum Muse
http://www.quantummuse.com./
Scholarly Books and Monographs
A Database Indexing Tens of Millions of Books:
WorldCat
Conference Papers/Proceedings
Working Papers
• Disseminate preliminary research results quickly.
• Usually issued in series by research institutes and university
departments.
• Example: ArXiv.org – a repository of almost half a million e-prints in
Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology and
Statistics
Microforms
 One of the most stable mediums used to store information for
long periods of time.
 Microfilm
 Microfiche
Bibliographies
Why reinvent the wheel?
Book Reviews
For example:
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Book Review Index
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals
Current Book Review Citations
Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities
National Library Service Cumulative Book Review Index
New York Times Book Review Index.
• See the guide: Finding Book Reviews
 Encyclopedias
 Atlases -- Many specifically focused indexes, e.g. Atlas of
the Classical World.
Biographical Information
Numerous print and online resources:
Online/Print
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Biography Index
Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Dictionary of Literary Biography
American National Biography
Current Biography
Dictionary of American Biography
Who's Who in America
Dissertations
ProQuest Digital Dissertations
Statistical Information
Archives and Manuscripts
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e.g. the database ArchivesFinder
Media Sources
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Visual, Sound Recordings etc.
Photographs
Advertisements
Posters
Magazine illustrations
Cartoons
Films
Fossils
Museum collections
Art gallery collections
may all constitute important research materials for researchers/
scholars.