DT5210 Research methodologies session 2 2013
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Transcript of DT5210 Research methodologies session 2 2013
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Drama and Theatre Research Methodologies http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/drama
15 October 2013
Kim Coles
Library
Session Outline
2
• Accessing e-resources off-campus • Developing a search strategy • Online resources for Drama and Theatre • Citing references / creating a bibliography • … anything else?
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Access online resources off-campus
Royal Holloway ‘Campus Anywhere’ (VPN)
The only way to access all of our electronic resources off campus is to install the Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, known as 'CampusAnywhere'.
How to set up the VPN connection: http://www.rhul.ac.uk/it/home.aspx
and follow the link: Campus Anywhere
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Developing a search strategy
1. Identify keywords that define your research question
2. Select relevant information sources
3. Evaluate and modify your searches
4. Select and save results
5. Locate copies of promising texts
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My essay question / research topic:
What do I want to find out?
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6
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Identifying key concepts & keywords
Alternative terms e.g. governance / policy / regulation
Alternative spellings e.g. colour or color; theatre or theater
Changing terminology e.g. global warming / climate change
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Analysing your query - an example
Finding information on: ‘depictions of madwomen’
Main aspects Alternative terms
1. madness Insanity, mental illness,
hysteria
2. women Female, gender, sex
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Exercise 1
Think about your own dissertation / essay topic / research interests and spend 5 minutes planning your search.
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Now that I know what I want to find out:
What resources would I use?
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Types of Resources
Books Journals Statistics
Websites Databases Reports
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Selecting information sources
Drama and Theatre Subject Guide
Online databases
LibrarySearch
Senate house library catalogue
Other internet resources
These can also be found on the main Library webpage
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Activity 2
Spend 2-3 minutes browsing the Drama Subject Guide and the suggested resources, and tick the box in the handbook which resources or types of resources/information you think you would use to carry out your research.
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Now that I know what I want to find out & where to find the resources:
How do I search for information on my topic?
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Wildcard searching – hints & tips
Use wildcard characters ($ ? * -) to replace letters in
search terms
Examples
theat* - finds theatre, theater, theatrical etc.
*owl* - finds howl, howler, owl, owls, bowl, etc.
wom*n - finds women, woman, etc.
NB: Help pages in online databases will explain
which character is used as the wildcard
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Reviewing your results – hints & tips
Too many results?
Narrow your search using: AND
e.g.
female AND madness
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Reviewing your results – hints & tips
Too few results?
Broaden your search using: OR
e.g.
sex OR gender
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Now that I have found information on my topic:
How do I know that it is what I want and good quality
material?
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Reviewing your research
Do you have enough / too
much information?
Is it relevant to your research?
Does it answer the whole question?
Is the information
current / within the date you
require
Do you need to review your underlying
research question?
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Activity 3
Read the section on Web of Knowledge and conduct some searches. Try out a few searches using your keywords and some of the search techniques we’ve just looked at. Try saving and emailing useful results to yourself.
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Now that I have the information (books, chapters, journal articles, webpages
etc) that I need:
How do I manage & reference them?
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Citation and referencing
Acknowledge the author of the source
Enable the item to be traced
Evidence of scope and depth of your research
Reference style – the layout & format of your bibliography - CHECK WITH YOUR DEPT
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MLA 7th edition
Gralla, Preston. How Wireless Works. 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Que, 2006.
23
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Legal & ethical issues
Copyright:
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/library/helpandsupport/teachingsupport/copyright
advice.aspx
Plagiarism:
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/forstudents/studyresources/home.aspx
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RefWorks
Bibliographic management software
Capture, save and organise references
Access it via the Online Resources A-Z lists
Contains online self-help tutorials
Library RefWorks sessions:
Check the Library Information Skills Training Sessions from the Drama Subject guide:
http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/drama
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Selecting & saving results & full text
Most databases allow you to:
Select and save results to a ‘folder’
Save, download or email results to yourself
Save search ‘history’ & re run them
Always make a note of your search queries and which database you used.
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Any questions?
For more help & guidance on any of the topics explored in this course, or for one to one training sessions, please contact the Library Information Consultant for Drama & Theatre: Kim Coles, [email protected]
or email: [email protected]
Further information can also be found on the Library website: www.rhul.ac.uk/library