Terrorism in Literature
Course Number: EN450
Subject: English
Introduction
This guide accompanies an in-class workshop about doing research for your presentation and term paper assignments.
OBJECTIVE: apply library research methods to engage with scholarship about your topic.
Questions? Contact the English & Film Studies Librarian, Meredith (mefischer@wlu.ca).
Library Research Methods
Library research methods are strategies, techniques, and tools you use to find and work with existing scholarship. They involve asking:
- Where are the best places to search?
- What search tactics will help get good results?
- How might you identify key scholars and assess scholarship?
The methods you use depend on the project at hand. Doing a term paper is different from doing a smaller assignment that tells you exactly how many sources to cite.
Example Research Paper
The research paper below demonstrates what library research methods can help you achieve.
Developing Your Methods
A. Where You Search Matters
Different search tools (Omni, Google, etc.) are built to do different things.
- Books - Omni Advanced Search
- Articles - MLA International Bibliography (other article databases are available)
Activity: Comparing Search Tools
- Copy the following term: secret agent conrad
- Paste it into the tools below and hit search.
- Answer these questions:
- How many results did you get in each place?
- What are the dates of the first 3 results in each place?
- What journals are the first 3 results from?
B. Search Tactics Improve Results
What is the tactic? | What does the tactic do? | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Phrase searching | Use “quotation marks” to find more than one term in a row. | "state-sponsored terrorism" |
Truncation | Use an asterisk* at the end of a term to include multiple endings. | terrorist* |
Boolean AND | Use AND to ensure that all terms appear in every search result. | terrorism AND religion |
Boolean OR | Use OR to ensure that at least one term appears in every search result. | violence OR aggression |
Activity: Applying Search Tactics
Would one of the tactics above help improve the search from our previous activity (secret agent conrad)?
C. AI Research Tools
There are specific AI tools intended to facilitate different parts of literature review, such as:
- Brainstorming topics
- Refining research questions
- Finding connected sources
- Summarizing information
You’ll find examples of AI tools for these activities in this guide: Emerging AI Tools for Literature Review (Hong Kong University of Science & Technology).
Key Considerations
- "AI hallucinations" are incorrect results, like when ChatGPT invents references that don't exist.
- Understanding the training data behind these tools is critical. Even large sets of training data are biased in different ways.
- Training data has cutoff dates. Information that you could have discovered outside the tool will be excluded.
There is no assessment of the quality of information cited in the output.
Example Tool
Connected Papers - Use one paper to find other papers of interest and create a visual map of sources. Find out how it works.
What You Should Do
- Aways consult with your instructor if you're thinking about using AI in an assignment.
- Inform yourself about a tool before using it. Be aware of a tool's strengths and limitations.
- Understand that if you use words or ideas you get from an AI tool like ChatGPT, you need cite. Remember, plagiarism means representing work that you didn't do as your own. See Citing Use of AI.
- Acknowledge any use of AI tools in your work. See Acknowledgement Statements for Students with Examples.
D. Orchestrating Scholarly Conversations
Synthesis Matrix
- A synthesis matrix can help you understand what you're reading and compare conversations between scholars. How will you and your term paper fit into the matrix?
Choosing Sources
- It's common to read more than you cite when working on a research paper. That means you'll need strategies for selecting what you end up including in your paper.
Reading Strategies
- Reading research is an ongoing practice to cultivate, not something you learn to do once and master. How might you enhance your reading practices?
MLA Citing
- Purdue's MLA Formatting and Style Guide gives lots of examples.
Questions?
Contact Meredith, the English & Film Studies Librarian (mefischer@wlu.ca).