Cultural Perspectives I

Choose keywords

• Formulate a research question in order to focus your ideas about the topic. Please see our video tutorial on developing an effective research question
• Write down the different concepts used in this question (“frankenstein” AND “film”)
• For each concept, think of similar terms that you might also use (“film” OR “movies”)
• TIP: Find additional clues for terms in the titles and abstracts of books and articles

Find books

• Search Laurier’s Omni library catalogue for books on your topic.
• You can start with broad keywords (e.g. “frankenstein”) and then narrow down your results by clicking on one of the links on the "Modify your search" section
• For example, you can click on the term “monsters in literature”
• You can also limit your results to the Waterloo campus and/or books published within a specific time frame (e.g. works published after 1999)
• TIP: For additional books on a topic, click on the title of a book that looks pertinent, and then click on the subject link(s) for that book (under “details”)

Find articles

• There are databases for every subject area; they contain articles on topics within these areas
• The following databases are useful for your essay topics:
  • MLA International Bibliography (for articles on Literature)
  • Film Studies @ ProQuest (for articles on Film)
  • Historical Abstracts (for articles on European History)
  • JSTOR (for articles on Fine Arts and Architecture)
• Many of our interdisciplinary databases are well-suited to this course. See for example:
  • ProQuest Databases
  • EBSCOhost Databases
• To find scholarly articles, look for the “peer-reviewed” option in the databases. (What is a peer-reviewed article?)

Find primary sources

• Click on the advanced search link. Type in keywords that represent different aspects of your topic (each term in a different box). In a separate box, type the term that is most appropriate: “sources,” “correspondence,” “documents,” “diaries,” “interviews,” or “speeches.” Change the drop-down option from “any” to “in the subject”
• Visit News Archives for links to our historical newspapers. You can find news articles about European culture from:
  • a British perspective by searching for articles from The Times
  • an American perspective by searching for articles in The New York Times
  • a Canadian perspective by searching for articles in The Globe and Mail
• The library also owns digitized resources via online databases. See the tab to primary sources in the History subject guide
• Type the name of a historical figure (e.g. Hitler) into our library catalogue, and change the drop-down option from “full record” to “author” in order to find anything written by this person

Too many search results?

• If you get too many search results, use narrower search terms (e.g. “silent films” instead of “films”)
• Try adding more concepts to your search. Adding more terms that are linked by “AND” will decrease your number of search results

Too few search results?

• Think in terms of broader categories (“films” rather than “silent films”)
• Add alternate terms for each concept (“films” OR “movies”). Adding more terms that are linked by “OR” will increase your number of search results
• TIP: Look at the bibliographies of the most pertinent books and articles on your topic. One author can lead you to others in the field

Create the bibliography

• Visit our help page on citing sources for links to APA, MLA, and other style guides
• See our short video tutorials on when to cite and how to cite

Need help with research?

• Don’t hesitate to contact me (Pauline Dewan); I am here to help you.
• Email pdewan@wlu.ca.

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