Research Methods, Theory, & Professionalization
Course Number: EN600
Subject: English
Introduction
This guide accompanies a workshop about engaging in scholarship as an English graduate student.
OBJECTIVE: apply library research methods for reviewing literature about a topic.
1. Library Research Methods
Strategies, processes, techniques, and tools that facilitate how you engage in scholarship.
For example, reviewing literature around a topic involves:
- identifying your research purpose or goals
- selecting search tools to find peer-reviewed journal articles;
- applying search tactics to get relevant results;
- using software to manage your sources.
QUESTION: Where do you tend to search for peer-reviewed journal articles in practice?
2. Developing Methods for Reviewing Literature
a) Identifying Your Goals
Your goals for reviewing the literature will be different depending on the project at hand.
Goals for a Research Paper or Thesis
QUESTION: How would you search for 5 of the most recent peer-reviewed articles on a topic by researchers in your field?
b) Selecting Search Tools
Databases (e.g. MLA International Bibliography) are the best places to search for peer-reviewed journal articles.
The Library search tool, Omni, is a good place to search for books.
c) Using Search Tactics
Search tactics can improve the relevancy of your results.
What is the tactic? | What does the tactic do? | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Boolean AND | Use AND to ensure that all terms appear in every search result. | depression AND home care |
Boolean OR | Use OR to ensure that at least one term appears in every search result. | transgender OR LGBTQ OR GLBT |
Phrase searching | Use “quotation marks” to find more than one term in a row. | “brain cancer” |
Truncation | Use an asterisk* at the end of a term to include multiple endings. | trauma* trauma, traumatic, traumatically, traumatize, traumatized, traumatizing |
Wildcard | Use a question mark ? within a term to search for variations of a single character. | decoloni?e decolonize, decolonise |
d) Managing sources
This is the part of your methods that involves planning how to deal with all the articles, books, interviews, etc., you want to track and save.
In any project, you wouldn't want to collect lots of data without having a plan for how to store and access it.
- Saves time.
- Facilitates topic development.
- Keeps you accountable.
Image Description
Citation management means planning how to collect, organize, access, cite, and share your sources.
Software to Manage Sources
- Zotero is a free tool.
- Manage all sources in one place.
- Create folders and subfolders for projects.
- Store, read, annotate PDFs.
- Save screenshots from websites.
- Access sources from any browser.
- Create group libraries.
- Create and update in-text citations and references automatically.
Citing with Zotero
Getting Started with Zotero
- Go to Zotero
- Register for a free account.
- Click the download button.
- Download the Zotero app.
- Download the Zotero connector.