Andrea Baruzzi (STEM Librarian)
• Recognition
knowing when a student you're advising might benefit
from working with the libraries
• Familiarity
with using a few key services & resources
{books, articles, streaming media, collections, databases}
{library staff, research librarians, RIAs }
{Article Delivery, EZBorrow}
{study, collaboration, viewing}
• Asking “has anyone studied this before?”
• Verifying a claim or argument
• Overwhelmed by the amount of information you're finding
• Unsure about the quality and reliability of sources
{some situations when the libraries may be useful}
• Writing a research paper
• Needing a specific book
Take a few minutes to think about your experiences doing research at Swarthmore.
Questions:
What challenges and frustrations have you encountered while doing research papers or other assignments?
What do you wish you'd known sooner about doing research in college?
Interest in climate change
How do you turn a broad area of interest like this into a research question?
Open-ended keyword search
• Who is in a position to know?
• Who cares about this topic?
Who = academic disciplines, professions
Two possibilities:
Knowledge-based
approach
Activity: Resources for clarifying research ideas
Take a look at your assigned resource, and consider the following questions:
Activity: Resources for clarifying research ideas
Handbook (Rain, Natassia, Joshua)
Kopnina, Helen, and Eleanor Shoreman-Ouimet. Routledge Handbook of Environmental Anthropology. London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.
Review Article (Karla, Daniela)
Reardon-Smith, K., Mushtaq, S., & Cockfield, G. (2019). The impact of climate change and variability on coffee production: a systematic review. Climatic Change, 156(4), 609–630.
Activity: Resources for clarifying research ideas
Take a look at your assigned resource, and consider the following questions:
Handbooks & Companions
Exploring research interests
What / Focus more on providing overviews than making arguments
Why / Understand the central questions in an academic discipline, and how scholars have approached particular topics of interest
Handbooks & Companions
Exploring research interests
How to Find:
Lets you find matches for either keyword
Narrow your search: Instead of Any Field, try Title or Subject
Advanced search tip: include varying word endings
"climate change" AND (handbook OR companion)
"climate change" AND (handbook* OR companion*)
Review Articles
Navigating academic disciplines
What / Generally narrower in scope than handbooks and companions, review articles explore how different scholars in a discipline have approached a particular question
Why / Roadmap for understanding how scholars in a discipline have approached a certain topic
How / Find using article databases (e.g. Web of Science) or specialized resources (e.g. Annual Reviews website)
Review Articles
Navigating academic disciplines
How / Find using article databases
Library Help
Reach out and Ask! We're here to help.
How?
Key Sites
Tripod
Library website
Research Guides
Handbooks & Companions
• Look in: Tripod (Books & More)
• Search: "your topic" AND (handbook OR companion)
Review Articles
• Web of Science: On results page, ☑ Reviews
• Annual Reviews
Exploring research interests
Try it:
Use handbooks, companions, and review articles to identify relevant disciplines and possible approaches
Too few results:
Try broader search terms
Too many results:
Change search from keyword --> title
Filter your search results by date