CITY 7030

Research Strategies and Resources

Today we will look at:

  • Starting research

  • Places to find resources in the library collection (books, ebooks, peer reviewed articles, and images)

  • Search tips

  • Library Services during the pandemic

  • Resources for evaluating and Citation and annotated bibiliographies in Chicago Style

Research: Where to Start?

  • Get curious and inspired by exploring your topic broadly

  • Brainstorm keywords based on what you know & what Qs you have

    • What do you know about the subject so far?
      • Project name, planner's name
      • concepts, theories, approaches: urban sprawl, sustainable development, eco-gentrafication etc
  • Expand your background information
    • Check reference sources for background info (dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks etc), add to keywords      

  • Check the library search and use filters to explore results   

  • Check the most relevant subject guide for databases to search     

  • Expand search via sources from bibliographies and new keywords

UM Library Search

  • Very broad search engine - you may receive results from all subject areas (more results if you're signed in)
  • Where you can search all physical resources (books)
  • Content from some, not all, of the library's databases including resources like:
    •  ebooks
    • peer-reviewed journal articles
    • images (more results if you're signed into your account)
  • Can apply filters to narrow results

For more sources in library search check:

Virtual Browse (books)

Related Reading (articles)

Subject Headings (all content)

  • The bibliography/citations of a work you're looking at can lead you to additional related resources, authors to investigate, or inspiration for more keywords.

 

 

 

 

 

For more sources in library search check:

"Citing this" and "cited in this" tool

Subject Guides

Reference Resources

 

(encyclopedias, dictionaries, textbooks, etc.)

  • Overview of a person, movement, sometimes a specific building
    • UM Library Search > limit Resource Type to Reference Entries
    • Oxford Art Online (dictionary entries and peer reviewed articles from ancient to contemporary)
    • Artstor (images of arts and architecture)
    • Visit City planning Guide for recommended dictionaries and encyclopedias for urbanism/city planning

Journal Articles

  • UM Library Search > limit Resource Type to articles
  • Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (journal articles on architecture 1934-present)
  • ​SAGE Journals Online: Urban Planning > click on Social Sciences > find Urban Studies & Planning listed at the bottom.
  • JSTOR (database hosting broad coverage of journals with peer-reviewed articles, including the arts, business, economics)
  • List of Urban Studies & Planning Journals in City Planning Guide
  • Browzine: browse and download journal articles, set notifications for new articles

Learn at the Libraries: What is peer review?

Searching Images/maps

  • Library Search - apply filter to limit resource type to images
    • If you're signed in this pulls images from databases including Artstor
    • All these results are copyrighted to use for educational purposes
  • Databases 
    • Go directly to image databases such as Artstor or Oxford Art Online to search
  • Images in books, journals, and articles
    • ​The publication should have at least 9 other images to fall within fair dealing guidelines for copying an image
    • The library and/or UM Copyright Office can answer questions.
  • Maps

Search Tips

 

Phrase your topic as a research question

 

 

  • Break down your topic into keywords and brainstorm synonyms
  • Try to articulate different ways of expressing a concept that you are searching

  

Keywords

  • searching with more keywords = more specific and fewer results
  • searching with fewer keywords = more broad and more results

Search Tips: More Results

Broadening Your Results

  • You can give the search more options by placing similar words in brackets, separated by OR:  ("sustainable design" OR "green design")  (slum OR slums OR ghettos)

    • These will cause results to all have at least one of those words in the the title, description, and/or the text
  • Wildcard: Add an asterisk (*) to the end of a word to get results that include the root word as well as any possible endings:

Architect* finds: Architect, Architects, Architecture, Architectural...

Christian* finds: Christian, Christians, Christianity...

Note: be careful where you place the *, for example Christ* would also find: Christmas, Christo (an artist)

Learn at the Libraries: Advanced Search

Search Tips: More Specific  

Narrowing Your Results

  • Place a phrase "in quotation marks" to search that exact phrase or order of words
    • ex. "social justice", "urban renewal", "Indigenous urbanism"
  • Use NOT to exclude unrelated content
    • union NOT soviet - for content about unions but not the Soviet Union

 

 

 

Learn at the Libraries: Advanced Search

 

Brainstorm some keywords you could use to start a search for this research question

Text

Brainstorm some advanced search possibilities using:

"blank", (blank OR blank), AND, NOT, *

Text

(decolonial OR decolonization) AND (city OR urban) AND plan*

 

"Indigenous worldview" AND (city OR urban) AND plan*

 

Indigenous AND (perspective OR worldview) AND "city plan*"

 

"Indigenous urbanism" AND canad*

 

 

Pandemic Library Services

Libraries COVID-19 Updates

  • Online/digital services always available
  • Print Books 
    • request to pick-up books from locker
    • request a scan of a book 

 

 

  • Ebooks and Digitized books
    • HathiTrust: temporary electronic versions of some print books.

Evaluating External Sources

Learn at the Libraries: Evaluating

 

CRAAP Test

Currency - Is there a date the page was published or updated? How current are the cited sources? Are there broken links?

Relevancy - who is the intended audience?

Authority - is the author a recognized expert in this field?

Accuracy - supported with evidence (citations)? Peer-reviewed?

Purpose - to inform? teach? entertain? persuade? sell? Check the domain (eg: .com = commercial, .org = non-profit, .edu = educational...

 

APACitation Style

Annotated Bibliographies 

Questions?

Citing and Writing

Citing:

 

Writing:

Questions?

General Library Help

  • Check the Covid-19 Library Updates page for access current information
  • Use the Ask Us chat
    • This is the quickest way to chat with someone. If you place your question when we're not online live, we will get back to you the following morning.

Questions?

Research Support

  • Subject Guides
  • Learn at the Libraries
    • For tips and resources on searching the library, evaluating resources, and citations
  • Contact Ashley for help with search strategies for your topic or assignment, advice on which databases to use, and citation questions
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