Dom Taylor, MA, MLIS
Liaison Librarian
University of Manitoba Libraries
September 16, 2019
Research: Catholic Studies
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PLAN
A
Research: present, past, and future
B
Basic workflow
C
AND/OR
D
Workshop
Past
"Present"
articles cited by the source
the original information source
articles that cite the source
"Future"
Research & TIME
outline
A
Identify a topic that interests you and narrow it down to a specific question.
B
Formulate a basic research question/thesis.
Workflow
(A) Catholicism in South America -->(B)Catholicism in Brazil--> (C) Liberation Theology in Latin America -->(D) Gustavo Gutiérrez + Rerum Novarum (look at the entry and bibliography in the New Catholic Encyclopedia).
Neither too broad nor too narrow. This is tricky and will take practice. You can start by answering "who," "what," "why," "when," "where," and "how" questions. Set some parameters (e.g., dates, geographic location, demographic information), but be ready to change them.
continued...
C
Identify keywords, related terms, and synonyms
D
Combine keywords and phrases into searches
Workflow
Identify keywords, including synonyms and related concepts that you can use in your search. Example: "Rerum Novarum" (papal encyclical on social teaching) is related to the phrase "Catholic Social Teaching," therefore it may be useful to look up both.
Use AND, OR, brackets + quotations (""). More on this below. To start, use our basic search engine OR GoogleScholar. Note: if you use GoogleScholar look up your results in our search engine to see if they're peer-reviewed!
Please stand up
And/Or/Not
You are in CATH 1190
Stay Standing IF:
1
You are wearing (jeans OR glasses)
2
AND
Eat breakfast this morning
3
but you did NOT
In Query Form
"CATH 1190"
AND
("wearing jeans" OR "wearing glasses")
NOT
("eat breakfast" AND morning)HOW to USE AND/OR
AND
OR
Persecut*
Christian*
A search for persecut* AND Christian* will find results that contain both terms and will exclude results that only have one of the two terms.
Persecut*
Christian*
A search for persecut* OR Christian* will find results that contain either of the search terms. This will generate more results. Handy for synonyms.
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Your TURN
1. Using the library search engine, find the following resource:
Author: P.S. Davies
Journal, volume, issue, date, page #s: The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 40, Issue 1, 1 April 1989, Pages 66–94
Topic: (Persecution OR discrimination), Christian*, ("Roman Civilization" OR "Roman emperor")
Hint: There is more than one way to locate this article.
2. List the main steps you followed to find this information. If you have time, try to find another way to locate the article.
3. Try and formulate a research question that would be appropriately broad/narrow for a research essay.
4. Discussion
Davies, P. (1989). The Origin and Purpose of the Persecution of AD 303. Journal of Theological Studies, 40(1), 66. https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/40.1.66
Thanks!
DomTaylor, MA, MLIS
Catholic Studies, Philosophy, and Religion Librarian
dominique.taylor@umanitoba.ca
204.474.9184