EVLU 3010

Research Strategies & Resources

Today we will be covering:

• An overview of UM Libraries resources
  
• Search strategies
  
• Citing
  

Library Resources

1. UM Library Search

• All physical resources within the Libraries
• Some (not all) of the databases we subscribe to
  • Includes many reference texts available online (encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc)
• Very broad search engine - might get a lot of unrelated results.

Preliminary Searching

• Start brainstorming keywords
  • What do you know about the subject so far?

• Expand your background information
  • Reference sources: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, etc...

How would you start a general search on the topic of new urbanism?

Search Tip #1

Put a phrase "in quotation marks" to find results with that phrase.

E.g.: "gothic revival" - finds documents with this phrase

Searching for gothic revival without quotation marks finds all documents with gothic and all documents with revival.

Gothic architecture = medieval, mid-12th to 15th centuries

Gothic revival architecture = 18th & 19th centuries, renewed interest in Gothic style

UM Libraries Homepage

umanitoba.ca/libraries

Which is the better search?

A: "climate change" AND Canada

B: "climate" "change" AND "Canada"

Searching beyond the UM Library Collection

• Request whatever you need via Document Delivery
• Library Search > Include Results beyond UofM
• Databases include results beyond our subscriptions
  • Avery Index - architecture
  • Canadian Business & Current Affairs - Canadian topics
• Google Scholar (with links to UM resources)
• WorldCat.org

Landscape Architecture guide

bit.ly/UMlandscape

Search Tip #2

• Use AND between keywords to narrow your search

E.g.: (Canada AND "new urbanism") - results will contain both of these keywords

• Use OR between keywords to make your search more broad

E.g.: ("climate change" OR "global warming") - results will contain at least one of these phrases

Search Tip #3

Try to find all the different ways of expressing the concept you're searching for. This can be done by:

• putting OR between synonyms (Canada OR Canadian)
• adding an asterisk (*) to the root of a word:

E.g.: Canad* - finds Canada, Canadian, Canadians...

"new urbanis*" - finds "new urbanism", "new urbanist"...

(note: don't use this for short root words - art* = art, arts, artist, artificial, arthritis, Arthur... 292 million results in Library Search)

Search Tip #4

Use NOT (all caps) before words or phrases you want to exclude from the search

E.g.: gothic NOT revival - no results for "gothic revival" will come up.

        Miami dolphins NOT football

True or False:

Adding an asterisk to the root of a word (eg architect*) will give you fewer results.

Requesting Items

• Sign in to the Library Search with your umnetID
  • UM email account without "@myumanitoba.ca", same password
  • Problems signing in? Staff at any library desk can help, or chat with staff online

When requesting a book that's checked out, the other person has 7 days to return it.

Other potentially useful guides...

• Philosophy guide
  • Databases > Arts & Humanities Citation Index
• Political Studies guide
• History guide

Citation Guides

Academic Learning Centre Resources

• Workshops
  • In-person workshops and online tutorials
  • Reading textbooks, reading journal articles
  • integrating sources: quoting & paraphrasing
• Handouts
  • Advice on writing (connection words, paraphrasing, summarizing, etc)
  • Advice on reading (finding main ideas, SQ3R reading strategy, etc)

And more!

Questions?

• Landscape Architecture Research Guide: bit.ly/UMlandscape

• All library staff can help with basic questions
• Research support: librarians on desk 1:30-4:30 Monday-Friday