Library Info Session
for FPST 202
Susie Breier
Librarian for First Peoples' Studies
getting help:
Librarian for First Peoples' Studies
susie.breier@concordia.ca
CHAT
PHONE
ZOOM
- How can I get library help?
- How can I access material in the library and beyond?
- How can I identify (and analyze) a scholarly source?
- How can I search for material for my annotated bibliography and research proposal?
- EXTRAS: advice on terminology and citing
- Answers to your QUESTIONS
Table of Contents for today
How can I access material in the library & beyond?
How can I access material in the library & beyond?
Figuring out Sofia: does the library HAVE IT or NOT?
Search for library books, ebooks, articles and films
what if the library doesn't have it ONLINE?
How can I access material in the library & beyond?
request/reserve a book and pick it up later....
or request a CHAPTER scan online!
what if the library DOESN'T have it?
How can I access material in the library & beyond?
search for it in any library worldwide!
... and simply request it via Interlibrary Loan!
another way to search worldwide:
set your search options in Advanced Search
CONFUSED? Still not sure whether we have it or not?
- How can I get library help?
- How can I access material in the library?
- How can I identify (and analyze) a scholarly source?
- How can I search for material for my annotated bibliography and research proposal?
- EXTRAS: advice on terminology and citing
- Answers to your QUESTIONS
Table of Contents for today
How can I identify a scholarly source?
JOURNALS
In Library Databases you can often simply use a checkbox to select only scholarly sources
BOOKS, ESSAYS, CHAPTERS....
How can I identify a scholarly source?
Ask yourself - and find out:
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who is the author the book or chapter? do they have scholarly qualifications?
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who is the publisher? does it publish scholarly material?
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**who has the author CITED? is there a bibliography that includes scholarly sources? [this one is a must]
TEST YOURSELF # 1:
I have found 3 sources so far....
which of them is scholarly?
My academic paper discusses the brutal racism experienced by Joyce Echaquan at Centre hospitalier de Lanaudière
Structures of Indifference : An Indigenous Life and Death in a Canadian City
by Adele Perry & Mary Jane Logan McCallum
Experts: Joyce Echaquan’s death: Racism in the healthcare system
by Frederique Mazerolle
important governmental report, but NOT a scholarly source. No references to scholarly material, published by the government.
this is a news release by the media relations department of McGill university. It is for reporters who want to find sources to quote.
though this is book and not a peer-reviewed journal article, the chapters quote scholarly sources and present scholarly arguments and frameworks. Published by a university press. It is about Brian Sinclair and not Joyce Echaquan, but the underlying issues are very much comparable.
TEST YOURSELF # 2:
I have found 2 sources so far....
which of them is scholarly?
My tentative research question:
How and why are Canadian universities 'Indigenizing' their curriculum
The Indigenous Directions Action Plan: Concordia’s Path Towards Decolonizing and Indigenizing the University
by the Indigenous Directions Leadership Group (IDLG) Concordia University
though this is book and not a peer-reviewed journal article, and it is more about curriculum in high schools, the chapters quote relevant scholarly sources and present scholarly arguments and frameworks. Published by a university press.
This is a report by a group at Concordia. It is very useful in that it describes detailed initiatives, plans and goals, but there is no scholarly argument or framework and it was not published in a scholarly source. There is little or no bibliography of scholarly references.
TEST YOURSELF # 3:
I have found 2 sources so far....
which of them is scholarly?
LET'S LOOK AT THE 2 SOURCES....
My research paper includes a discussion of police violence
This blog entry reports on an interesting study which involved many academics, but it is NOT an academic/scholarly/ peer-reviewed article
This IS an academic/scholarly/
peer-reviewed article. Important clues: academic language, distinct sections, long bibliography of references.
- How can I get library help?
- How can I access material in the library?
- How can I identify (and analyze) a scholarly source?
- How can I search for material for my annotated bibliography and research proposal?
- EXTRAS: advice on terminology and citing
- Answers to your QUESTIONS
Table of Contents for today
BEYOND Sofia: subject-specific search tools just for you
How can I search for material for my annotated bibliography and research proposal?
"standard" databases, good for finding SCHOLARLY SOURCES
specialized SUBJECT FOCUS, a MIX of types of materials, including scholarly
EXAMPLE of a search in a specialized subject-specific source
subject-specific source: browse by topic
EXAMPLE of a search in "standard"
Article Databases: Academic Search Complete
library search tips and tricks for "standard" article databases
what about that annotated bibliography?
concordia library guide
find guides on CITING at the end of these slides
- How can I get library help?
- How can I access material in the library?
- How can I identify (and analyze) a scholarly source?
- How can I search for material for my annotated bibliography and research proposal?
- EXTRAS: advice on terminology and citing
- Answers to your QUESTIONS
Table of Contents for today
Library Terminology & Ideological Structures
underlying factors to
acknowledge and consider:
There is a tension between finding keywords and subjects that will result in the most comprehensive search, and using respectful & appropriate terminology.
Terminology
adapted from Michelle Lakes' 2019 FPST 202 slides
Terminology
In the most common university library classification system (LCSH), the main subject heading for material about Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States is “Indians of North America”.
The term Indigenous is still very new in these systems. Though relevant, correct and appropriate, terms for nations such as the Kanien’kehá:ka or confederacies such as the Haudenosaunee are virtually non-existent in our Sofia Discovery .
On the library shelves, most books about First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples are found in the E classification area, for “History of North America”. This represents an erasure of living peoples.
adapted from Michelle Lakes' 2019 FPST 202 slides
browse the shelf:
BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: INDIGENOUS WISDOM, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE TEACHINGS OF PLANTS
“The library is always an ideological structure. It’s not just what goes into the library that matters, but how it’s organized and under which norms.”
“...The actual ‘information’ contained in libraries, and how it is organized ... somehow manages to construct a reality wherein whiteness is default, normal, civilized and everything else is Other.”
Daniel Heath Justice, Ph.D, ACRL Choice Webinar: Indigenous Literatures, social justice and the decolonial library
nina de jesus, Locating the library in institutional oppression, In the library with the lead pipe (Sept 24, 2014)
Part of a larger ideological structure...
adapted from Michelle Lakes' 2019 FPST 202 slides
Tips for navigating these waters
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sometimes you will have to use "standard" (white settler) terms when searching in library databases and search tools. See the library tips: search strategies
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make use of specialized subject-specific tools when relevant. See the BEYOND SOFIA section of these slides.
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Follow Indigenous authors in all your favourite ways, chase their citation trails in tools like Google Scholar.
- Learn more about keywords used when searching for topics related to First Peoples:
KEYWORDS
Indigenous – Indigenous is a term used to encompass a variety of Aboriginal groups. It is most frequently used in an international, transnational, or global context.
First Peoples - is also an all-encompassing term that includes Inuit, First Nations and Métis.
Aboriginal - is an out of date term that is no longer used to discuss First Nations, Inuit and Metis people.
Indian – A term used historically to describe the first inhabitants of Canada and used to define Indigenous people in Canada under the Indian Act. Though generally considered outdated and offensive, the term “Indian” still holds legal significance in Canada. It collectively describes all the Indigenous people in Canada who are not Inuit or Metis.
adapted from Michelle Lakes' 2019 FPST 202 slides
KEYWORDS
First Nations - This term applies to Status and non-status Indigenous people (excluding Metis and Inuit) and can also refer to bands (for example, “First Nations people in the Lake Superior region” and “the Curve Lake First Nation”). The term First Nations does not include Inuit or Metis peoples. According to the Assembly of First Nations, there are 634 First Nation communities and over 50 distinct nations and language groups across the country.
Finding specific First Nation community names:
Government of Canada - First Nation Profiles
Canadian Encyclopedia - Indigenous Peoples
Assembly of First Nations - Community Map
Secrétariat aux affaires autochtones - Aboriginal Communities of Quebec
adapted from Michelle Lakes' 2019 FPST 202 slides
KEYWORDS
Inuit – Inuit live primarily in the four regions that make up Inuit Nunangat (Nunavut, Nunavik in northern Quebec, Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories), as well as Alaska, Greenland and the Chukotka district of Russia.
Inuit means people in Inuktitut and the Inuit language.
The singular form of Inuit is Inuk, meaning person.
adapted from Michelle Lakes' 2019 FPST 202 slides
KEYWORDS
Metis - The Metis are a distinct, self-defining Indigenous People, who possess both First Nations and Euro-Settler ancestry. In the late 1700s the Metis rose out of the fur trade – in what are now the three prairie provinces (with some spillover into British Columbia, Ontario, North Dakota, Montana and the Northwest Territories) – as the children of First Nations women and the Euro-Canadian/European heritage.
The Métis National Council has adopted the following definition: “Métis” means a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.”
adapted from Michelle Lakes' 2019 FPST 202 slides
Citing Sources
Why cite?
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To meet the standards of university-level research
= because you often have no choice.
- To avoid plagiarism.
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To give credit where it is due.
- To clearly demonstrate the research you have done.
- To provide the reader (your prof or TA) with information on the sources you’ve consulted.
ACTIVITY: do you need to cite it?
How do you cite?
it depends.
Start by picking a citation style:
use a citation style guide:
typical examples:
in-text citations (APA style)
Hakkinen and Akrami (2014) found that “individuals are receptive to climate change communications, regardless of ideological position” (p. 65).
Research shows that people from any ideological background are open to hearing about climate change (Hakkinen & Akrami, 2014).
typical examples:
Bibliography (APA style)
References
Doherty, T. J., & Clayton, S. (2011). The psychological impacts of global climate change. American Psychologist, 66(4), 265-276.
Hakkinen, K., & Akrami, N. (2014). Ideology and climate change denial. Personality and Individual Differences, 70, 62-65.
McCright, A. M., & Dunlap, R. E. (2011). Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States. Global environmental change, 21(4), 1163-1172
What about automatic citation tools?
take your pick:
a) citation generators*
b) citation management tools*
* Make sure to double check your generated citations - they are not always correct! Use the Library's citation style guides to make sure all the required elements of the citation are present and correctly formatted.
a) citation generators
Many library databases (for example, Sofia Discovery tool, EBSCO and ProQuest databases) and even Google Scholar, will provide you with formatted citations in the style of your choice that you can copy and paste into your bibliography, reference list or works cited list!
for more information, see our
b) citation management tools
Sometimes also called bibliographic management tools, these allow you to:
- Download citations you find in library catalogues, databases, Google Scholar, and on the web.
- Store and organize citations, and prepare a bibliography or reference list automatically.
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Automatically format and insert in-text citations and a bibliography into papers you are writing with Microsoft Word, for example.
There are several citation management tools available. Concordia Library provides support for Zotero, ...........
Once those two steps are completed and everything is installed, go to your favourite library database or to Google Scholar, and search for articles on a topic.
At the top right corner of your browser you should see something like this:
If you don't see the folder icon (or an icon that looks like a sheet of paper) click on the extensions icon (looks like a puzzle piece) and make sure that Zotero is PINNED. It will turn blue.
To save items to you Zotero library of citations, click on the folder icon (or paper or book icon if you are looking at only one citation)
By default ZOTERO tries to save items to your Zotero library in the desktop software you installed, but you can also choose to enable the Zotero Web library and save your citations there.
Zotero desktop library:
Web library:
Once citations are saved in your Zotero library you can create a bibliography:
- select the items you want to include
- click on the Create Bibliography icon
- select a citation style
- copy-paste the citations into your Word document
