SOCI 415
Fall 2024 library workshop
TO FIND THESE SLIDES & MORE:
Google: sociology concordia library
Course guide for review:
advanced course guide for grad students:
RESOURCES FOR YOU
Ask questions - get help:
at the AskUs desk
via chat
via email
by phone
your subject librarian: susie.breier@concordia.ca
ZOOM office hours most Tuesdays 3-5, or by appointment
Text
ZOOM & H-1132 office hours: most Tuesdays
3:30-5:30 pm
OR by appointment
AskUs Desk
Webster LB building:
most Tuesdays 1-3
most Fridays 4-5
today's context
Your critical auto-ethnography assignment, no matter what the topic is, must include academic / peer-reviewed references.
Your mini research project requires a literature review with 10 peer-reviewed sources published in the last 10 years speaking directly to your topic... Your final research report requires a more refined version of this literature review.
Your professor notes that: "It is always a good practice not only to read and identify peer-reviewed research, but also to index it 'on the go', making use of citation software. This will save you a lot of time during the production stage of the research report."
Your assignments require a reference list using APA style.
YOUR AGENDA
Agenda
- ZOTERO bibliographic management [zotero slides]
- LITERATURE REVIEW sources & examples
- Subject-Specific databases for your topic
- Search Strategies & KEYWORDS (boolean operators, wildcards)
- Ensure articles are academic / PEER-REVIEWED / scholarly
- ACCESS STUFF at Concordia & beyond using Sofia
- Referencing and bibliographies (APA)
Let's try the tools...
and compare
bit.ly/3CxqN2t
Most peer-reviewed articles include a literature review within their text, even when it is not separately labeled as such
this paragraph is part of a literature review:
Where can you find a set of academic articles that situate and summarize important sociological or social science scholarship around topics such as:
-
racial disparities and food insecurity
-
evolution of single-parent families
-
settler colonialism and violence
-
socially engaged art and activism
-
conspiracy theories and social movements
Literature Review Sources!
Try it for yourself!
Did you find anything??
Save it to Zotero!!
more lit review sources: Theses
Did you find anything??
Save it to Zotero!!
Subject-specific databases for your topic
why use them?
(why not just the Sofia/Concordia Library homepage)
where can I FIND them?
what are they?
Subject-specific databases: what are they?
Subject-specific databases:
where can I FIND them?
or:
or:
Subject-specific databases: why use them?
Try it for yourself:
- "climate change"
- "capital punishment"
- homelessness
Enter one of the above search queries in Sofia (or Google Scholar) and SocINDEX (or another subject-specific database) and compare results
subject-specific databases can help you focus your search and take advantage of specialized search features.
Subject-specific databases: why use them?
but also....
where you search affects
what you find and how you find it
reminder of another example:
Sociology subject database:
Sofia Discovery tool:
use multidisciplinary library article databases & Google Scholar to broaden your search across disciplines and find connections
use subject-specific ARTICLE DATABASES like SocINDEX or MEDLINE to focus your search using a disciplinary or thematic lens
my advice:
Did you find anything??
Save it to Zotero!!
Search strategies
& keywords
| TIP | WHAT IT DOES | EXAMPLE |
|---|---|---|
|
AND |
Combines concepts. Limits how many results your search produces |
police AND violence |
|
OR |
Allows for synonyms or alternative terms. Increases the number or results your search produces. |
violence OR brutality |
|
* |
Near the end of a word, retrieves all words that start with the letters entered. Increases the number of results a search produces | Canad* (retrieves Canada, Canadian) |
| “ ” | For two words or more, search for an exact phrase only, rather than each keyword separately. Limits how many results your search produces | “systemic racism” (retrieves systemic racism, but not systemic oppression related to racism) |
search tips & tricks: standard library databases
handout to download:
search strategies
Example of a keyword
combination in SocINDEX
example of a search in "standard"
EBSCO Article Databases
what about
Google Scholar?
Google Scholar strategies:
- use OR for alternative terms
- use quotation marks " " for phrases
- DON'T use AND (it is implied)
- DON'T use * ( happens automatically)
("police brutality" OR "police violence" OR "police shootings")
AND
(racis* OR discrimination OR bias or profiling)
AND
(defund OR aboli* OR reform)
IN EBSCO ARTICLE DATABASES
IN GOOGLE SCOLAR:
("police brutality" OR "police violence" OR "police shootings") (racism OR discrimination OR bias OR profiling) (defund OR abolition OR reform)
GOOGLE SCHOLAR findit@concordia TIP:
(YouTube, 7 mins)
Developing your search strategy: VIDEO
from our Library Skills Tutorial- Search Strategies:
"Cited by" or
Cited Reference Searching
once you have found a relevant article, use
"cited by" to find more recent, related material
1
2
3
Findit@Concordia set-up section at 4:00 mins
Google Scholar how-to video on "cited by" searching [for SOCI 612 course]
Did you find anything??
Save it to Zotero!!
Google Scholar competitors:
Did you find anything??
Save it to Zotero!!
SCHOLARY /ACADEMIC / PEER-REVIEWED SOURCES
peer-reviewed articles checklist
anatomy of a typical scholarly research article
-
Introduction/Literature Review
-
Research Question(s)/Thesis statement
-
Methods
- Key concepts/theories
-
Findings
- Conclusion/Limitations/Further research
some elements of a scholarly research article
test yourself - which one(s) is/are peer-reviewed?
is it a peer-reviwed reference? name 3 things
want more?
Here are some tips & tools.....
Concordia video
in many Library Databases you can use a checkbox:
VIDEO: peer-review in 3 minutes
Accessing resources at Concordia & beyond
using Sofia
Search for library books, ebooks, articles and films
what if the library doesn't have it ONLINE?
request a book and pick it up later....
or use the call number and locate button to find it
what if the library DOESN'T have it at all?
search for it in any library worldwide:
... and simply request it!
but you CAN'T borrow
eBOOKS from other libraries!!
FIND:
Duina F. Consciousness in Classical Sociological Theories. Journal of Consciousness Studies, v. 25, no. 9-10, 2018, pp. 99–124.
TIP: go back the last slide to see how to find and request it via Interlibrary Loans!
JOURNAL finding/browsing option:
Use the E-journals search
FIND:
Canadian Review of Sociology
use library article databases & google scholar to search for literature on a topic
use Sofia to search for and access items like (e)books, journals and films, but:
Accessing items -final words of advice
Referencing & Bibliographic Management
BUT FIRST.
WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT CITING & CITATIONS????
some different perspectives
This is a challenge for all of us: Reflect on the way you approach referencing the work of others in your own writing, presenting and thinking. Whose work do you build on to make arguments ... Who are you citing, and why do you cite them (and not others)?
Eve Tuck, K. Wayne Yang, Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández,"Citation Practices" Critical Ethnic Studies, April 2015
I believe that bibliographies and endnotes and references and sources are alternative stories that can, in the most generous sense, centralize the practice of sharing ideas about liberation and resistance and writing against racial and sexual violence.
Katherine McKittrick,"Footnotes (Books and Papers Scattered about the Floor)", Dear Science and Other Stories,2021
Start by picking a
citation style:
Reference formatting & management good practices
APA STYLE: typical examples:
in-text citations
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).
APA style: typical examples:
Bibliography
see this sample paper with a reference list on p. 17
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 those 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) as well as 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!
examples:
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.
-
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...........
Concordia Library provides support for Zotero.
automatic citation tools
Citation Management SOFTWARE
(for example RefWorks, Mendeley, EndNote, Zotero....)