Research Workshop

Anthropology 002D: Culture & Gender

Some common research problems
+ how you can solve them

Simon Elichko

Social Sciences & Data Librarian

(they/them)

Some common research problems:

Paywalls

Poor-quality video

Broken links

Confirmation bias

News Sources & Paywalls

"You've run out of free articles for the month..."
"Pay $45 for this article PDF..."

Paywalls → Library Subscriptions

You can get articles from thousands of newspapers, magazines, and journals through Swarthmore's Libraries.

Find a specific article,
journal, or newspaper:

Explore news sources
and journals:

Tripod Library Search

Swarthmore's News & Magazines Guide

BrowZine

How do you access a news article
that's behind a paywall?

Search Tripod for the publication title (e.g. New York Times, The Economist, New Yorker), not the article title. (example search)
Look for the publication in your results. Click on the best match to continue.
Find access links under "View Online."
Once you're on the site, then look for your specific article. (example with links)

Feel free to use the chat button in Tripod if you need help, or email librarian@swat.
Can't find the publication in Tripod?

• Double-check: Ask Simon or another librarian for help

• Request it: Go to Borrow Beyond TriCo, then choose the journal article request link.
Fill out the form to request a PDF of the article.

Borrowing & Reading Library Books

Some books in Tripod are available to read online.

You can borrow books from the TriCo libraries. Generally you can keep them for the semester.

How does requesting work? The book will be brought to the library front desk for you, usually the next day. Works for books at Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Haverford.

For physical copies, you can get the book from the shelf or request it.

source: McMaster University Library

Library Book Basics

Example call number:
HQ1163 .H55 2022

H: Social Sciences

Call number starts with	Floor in McCabe
A-E	Lower Floor
F-K	2nd Floor
L-Z	3rd Floor

Tutorial: How to find a book in McCabe

TriCo
Login to Tripod to request delivery (arrives 1-2 days)

E-Z Borrow
Borrow from academic libraries in PA, NJ (arrives in ~1 week)

Worldcat &
Interlibrary Loan

Borrow books, journals, microfilm, DVDs, etc. from all over the world. (arrives in 1-3 weeks)

Penn Drexel Temple NYU Rutgers

Swat Haverford Bryn Mawr

Oxford Columbia University of Amsterdam

Harvard Stanford Museum of Natural History

You can access books + from TriCo libraries and beyond

You can also request PDFs of articles & book chapters not owned in the TriCo.

Paywalls

Broken Links

Poor-Quality Video

Confirmation Bias

Paywalls

Broken Links

Poor-Quality Video

Confirmation Bias

Web Archives

You can web archives if you come across a broken link, or to see what a website looked like at an earlier point in time.

Example: Greenpeace anti-coal campaign

Original link (broken)
Archived copy from March 2009

How to find an archived page:

Copy the URL
Look it up in Wayback Machine

More web archives:

Paywalls

Broken Links

Poor-Quality Video

Confirmation Bias

You can find streaming video + DVDs in Tripod.

Browse streaming video databases from the Libraries
(e.g. films available in Kanopy)

McCabe DVD Collection
Explore the shelves on the 3rd floor

(DVD drives available to borrow, too)

Know what you want to watch?
Try searching Tripod for the
movie or show.

Paywalls

Broken Links

Poor-Quality Video

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias?

"...in a database containing millions of sentences, full-text search can turn up twenty examples of anything."

Underwood, Ted. “Theorizing Research Practices We Forgot to Theorize Twenty Years Ago.” Representations 127, no. 1 (August 2014): 64–72. https://doi.org/10.1525/rep.2014.127.1.64.