ASRC 1811: Women Writing in South Africa
(http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/faculty/asrc1811.html)
Compiled by Eric Kofi Acree,
Librarian
ea18@cornell.edu/255-5229/Africana
Library
- Developing a Search Strategy
- Finding Background Information
- Searching Techniques
- Finding Books
- Finding Articles
- Citing Sources
Developing
a Search Strategy:
Search strategy is a library term for the process of finding information
in a logical, step-by-step manner. Using a search strategy insures that
you will find the information and materials you need as quickly and
efficiently as possible.
Research Steps:
- Choose your topic
- Find background information
- Find books on your topic
- Find periodical articles
- Using WWW to Find Internet Resources
- Evaluate your sources
- Cite your sources
Tips to consider when doing research:
- Have a clear understanding of the assignment. What is the length of the paper? What are you suppose to report?
- Check the bibliography and indexes of books related to your topic.
- Use more than one source.
- When searching databases be flexible with the use of search terms.
- To learn the best way to use a particular database check out that database help page. There is usually some type of variation for each database.
Finding Background Information (Reference Books):
Black Literature Criticism. James
P. Draper, ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.
Africana Library Reference PS 153 .N5 B617
Covers 125 writers representing the United States, Africa, and Jamaica.
Each entry presents a historical survey of critical response to the
author's works.
Contemporary Black Biography,
Africana Library Reference DT 18 .C76
This reference series provides biographical profiles of important persons
of African heritage. Whether they are personalities from the news, selected
20th-century notables, or individuals who are not yet household names,
these are the men and women who are changing today's world and shaping
the world of tomorrow.
Contemporary
Authors Online
Provides an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary
writers. Each entry also contains a biographical/critical introduction
including pseudonyms and nationality, a listing of principal works,
and sources for further study.
Contemporary Literary Criticism
Provides an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary writers. Each entry also contains a biographical/critical introduction including pseudonyms and nationality, a listing of principal works, and sources for further study.
Dictionary
of Literary Biography
Essays outlining the lives and careers of authors from all eras and
genres, and summarizes the critical response to their work.
A complete literature database combining biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). Draws from Gale Group's core literary databases, including Contemporary authors, Dictionary of literary biography, and Contemporary literary criticism.
Whether you are clicking your way across the Web, searching for resources in the Cornell Library Catalog, or looking for scholarly articles in specialized subject databases, being aware of a few simple techniques can improve the effectiveness of your searches.
Do you know how to use the following search techniques?
- keywords vs. phrase searching
- boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT (for combining search terms)
- truncation and wildcard symbols (for finding singular, plural, and other keyword variations)
- field searching (for narrowing a search to specific parts of a record)
- controlled vocabulary (subject headings)
Sample searching:
Tsitsi Dangarembga
Nadine Gordimer
Bessie Head
Unity Dow
Yvonne Vera
Sarah Mkhonza
See the following sites for details on how to refine
and perfect your search results:
Introduction
to Database Searching Skills
Search
Strategies
- Classic CU Library Catalog--Classic (just material at Cornell)
- CU Library Catalog--Worldcat Local (material at Cornell and beyond)
- Google Scholar--Ehanced Google
- Wipkipedia--Free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
CU Library Gateway: Find Databases
Distinguishing Scholarly From Other Periodicals
Research Library
This database indexes and abstracts general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. Full text of many articles is provided.
MLA
Bibliography
MLA Bibliography is the largest and most comprehensive
database covering scholarship in the modern languages, linguistics,
literature, folklore, and drama, including film, opera, radio, television
and theater. Literary criticism and literary theory are covered extensively.
Academic Search Premier
This interdisciplinary database provides citations and abstracts for articles from over 4,140 journals, and includes full-text articles from over 3,170 journals.
PsycINFO
Contains summaries and citations of the international
literature in psychology and related behavioral and social sciences,
including psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, education, pharmacology,
and linguistics. Includes applied psychology, communication systems,
developmental psychology, educational psychology, experimental human
and animal psychology, personality, physical and psychological disorders,
physiological psychology and intervention, professional personnel and
issues, psychometrics, social processes and issues, sports psychology
and leisure, and treatment and prevention.
Ethnic
Newswatch
Ethnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines
and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.
Factiva
Factiva provides access to global news and business information, including
local newspapers, same-day newswires, company reports, and media programs.
LexisNexis
Academic
Provides access to full text resources on topics including current and
general news; business and financial information; newspapers; company
directories; government and politics; medical and health topics; accounting,
auditing, and tax; federal and state laws; legal cases; and regulations.
Resources include TV and radio news transcripts.
Online access to over 700 newspapers from more than 55 countries, displayed in their original format and accessible by country, language, or title.
Index to Black Periodicals, Africana Library Reference Z 1361 .N39 I38
A yearly author and subject index to about 25 Afro-American periodicals of general and scholarly interest. The journals which are included cut across such disciplines as psychology, sociology, education, history and popular culture, etc. It was formerly called the Index to Periodicals By and About Blacks, and is the best source available for articles from black journals. Black Studies on disc is available at Africana. It contains entries from the Index to Black Periodicals from 1989.
Give credit where credit is due.
By properly citing the sources you use in your research projects you are both identifying the resources that you used to complete your work and you are formally acknowledging the authors or creators of those resources. This allows others to find what you have found and to verify your research.
Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity
Chicago Manual of Style
CU Reference locations include Olin, Uris, ILR, and Fine Arts Libraries
at call number: Z253 .U69 2003
Chicago Manual of Style Form Guide (Ohio State University)
The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ
Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th ed.)
CU Library Reference locations include Africana, Mann,
Olin, and Uris Libraries at call number:
BF 76.7 .P83 2010.
APA Reference Examples for Electronic Source Materials Excerpted from the new 5th edition of the Publication Manual.
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
(7th ed.)
CU Library Reference locations include Africana, Olin and Uris Libraries at call
number: LB 2369 2009.
MLA Style (MLA's web site)
Library Instruction Evaluation Form
