ENG

The answers you get depend on the questions you ask.

—Thomas Kuhn

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish between scholarly and popular sources and decide when and how to use each type.

2. Analyze your research needs using a simple mnemonic: BEAM.

3. Write and analyze a research question that will make it much easier for you to formulate search terms and find the best sources for your project.

4. Find, locate, and choose the right research databases to help you answer your research questions.

5. Search databases efficiently to pro- duce useful results.

3Finding Good Sources

Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Thinkstock

dro85866_03_c03.indd 35 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Distinguishing Between Scholarly, News, Trade, and Popular Sources

During the second phase of your research, you will locate researchers working on the essential and supporting research questions you wrote in Phase I so that you can use their findings and ideas as evidence in an argument, as well as contribute to the conversation they are having.

If you have been working on Phase I, you already have some of the skills necessary to locate research conversations using Google Scholar and its “Cited by” and “Related arti- cles” links. In Phase II, you will continue working with Google Scholar and also with more subject-specific databases available to you through your university or community library. We will work on database selection, search strategies, and search results analysis early in this chapter. Later in the chapter, we will discuss evaluating and working with the sources you find.

With a well-designed research project in hand, it is time to get down to the nuts and bolts of one of the most important elements of the research process: finding useful sources and working to understand them—and what you can do with them—once you have them. In this chapter, you will learn everything you need to know about library databases and search construction in order to find, understand, analyze, and use a coherent set of cred- ible, relevant, reliable sources with which to work.

3.1 Distinguishing Between Scholarly, News, Trade, and Popular Sources

As you start the work of the second phase of your research, it is important to under-stand the difference between two major types of sources: scholarly sources and news, trade, and popular sources. While each kind of source can contain useful information and interesting perspectives, they have different kinds of authority, which determine how you can use them in academic research.

Scholarly Sources Scholarly sources are produced by professional researchers seeking to advance or evalu- ate knowledge, who submit their work for peer review. As you learned in Chapter 1, peer review certifies the rigor of the research process and the reasonableness of the researcher’s argument and interpretations. In order to be scholarly, both journal articles and books need to be peer reviewed. Most databases of sources will provide you with the option to restrict your searches to scholarly sources. But if not, you can recognize scholarly sources by asking yourself the following questions:

1. Is the writer of the source a credentialed professional researcher writing in his or her field of expertise?

2. Has the source been successfully reviewed by peers?

dro85866_03_c03.indd 36 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Distinguishing Between Scholarly, News, Trade, and Popular Sources

3. Is the purpose of the source to advance or evaluate knowledge?

4. Does the source use an extensive citation system to document its own sources of evidence and its engagement with other researchers?

5. Is the source published in an academic journal or by an academic or university press?

If you answered “yes” to the ques- tions on this list, then it is likely that the source is scholarly. If not, then likely you have a news, trade, or popular source.

News, Trade, and Popular Sources News, trade, and popular sources are produced by journalists, freelance writers, colum- nists, magazine writers, or practitioners of a trade. Unlike scholarly sources, they are not subject to scholarly peer review by credentialed experts, although they may be subject to editorial review or review by other industry practitioners. News sources tend to be published in newspapers or magazines such as the Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, or U.S. News & Weekly Report. Written by journalists, their purpose is to report and analyze current events. Trade sources tend to be published in journals or magazines intended to be read by executives or practitioners working in a specific industry. For example, the trade magazine R&D is read by research and development executives, project managers, scientists, and engineers. While trade sources provide useful information to their read- ers, they tend to reflect the perspectives of the industry they serve, rather than seeking to advance or evaluate knowledge. Popular sources are written to educate or entertain, by writers who often are not experts in the field. They tend not to use specialized language or require any previous knowledge to read. Magazines such as People and Reader’s Digest are examples of popular sources.

You will be able to recognize whether you are working with a news, trade, or popular source by asking yourself the following questions:

1. Is the writer a journalist, a freelancer, a columnist, a practitioner of a trade, or a magazine staffer?

2. Is the purpose of the source to report news or opinion; to earn money; to advertise a product or service; to educate a general audience; to persuade readers to hold an opinion, support a policy, or make a judgment; or to entertain?

© National Geographic Society/Corbis Try to seek out reliable sources, such as those written by scholars or experts in a given subject area. Sir Isaac Newton’s work in physics and mathematics has been a reliable source for many important scholars in the scientific field.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 37 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Distinguishing Between Scholarly, News, Trade, and Popular Sources

3. Does the source make assertions without providing readers with a way to verify its sources for themselves?

4. Is the source a publication dedicated to news and opinion? A trade magazine or journal? A popular magazine?

If you answered “yes” to the questions on this list, then it is likely that the source is a news, trade, or popular source. Table 3.1 summarizes the main characteristics of each type of source.

Table 3.1: Scholarly and popular sources

Scholarly News, Trade, or Popular

Writer A credentialed professional researcher writing in his or her field of expertise.

A journalist, a freelancer, a columnist or pundit, a practitioner of a trade, or a magazine staffer.

Peer reviewed Yes No

Purpose To advance or evaluate knowledge. To report news or opinion; to earn money; to advertise a product or service; to educate a general audience; to persuade readers to hold an opinion, support a policy, or make a judgment; to entertain.

Citation system Extensive. Used to document evidence and engagement with other sources.

Absent or minimal. Readers have no or minimal ways of verifying assertions.

Publication type Academic journal. Book published by an academic press.

News or opinion. Trade magazine. Popular magazine.

Keep in mind that if you misidentify what type of source you have, you will undermine your credibility as a reliable researcher, you may misuse your source, and your arguments will be less persuasive.

Using Scholarly and Popular Sources Now that you know how to distinguish between scholarly sources and popular sources, it is important to understand how to use each kind of source in your research. Whether scholarly or popular, sources need to be credible to be used in your research. Credible sources, as we discussed in Chapter 1, offer relevant evidence for their claims and are offered by well-informed people motivated to pursue the truth. Since scholarly sources are designed to be credible from the start, you are on firm ground using them in a variety of ways in your research. Be sure, however, to determine whether the researcher is writ- ing about his or her field of special expertise. Someone who holds a Ph.D. in history, for example, likely does not have the expertise to produce scholarly research on the environ- mental causes of Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder. We will explore more sophisticated

dro85866_03_c03.indd 38 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Distinguishing Between Scholarly, News, Trade, and Popular Sources

ways to use scholarly research later in this chapter. But for now, you should understand that they can provide you with:

• Authoritative information and data; • Important concepts and methods to use to analyze and interpret data; • Credible, valid, and reliable arguments to consider and to which to respond; • Names of other scholars working in the fields and the titles of their publica-

tions; and • Criticisms and evaluations of other researchers’ published work.

In order for popular sources to be credible, you must assess whether they are biased or motivated by something other than pursuit of the truth before you use them. You should not use sources that are written primarily to advertise a product or service or to entertain. Likewise, you should not use sources written by writers whose deeply held beliefs are affecting their ability to meet the scholarly standards of fairness, accuracy, open-minded- ness, and, therefore, their ability to consider alternative explanations and points of view. If you do determine that popular sources are credible, you can use them in limited ways in your research, mostly at the beginning of your project, when you are trying to get up to speed in a new area of learning.

You can reasonably use popular sources to:

• Represent the conventional wisdom or popular view of a topic, which your research will evaluate and replace with a more scholarly view;

• Get a provisional overview of the issues involved in your topic, with the expectation that as you learn more, you will replace this overview with a bet- ter one drawn from your reading in scholarly sources;

• Get a provisional overview of any history or context that might be relevant to your topic, with the expectation that you will replace this overview with a better one drawn from your reading in scholarly sources;

• Locate the names of some expert researchers working in fields relevant to your topic;

• Learn which fields of study or academic disciplines are relevant to your topic; • Learn some of the specialized vocabulary that researchers use to discuss your

topic; • Help you ask questions about your topic and determine what else you need

to learn; and • Provide you with ideas about what kinds of statistics, data, or cases you

might need to find to be qualified to write on the topic.

A final word on scholarly and popular sources: For the research project on which you are working, you will need to work extensively and critically with scholarly sources. As you learn more about your topic and start to think more carefully about the questions to which you are seeking answers, you should spend more time working with scholarly sources and less with popular sources.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 39 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 BEAM: A Commonsense Way of Thinking About Sources

3.2 BEAM: A Commonsense Way of Thinking About Sources

In order to design the most useful set of sources for your project, you must have sources that will meet your needs as a writer, as well as ones that meet your information needs. Traditionally, students have been taught that they need “primary” sources and “sec- ondary” sources. But, as Boston University writing professor Joseph Bizup (2008) argues, the traditional “primary” source/”secondary” source language is too abstract to tell new researchers very much about what to look for in sources. Bizup replaces primary and secondary source types with everyday terms that describe how writers use sources in their texts: to provide background, offer exhibits, engage in arguments, and describe methods. Bizup collects these uses in the mnemonic BEAM, shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Joseph Bizup’s BEAM

The BEAM method of employing sources. Source: Adapted from Bizup, J. (2008). BEAM: A rhetorical vocabulary for teaching research-based writing. Rhetoric Review, 27(1), 72–86.

Ways to Use Sources

Argument

Background

Exhibit

Method

Gives Context Defines Initiating Puzzle or Viewpoint Provides Grounding Facts or Perspectives Establishes Conversants and Their Positions Writers Rely on Background: Readers Accept it Tentatively

Authorize your work Borrow a Concept, Procedure, or Perspective Writers Follow Methods; Readers Assess the Utility and Influence Of Them

Writers Engage Arguments; Readers Evaluate Them or Consider Their Implications

Acknowledges Previous Conversants, Their Positions, and Significance

Needs to be Analyzed Must be Interpreted for Meaning and Significance Susceptible to Multiple Analyses and Interpretations Writers Analyze and Interpret Exhibits in Support of Claims; Readers Test and Think Along with Them

Provides Illustration or Test Case of a More General Question or Argument

Engage Previous Conversants and Their Positions

Dissent from Them Refine Them Illustrate Them Take Another Side from Them Uncover Their Values or Assumptions Borrow Them Extend or Build on Them Affirm Them

dro85866_03_c03.indd 40 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 BEAM: A Commonsense Way of Thinking About Sources

BEAM is useful because it can help you assess your set of sources to see how well they meet your needs as a writer. Writers of research essays seek to persuade readers of the truth of a proposition by offering context-sensitive, evidence-supported claims, careful analysis, and plausible interpretations. You will need to assure your reader that:

• You understand the larger context in which your work is situated, • Your claims are well-supported by evidence, • You have interpreted your evidence reliably using sound methods and rel-

evant concepts, and • You have considered the views, analyses, and interpretations of other

researchers working in the field.

The “B” in BEAM: Background Sources Because you will not be the first researcher working on your topic, you will need sources that enable you to formulate your research questions against a background of significant facts and previous ideas on the subject. According to Bizup, background sources provide “materials whose claims a writer accepts as fact, whether these ‘facts’ are taken as gen- eral information or deployed as evidence to support the writer’s own assertions” (p. 75). Background sources enable you to pro- vide context, show how other research- ers and public commentators have seen the problem or issue under study, and summarize the current state of research on your topic.

They also enable you to prepare your reader to understand where your spe- cific line of inquiry fits in the larger research conversation. By demonstrat- ing that you have read and understood the existing literature, they also help you establish your qualifications for writing about your topic. In the following passage from her research project description, Emma is deploying her sources as background. In just two sentences, she establishes the scholarly foundation on which her research stands:

Recent work by sociologists of technology argues that teens’ use of social network sites such as Facebook has much more to do with their develop- mental needs as emerging adults. According to researchers such as boyd (2008), Livingstone (2008), and Stald (2008), teens use social network sites to seek status, experiment with identities, and separate from parental influence.

At this point in her essay, Emma expects readers simply to accept the views of these researchers as authoritative. That is why she provides their credentials (“sociologists of technology”) and references to their scholarly papers.

A writer relies on background sources to pro-

vide context and to help delineate an initiat-

ing puzzle or question. Writers expect readers

to accept them as authoritative.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 41 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 BEAM: A Commonsense Way of Thinking About Sources

The “E” in BEAM: Exhibits Because readers of research essays expect your claims to be supported with evidence, you will need to illustrate your ideas and judgments using concrete data, cases, or examples. Bizup calls these materials “exhibits” (p. 75). The term “exhibit” is most often heard in the world of courtrooms. In criminal courts, prosecutors offer exhibits (evidence) to a jury in order to make a case that a particular perpetrator is guilty. In order to persuade the jury to see the exhibit as evidence of guilt, the prosecutor will need to analyze and interpret the exhibit to help the jury understand its larger significance, or to enable them to see it as suggestive of motivations.

Like prosecutors, research writers offer exhibits to readers as suggestive objects to think with and about on their way to drawing a conclusion. Because exhibits do not speak for themselves, and differ- ent viewers might see them differently, writers must analyze, explain, and inter- pret them for their readers.

To help you better understand what an exhibit is and how researchers use them in their writing, consider an example from a piece of research Emma found on how young adults relate to their mobile phones. Researcher Gitte Stald (2008)

asked 16-year-old students to write essays called “My Mobile and Me.” Then she ana- lyzed the essays as exhibits in support of her thesis that mobile phones are more than just communications tools—they are also personal development tools. Here is the passage with Stald’s thesis underlined, her exhibit marked in bold, and her analysis and interpre- tation double-underlined:

We should consider the meaning of “mobile” as . . . being ready for change, ready to go in new directions. One of the sixteen-year-old participants . . . had been considering the ontological meaning of “mobile” and looked it up in her mother’s dictionary. . . . She found that it said: “Movable, agile, able to be moved or transported easily and fast; ready to march, ready for battle.” She was somewhat surprised by the last two translations of “mobile,” and concluded that in fact that is exactly what she is with her mobile [phone] at hand: “I am easily accessed and I am movable; I am agile and transport myself easily and quite fast; I am always ready to receive a message or a call; but best of all I am ready to march, ready for battle! . . .” This girl inter- prets mobile as more than a matter of physical movement between locations, she thinks of herself as physically on the move, supported by her mobile [phone], but at the same time she applies the military terminology to her own situation and her inter- est in moving forward in life and battling for herself in more than physical terms. The mobile [phone] facilitates her social mobility and readiness to communicate. Exchange between friends is an important part of the development of identity. . . . In this context, being movable, agile and ready to march means being ready to move as a person, too. (Stald, 2008, pp. 145–146)

Writers analyze and interpret exhibits to

make them significant and meaningful to

readers. Writers expect readers to think along

with their analysis and interpretation, with

the understanding that readers will think

critically and skeptically about the writer’s

analysis and interpretation.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 42 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 BEAM: A Commonsense Way of Thinking About Sources

Stald’s exhibit is presented in enough detail so that a reader can quickly see its relevance to her thesis. Notice also that she does not assume that the girl’s essay speaks for itself. Stald follows her exhibit with analysis and interpretation, calling readers’ attention to the keywords and significant aspects of the exhibit.

The “A” in BEAM: Argument Sources Throughout this book, we have asked you to see research as a conversation. When you read and write research, you are in dialogue with other researchers, with whom you must agree or disagree, and on whose work you build or refute. So when you look for sources, you need to look for sources that offer you a perspective on the topic. Such sources are called argument sources. Argument sources provide you with “claims . . . [to] affirm, dispute, refine, or extend” (Bizup, 2008, p. 76). Commenting on the usefulness and limits of other researchers’ claims (instead of just borrowing their data) not only helps you refine your own view as you account for the views of others who may disagree with you; it also helps you anticipate potential criticisms of your interpretation, and to develop the sophistication of your claims.

In the following passage from Emma’s emerging essay, she wants to criticize and refine the ideas of John Palfrey, a writer who believes that today’s technologically connected teens are categorically different from the teens of previous generations. Emma starts by conveying Palfrey’s idea in a fair and balanced manner, and at the same time signals her disagreement, which is highlighted in bold:

Even John Palfrey (2008) admits that teens today “establish and communi- cate their identities simultaneously in the physical and digital worlds” (p. 20). Unfortunately in boiling things down, Palfrey misplaces the empha- sis, writing “the net effect of the digital age—paradoxically—is to decrease [a girl’s] ability to control her social identity and how others perceive her” (pp. 19–20). However, while the Internet has made the adolescent matu- ration process more public, it has done little to change how much control adolescents have over the essential process of how they establish and manage their identities. Teens have always had to negotiate their identi- ties in a dynamic social environment where how they are viewed by oth- ers shapes their sense of self.

By using transition tags, such as “unfortunately” and “however,” Emma alerts her reader to see her perspective as an argument that counters Palfrey’s view.

Writers engage the arguments (claims, sup-

port, and reasoning) of other writers. Readers

test, evaluate, and consider the implications

of a writer’s argument.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 43 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

The “M” in BEAM: Method Sources Some of the persuasiveness of a research essay rests on the assurance that the researcher has followed a reasonable method of finding, analyzing, and interpreting exhibits. Research- ers develop reliable ways of working with data and cases to draw reasonable conclusions. According to Bizup, method sources “can offer a set of key terms, lay out a particular pro- cedure, or furnish a general model or perspective” (p. 76). They ensure that the researcher’s general approach and foundational concepts are sound. When you want to know whether another researcher’s claim is statistically significant, you are asking about his or her meth- ods. When you analyze a researcher’s survey to see which populations it represents, and which it does not, you are assessing his or her methods. As a researcher, you should not only adopt and follow a method for analyzing and interpreting data, but you should

also reflect on the implications of your own methods, and assess the utility and influence of other researchers’ method- ological choices on their conclusions.

For the purposes of your research, your method is a systematic critical synthesis of previous research called a literature review.

As you use BEAM to choose a set of sources that will enable you to meet your needs as a writer, keep in mind that you may need multiple examples of all four kinds of sources, and that any single source likely provides you with more than one kind of material for your project.

3.3 Finding Sources

In our experience, student researchers who struggle to find sources do so because:1. They are searching some- what randomly for “gen- eral information” about a topic, and/or

2. They are not aware of the important differ- ences between search- ing web portals such as Google and searching the subscription databases found in most academic libraries.

In this section, you will learn how to overcome these problems and find the sources you need.

“Writers follow methods” (Bizup, 2008,

p. 76). Readers assess the utility and influence

of methods.

Blend Images/SuperStock Sources can be found in various ways, such as searching for keywords online or using databases provided by an academic library.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 44 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

Starting Research in a New Field Starting research on a topic in an entirely new field presents researchers with a significant problem—namely, they do not know enough about the topic or field to know what they need to learn. In other words, they do not yet know the questions that other researchers have asked. They do not know the specialized vocabulary that has evolved. They do not yet know what aspect of the topic on which they want to work. It is very likely that as an undergraduate, you are facing the same problem with your current project. It seems natu- ral that the first thing that you should do is to fire up your browser, log in to a database, and search away to find something, anything, to get your feet wet. But that is a counter- productive way to start acquiring the basic knowledge that you will need in order to find a useful set of sources and frame a set of questions.

Instead, you need to look for a short overview of the topic that will orient you to some of the driving concerns of the field. If you are conducting research for a college course, it is likely that some of your course materials can provide you with at least some of what you need. Course textbooks are especially good resources for surveying the breadth of a subject and acquiring the specialized language of the field. Mining them for concepts and exhibits can provide you both with search terms you can use right away and clues for developing others. Also consult lecture notes, handouts and slides, and assigned or recommended readings. If your readings are scholarly, review the sources listed on their references pages to locate the names of researchers working in your field and key concepts. Once you are searching the databases, try a few searches that include the term “review of the literature” with your topic to see if you can find an article that summarizes and evaluates recent research in the field.

Besides looking at course materials, you can also consult specialized encyclopedias, subject-specific dictionaries, and topic bibliographies. The reference sections of most aca- demic libraries stock a wide range of these helpful orienting texts. Many libraries also provide librarian-prepared subject guides to often-used fields to help you identify the most useful orienting texts, bibliographic tools, and databases. Fields with subject guides include anthropology, company/industry research, criminal justice and law enforcement, early childhood education, heathcare administration, and literature. You can find these and more subject guides in tutorials on your university or local library websites. Often, you can also call, email, or chat online with a librarian for help deciding which ones might be of most use to you.

Assessing Your Research Needs Once you have a basic overview of your topic, the first step in finding a coherent set of useful sources is to assess your research needs. With Bizup’s BEAM mnemonic, you know that you will need (a) background sources, (b) exhibit sources, (c) argument sources, and (d) method sources. That is useful as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough to help you choose the right databases for your specific project or to search them effectively. If you have completed the project design work in Chapter 2 (gathering an overview of your topic using course materials, subject-specific encyclopedias and dictionaries, and topic-specific bibliographies), you have already performed some of the preliminary steps necessary to assess your research needs. In particular, the initial set of questions you wrote will be a pri- mary resource for your first targeted foray into the literature. If you are still in the design phase of your project, do not worry. This section will help you get your project started well.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 45 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

Developing a Set of Research Questions The key to finding useful sources for your project is to approach a database session with good questions in hand. In Chapter 2, you learned that research projects tend to have two different types of questions: essential questions that prompt you to investigate perplex- ing phenomenon or solve complex problems, and supporting questions that guide you to find the material you need to answer your essential questions. You also learned that good questions should have a specific scope, which means they should clearly specify which populations, locations, time periods, subtopics, and theories are relevant to your question. If you have not written any essential or supporting research questions, you will need to do so before approaching the database. Go back to Chapter 2 and work through the activities in Section 2.3 to develop your project definition, topic, and research questions.

Constructing Effective Search Queries Once you have good research questions, you must learn how to use them to query the database. If you have a lot of experience searching the Internet, you likely use natural language—language that looks and sounds like the language we use in everyday situa- tions—to search for what you want to find. The following search queries are written in natural language:

• “What is the best Chinese restaurant in St. Paul?” • “How can I catch more fish?” • “What are some ways to help my child who does not like to read?”

On the Internet, natural language searches tend to work well enough to allow you to find what you want without too much effort. But if you query a research database using natural language, you will likely find that you get few or no results. What is more, the few results you get may be irrelevant because research databases are organized using the same categories and logic that organize the content of research libraries. As a result, databases “speak” a language that allows you to search and find more than just the specific title for which you were looking. It allows you to find clusters of related content as well. So in order to search academic library catalogs and academic databases well, you have to learn how to construct searches that the system can process.

Search construction involves analyzing your research question to identify potential search terms, refining the question by specifying the relationship between key terms, and finding synonyms for keywords that may be too imprecise to generate sources that are relevant to your project. To learn how to construct effective search queries, let us discuss each part of this process by analyzing the last research question on our list: “What are some ways to help my child who does not like to read?”

Step 1: Identify keywords or concepts in the research question.

Likely two keywords leap out at you: child, read. So you write them down on a research log form like the one shown in the Sample Research Log. While you could go directly to a multipurpose database and enter those two terms in a keyword search, you would likely get thousands of results. Only a few of them would be closely relevant to your question because there are many different possible relationships between your two keywords,

dro85866_03_c03.indd 46 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

and you have not yet specified the relationship between them. Without specifying the rela- tionship between them, the database cannot tell if you are an elementary school teacher wanting sources on how to teach very young children to learn to read for the first time, a memoirist writing about the value of her time spent reading as a child, or a concerned par- ent wanting information on how to motivate your adolescent boy to enjoy reading more.

Step 2: Specify the relationship between keywords.

The first thing to do is to go back to the original question and see whether you can find additional keywords that better specify the relationship between child and read. Here is the question again: “What are some ways to help my child who doesn’t like to read?” A second look at the question reveals two additional key phrases that indicate a very specific relationship between child and read: We have a child who does not like to read, and a parent who wants ways to help him or her. Notice how this reformulation of the ques- tion brings in a new keyword: parent. By finding the additional phrases that specify the relationship between our keywords, we have arrived at a better understanding of what it is we are looking for. Developing and refining your question is not only a key strategy for generating more productive search combinations; it also helps you better understand your research needs. If you are lucky, it can help you develop some other closely related research questions.

Step 3: Refine imprecise keywords by finding synonyms.

Adding new keywords and phrases to the search seems like it should help the database return sources that more specifically address your concerns, and to a degree it will. But you will not find everything written on the topic, and you may find nothing at all. This is because two of the primary keywords (child and parent) have multiple synonyms. Fur- thermore, two of the key phrases (ways to help and does not like) express relationships in everyday language that expert researchers would find too imprecise to use in their arti- cles. Since researchers try to use language carefully and precisely to represent accurately the problems, data, and solutions on which they are working, you will need to produce a list of more precise synonyms that researchers might use for each of your keywords or phrases. Remember, different writers might choose different terms to convey the same idea. So you will need to develop and test several different combinations of search terms to locate all of the most relevant sources for your query.

Let us continue with our example by refining our imprecise terms—ways to help and does not like. You can use a dictionary or thesaurus to help find synonyms, but you may get bet- ter, more efficient results by using the materials you found earlier during your grounding research in specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias to guide your synonym develop- ment. Here is what a standard thesaurus suggests as potential synonyms for ways: habits, conduct, customs, behavior, traditions. None of these terms gets at what you want to find out. In everyday language, you are looking for advice or techniques to motivate your child. In your grounding research, researchers call teaching techniques methods or pedagogies. Here is the cluster of terms we have developed for ways to help: advice, techniques, methods, peda- gogies. By stepping through a similar synonym development process, we can replace does not like with reluctant, resistant, unenthusiastic, averse, unwilling.

Child might seem like a specific enough term, but there are several others that researchers might use. Youth, adolescent, teen, tween, juvenile, and kids are just some of the possibilities.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 47 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

Considering that more boys than girls seem to become reluctant readers, your list should probably include gendered terms for child as well: boy, son, young man, male.

Sample Research Log

What are your research questions?

“What are some ways to help my child who doesn't like to read?”

What are the keywords and concepts in your questions?

child, read, ways to help, doesn't like, (parent)

What are some synonyms and related words for the key words and concepts in your questions?

child: youth, adolescent, teen, tween, juvenile, kids ways to help: advice, techniques, methods, pedagogies doesn't like: reluctant, resistant, unenthusiastic, averse, unwilling

Research Log

After all this question development, we can rewrite our original question in a much more specific way:

“What methods, techniques, or pedagogies can parents use to motivate teenage male reluctant readers?”

With such a specific question, you will find a reasonably small number of sources to review, and the majority of sources you locate should be relevant.

Choosing Databases Once you have identified keywords and phrases and their variants, you are ready to approach a research database to do some searching. Before you can search, you need to decide which databases to choose to search (see Figure 3.2 for factors that can help you choose an appropriate database). Many libraries have made it simpler for you to know which ones to choose by listing databases by subject and describing contents. They have also provided subject guides to reliable resources for several disciplines, including anthro- pology, company and industry research, criminal justice and law enforcement, early child- hood education, healthcare administration, and literature. These subject guides contain useful database recommendations as well as the names of useful subject specific resources, including reference books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and more.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 48 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

Database Categories For the purposes of your research project, you need to be able to distinguish between two major categories of database. The first, known as a general purpose database (or multidis- ciplinary database), is often a good place to start your research because it indexes many different fields or disciplines. But while this type of database offers breadth, it can sacri- fice depth. In order to bring you a wide sample of research being done in so many fields, general purpose databases tend to focus on the major journals in the field. EBSCOhost’s Academic Search Premier and ProQuest are good examples of general purpose databases widely used by college students.

Figure 3.2: Choosing a database

Choosing a Database

Coverage Is the database subject specific or general? Does it emphasize scholarly or popular sources?

Currency How current are the publications indexed in the database? How far back into the publication history does the database cover?

Is access free or fee-based? Is electronic delivery of materials available?Availability

Does the database offer full text, abstracts, or citations?Record Types

On the other hand, subject-specific databases (also known as field-specific databases) aim to represent the full range of a particular field or subject. If you do not find what you need in a general database, or if you suspect there is more to the topic than is covered in a general database, you should consult a subject-specific database such as Westlaw (law and business), Sage Journals Online (social sciences), PyschArticles (psychology), ERIC (education), PubMED (medicine and healthcare), or the MLA International Bibliography (literature). It is important to understand that no one database can serve all your research needs. You will need to try your searches in multiple databases to discover the best sources for your project. Be sure to record on your research log which databases provide you with the best results for each of your searches.

Further Considerations When Choosing a Database As you continue to consider which databases to choose for your research, the following questions could influence your choice:

1. Does the database provide full-text access to sources or only abstracts or citations? Full text is obviously best, but finding an abstract or citation can be useful. If you find a citation or abstract of a useful article, be sure to record the full cita- tion information so you can search for the full text in another database.

2. How current are the publications indexed in the database? How many years into the past does the database index? The deeper and more recent the coverage the better.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 49 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

3. Is access to the contents of the database free or fee-based? Remember, many fee- based databases that you find online are free to you when accessed through your university or local library.

4. Does the database provide for electronic delivery of sources and citations? If not, contact a librarian to learn how to request that an electronic copy of a source be sent to you.

Searching Databases Unlike search engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo!, which use keyword searches by default, academic databases work best when you specify the kind of search you want to conduct. There are three major kinds of database searches you can conduct: author/title searches, keyword searches, and subject searches. Which search you choose depends on (a) whether you are searching for unknown sources on a topic or a specific article or book written by a specific author, (b) what you know about what you’re trying to find, (c) how specifically or broadly your topic is defined, and (d) how field- or discipline-specific your topic or research needs are. Table 3.2 is provided as a reference to help you determine what type of search you should conduct. Each search type is discussed in more detail in the following sections.

Table 3.2: Database search types

Use Author/Title Search when:

• You know the name of the author you want to find.

• You want to find additional articles by a known writer.

• You know the title of an article or book you want to find.

• You know the title of a journal, periodical, or book series that frequently contains sources relevant to your topic.

Use Keyword Search when:

• You have a specific research question to answer.

• Your topic has keywords that are distinctive, new, or field specific.

• Your topic can only be specified with multiple keywords (methods AND motivate AND adolescent AND reluctant readers).

• You have multiple synonyms that you want to search simultaneously (children OR kids OR teens OR adolescents).

• More than one field or discipline is relevant to your topic (adolescent psychology AND reading instruction)

Use Subject Search when:

• Your topic is broad, you are conducting grounding research, and you don’t yet have specific research questions to answer.

• You are looking for sources about a person rather than by a person.

• A keyword in your topic has different meanings in different fields or disciplines, and you want to specify which fields or disciplines are relevant.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 50 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

Performing Author/Title Searches Author/title searches are used to acquire specific sources when you already know the author’s name and title, or when you want to survey the work of a particular researcher in hopes of finding other relevant sources he or she has authored. Once you have one or two pieces in hand, consult their references pages for the names of other researchers working on your topic and titles of their work. Also, since academic journals tend to specialize, take note of the titles of journals that show up repeatedly in your source list and search by title for those journals to find other relevant articles and researchers active in your field. In her research, Emma found multiple references to the Journal of Computer-Mediated Commu- nication and New Media & Society in her results lists. When she searched for those journals by title and browsed their tables of contents, she found the names of several researchers working in her field and candidate sources for inclusion in her project.

Performing Keyword Searches Although keyword searches can quickly supply you with lots of candidate sources to assess, they often return irrelevant results if not carefully constructed using a search term development process like the one we went through earlier in this chapter. So, in order to generate more relevant results, keyword searches are best used when you have a specific research question to answer or you are seeking sources on a topic that can be described with distinctive or field-specific keywords. They are particularly helpful when your research cuts across traditional disciplinary or field lines. You can use keyword sources for ground- ing research, but as noted above, you must monitor your search results for new keywords and new variants of keywords as you go. Otherwise, your search will return only the sub- set of articles that use everyday language to discuss the topic. In order for your source set to help you go beyond the obvious, you will have to conduct additional keyword searches using the more precise terms you collect as you browse through your results list.

Keyword searches return the most relevant results when you combine multiple keywords with the search term connector AND, which narrows your search, returning records that include all of your search terms. If you find that you need to broaden your search, use the search term connector OR to return records that include any of your search terms. While the specific look of a search interface will vary by provider, most search interfaces pro- vide you with the opportunity to enter multiple keywords and to specify the relationship between them. You might have to find and click on the “Advanced Search” link to do so, but the increase in quality of results makes it well worth the effort.

Figure 3.3: Using search term connectors

dro85866_03_c03.indd 51 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

The search shown in Figure 3.3 returns all the records that include the term read- ing problems AND either adolescent OR teen. Notice the asterisk in our search? It is a truncation symbol, which can be thought of as a “wild card” charac- ter that tells the database to return all results that include the characters up to the truncation symbol, no matter what other characters follow the last one.

Because we searched for adolescent* or teen*, the database returns records that include minor variations of my terms: adolescent and adolescents, teen, teens, teenagers, teenaged. Notice too that we might have selected “AND NOT” to omit results—say, on preschool- ers—that are not relevant to our topic. Using these strategies helps ensure that our key- word search returns a reasonably small set of relevant results.

Performing Subject Searches Subject searches are useful when your topic is broad and has many dimensions. You can use subject searches both to survey the range of subtopics in a field and to narrow down your results to find only the results containing the subtopics you want. Unlike keyword searches, which return results based solely on the presence or absence of the word in any field in the record, subject searches search for your term only in the subject headings field of the record. Since subject headings are assigned by the Library of Congress, you need to formulate your search very precisely to match the assigned heading, or your search will return no results. For example, for our topic on how parents can motivate their adoles- cents to read, we could try a subject search for reading and adolescent (see Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4: A failed subject search

If a subject search fails, the “Search as Words” option will allow you to search through results close to your original search terms.

Our search returned no results because the Library of Congress has not assigned a head- ing that combines reading and adolescent in sequence. When you get a result like this, do not conclude that there are no sources on your topic. There are many resources available, but we cannot find them using a subject search without knowing some of the specific

Although truncation symbols vary by pro-

vider, typical truncation symbols include *, !,

?, #, and $.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 52 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

preassigned subject headings. It might seem at first glance that it would be much easier to use keyword searching. But once you find the Library of Congress subject headings specific to your topic, you will locate a treasure trove of sources, and most of them will be relevant.

Strategies for Handling Failed Subject Searches There are two strategies you can use to turn a failed subject search into one that allows you to locate the right subject headings. One way is to click the “Search as Words” option (see Figure 3.5) to conduct a keyword search of only the subject headings fields of the records. That will give you a list of books or articles to review. Choose one that seems to be close to your topic, open the record, and look at the subject headings fields (see Figure 3.6 to locate the subject headings fields on a typical record). Often you can click on the subject headings links and be taken directly to a list of sources.

Another way to deal with a failed subject search is to start with a broader simpler descrip- tion of the topic: in this case, reading. Doing a subject search on reading will result in a list of subject headings similar to the one shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5: Results of a broad subject search

Broad searches will result in many more subject headings, which must then be narrowed down to your specific topic.

The number circled in blue tells us that there are 1,336 subject headings related to the word reading in this database. Of course not all of them have anything to do with the act of deciphering words on the page. Some have to do with places named “Reading” in England, Pennsylvania, Canada, and Australia. You could scroll through this list of 1,336 subject headings to find ones that are relevant to you. But that would take a long time, and you still would not be guaranteed of finding relevant subject headings that do not begin with the word reading. A faster and more reliable approach would be to click on the “Read- ing” subject heading and quickly browse some of the titles of the 892 sources on reading to find one that looks like it might be relevant. For this search, the very first page of results includes a book titled 99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Reading and One Hundred Books They’ll Love. When you pull up its record, you find two relevant subject headings you can select, including one, Reading—Parent participation, that seems spot on.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 53 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Finding Sources

Figure 3.6: Subject headings on a typical record

It is important to keep in mind the different configurations that a title might be listed under in terms of subjects.

Clicking through both of the more specific subject headings leads you indirectly to hun- dreds of sources, many of which will lead you to other relevant subject headings. When you click through Reading—Parent Participation, you are directed to a list of related subject headings that provide you with access to relevant sources, as shown in Figure 3.7.

Figure 3.7: Search results: Reading—Parent Participation

Databases are organized to help maximize searches. In this instance, the specificity of subject headings for the search term “Reading—Parent Participation” will allow the researcher to quickly exclude irrelevant groupings and instead focus on those pertinent to his or her topic.

Notice how the subject headings list allows you to specify the kinds of sources you want to find (bibliographies, handbooks, case studies), geographic locations, reading genres, and more. You will want to select several of these related subject headings to produce a list of results to review. Clicking through the Children—Reading subject heading will produce another set of sources with additional subject headings to search. Since subject headings are uniform across databases, useful subject headings you discover in one database are likely to be useful in other databases. So be sure to record which of the subject headings you find are the most useful. And as always, be on the lookout for new search terms, new

dro85866_03_c03.indd 54 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Chapter Summary

variants, and the jargon that expert researchers use to describe their topics and use those terms in future searches.

Search Narrowing and Search Broadening One last note on searching: Use search-narrowing strategies when your searches return too many results to review or the results are not as relevant as you’d like them to be. Use search-broadening strategies when your search returns too few results or they are too spe- cialized for your purposes. These strategies are encapsulated in Table 3.3.

Table 3.3: Search-narrowing and search-broadening strategies

Narrowing Strategies Broadening Strategies

• Using multiple search terms connected by “AND” or “AND NOT.”

• Using more specific or specialized terms. • Using available limiters to set scope.

• Searching for multiple terms connected by “OR.”

• Using more common, less specific, or broader terms.

• Using truncation to search for word variants.

We have already seen search-narrowing strategies at work earlier in this chapter when we looked for synonyms for our search term “child.” We saw that more specific and spe- cialized terms such as adolescent, teen, or juvenile return fewer but more relevant results. We also saw that combining multiple terms in a search (such as “parent” AND “reluctant reader” AND “techniques”) significantly reduced the number of irrelevant sources we needed to sift through.

When searches return too few results, you need to expand your searches. Rewrite your search using fewer search terms, or by using “OR” as a connector instead of “AND,” as in a search for “juvenile” OR “teen” OR “adolescent” AND “readers”). You can also try replacing technical or overly specific terms with more common or more general terms: “reading com- prehension” might replace “semantic decoding,” for example. Finally, try using truncation symbols to search for variations of a term: “read*” to search for “reading” and “readers.”

Chapter Summary As you review this chapter, pay particular attention to the concepts, strategies, and tools that enable you to see your sources as something more than containers of information. Being able to determine whether your source is “scholarly” or “popular” is a key deter- minant of the uses to which it may or may not be put. The BEAM mnemonic can help you see your sources as a writer does—as resources: to help you establish the background of your topic; to provide you with exhibits to analyze and interpret; to enable you to bor- row, extend, or counter the arguments of other researchers; and to certify the rigor of your research by using reliable methods.

It is vital to remember that success in searching for sources depends on what questions you ask and how well you ask them. If you are conducting research in a new field, be sure to use the strategies detailed in this chapter to learn the kinds of questions researchers working in

dro85866_03_c03.indd 55 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Key Terms

the field ask and the specialized language they use. Once you have researchable questions, remember to analyze your questions to determine their keywords and the relationships among them. Do not forget to search for variants or synonyms of key concepts. Use your research log to keep track of successful searches so that you can use them in other databases.

You should also experiment with Google Scholar and the databases available to you through your university or local library to become more familiar with database searching. As you learned in Chapter 2, be sure to analyze your results list to discover the names of researchers working in your area, new terms or concepts, and subject headings that are relevant to your topic.

Key Terms argument source A source that provides researchers with claims to affirm, dispute, refine, or extend.

background source A source that pro- vides researchers with established facts and accepted ideas, which they use to establish a significant context for their own research.

BEAM Joseph Bizup’s memory aid to help researchers understand four common sense ways to use sources in research: as background, exhibit, argument, or method.

exhibit A source that provides research- ers with examples or cases to analyze and interpret in support or refutation of a claim.

method A source that provides research- ers with a reliable process for gathering, analyzing, and interpreting exhibits.

multidisciplinary database Also known as a “general purpose database”; a data- base that indexes many different fields or disciplines.

natural language Language used by human beings in the ordinary course of events, in contrast to computer, database, or machine languages and the systematic language of formal logic.

news source A source written by journal- ists reporting on current issues or events.

popular source A source written primarily for entertainment or to earn money.

scholarly source A peer reviewed source produced by credentialed experts seek- ing the truth and writing in their field of expertise.

search construction The analytical process by which researchers transform their ques- tions into queries of a library database to find sources.

subject guide A research aid produced by librarians to provide researchers who are new to a field with guidance in locat- ing appropriate databases, journals, and sources.

subject heading Fields in a library data- base record that specify the topics and subtopics addressed in a text.

subject-specific database Also known as a “field-specific database”; a database that aims to represent the full range of a par- ticular field or subject.

trade source A source written by a repre- sentative of a profession or industry for the purpose of informing or advising.

truncation symbol A “wild card” charac- ter that tells a search database to return all results that include the characters up to the truncation symbol, no matter what other characters follow the last one.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 56 10/2/13 2:31 PM

CHAPTER 3Web Sites For Further Reference

Web Sites For Further Reference http://prezi.com/svjv-nfgka95/intro-to-library-databases/ This “Intro to Library Databases” Prezi by Nancy Bellafante explains the difference between the content available via Google and library databases, as well as how to ana- lyze a research question and search a database.

http://www.schooltube.com/video/f42863cbb7cb4db6a3f4/Talking%20to%20Databases This short video on “Talking to a Database” produced at Kent State University shows how to turn a research topic into a format that library databases will understand.

dro85866_03_c03.indd 57 10/2/13 2:31 PM

dro85866_03_c03.indd 58 10/2/13 2:31 PM