LIB260: Locating Social Sciences/ Cultural Studies Resources

Lingnan University LibrarySep 2011http://www.library.ln.edu.hk/help/classes/2011/fall/powerpoint/

1

Primary Sources vs Secondary Sources

• Primary Sources: A first-hand or eye witness account of an event. • Newspaper stories , speeches and other papers that

individuals describe events in which they were participants or observers.

• Statistical data.• Materials that document the attitudes and popular

thought of a historical time period. e.g. public opinion surveys.

• Records of organizations. e.g. minutes, correspondences, annual reports, etc.

• Personal letters, diary, etc.2

Primary Sources vs Secondary Sources

• Secondary Sources are ones that interpret or analyzes primary sources. • Examples: dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, books

and articles.

3

Primary Sources vs Secondary Sources

• Primary Sources • Labour Union

documents.• Speeches.• Personal letters.

• Secondary Sources• Research papers on

evaluating and analyzing the relationship between feminist movement and labor movement in turn-of-the-century England.

4

Search Strategies (1)

• Use appropriate resources• Library catalogue – various books, journals, video programs, etc.

available at the Library.• Electronic databases – e-books, book chapters, academic journal articles, news articles, statistics, glossaries and definitions, etc.

• Full-text Databases - contains the partial or complete text of works, such as articles, books, etc.• Bibliographic Databases - contains descriptive information (citation and

subject headings) for publications, such as books, and periodical articles, etc.

• Internet resources – facts, news, organizational information, statistics …

5

Search Strategies (2)

6

Identify main conceptsE.g. I want to study about how the citizenship be reflected

through political participation in Hong Kong.1. Political participation

2. Citizenship

3. Hong Kong

Choice of search words (related key terms/synonyms)

Search Strategies (3)

• Use appropriate operators (AND / OR / NOT) and wildcards (e.g. * , !)• AND: searches records that mention both search terms,

this narrows the search. • e.g. citizenship and hong kong ( 必須同時出現 )

• OR: finds records in which one or both search terms appear, this broadens the search. • e.g. Citizenship or vote ( 只要任何一個出現 )

7

Search Strategies (4)

• Wildcards / Truncation: retrieves all variant endings of that word • EBSCOhost: *• ProQuest: *• Factiva: *• LexisNexis Academic: !• OPAC: *

e.g. citizen* -- retrieves all words that start with CITIZEN such as citizen, citizens, citizenship etc.

8

Search Strategies (5)

• ( )Parentheses: gives priority and order in the search statement

e.g. (citizenship or voting) and hong kong

• Be prepared to narrow / expand your search results by using database-specific features / changing your keywords.

9

Research Guides: Social Sciences

10

Core Databases Print Resources Tools, News and Dictionaries Internet Resources Examination

Databases

11

e.g. Locating social sciences resources from Databases:1.Click the “E-Resources” tab2.Select “Databases”

E-Resources consist of databases, e-books, e-journals, and other electronic resources available on the Library website.

Most of the databases can be accessed online in and outside the Library while some can be accessed through dedicated workstations inside the Library only.

Databases

12

Choose database by subject e.g. economics, political science, sociology and social policy

1-Search

13http://proxy1.library.ln.edu.hk:2048/login?url=http://eh5aj6qe3d.cs.serialssolutions.com

1-SearchAllows you to Search Many Databases at the Same Time

e.g. (political participation) and citizenship and Hong Kong

Database demonstration• ProQuest Research Library/ EBSCOhost

• citizenship and political and participation• citizen* and (political participat*) and Hong Kong

• Sociological Abstracts / AgeLine• citizenship and political and participation

• older adults and voting • ((older adult* or older people) or elderly) and vot*

• JSTOR• hong kong and social chang* (in item title / in abstract)

• WiseNews• (( 香港 and 污染 ) or (hong kong and pollution))

• LexisNexis Academic• hong kong and pollution and protect!

• Factiva• ((hong kong and polluti*) or ( 香港 and 污染 )) and (air quality)

14

Selected Internet Resources

>>Social Sciences

15

Statistics•HK Census & Statistics Dept. publications (print version or electronic version: e.g. HK Annual Digest of Statistics, census reports, etc.), Datastream, IMF International Financial Statistics, UN Statistical Yearbook, China InfoBank …

•http://www.library.ln.edu.hk/help/wiki/index.php/Locating_Information_at_Lingnan:_Finding_Statistics

16

Citation Management / Bibliography Generation Tools• RefWorks

• http://proxy1.library.ln.edu.hk:2048/login?url=https://www.refworks.com/refworks2/?r=authentication::init&groupcode=RWLingnanUL

• Citation Builder• http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/lobo2/citationbuilder/citationbuilder.php

• Citation and Style• http://www.library.ln.edu.hk/eresources/internet_resources/

Research_Methods/Citation_and_Style/

17

Need Helps?• Ask A Librarian

• http://www.library.ln.edu.hk/help/eref/• Integrated Helpdesk

• refstaff@ln.edu.hk• 2616-8571

18

Q&AThank You

19