INT 100RS 

Interdisciplinary 100RS: Advanced Library Research
for Religious Studies
Fall 2009

Wednesday, 3:30 - 5:30 pm, Davidson Library Classroom 1575

Meryle Gaston, Librarian for Middle East Studies
Office: 5th Floor, Davidson Library 5520-H
893-7686
Office Hours: Tues. & Thurs. 2:30-4 p.m. HSSB3071 or by appointment
gaston@library.ucsb.edu

Course Description and Requirements

INT 100RS is a 2-unit class that focuses on advanced research techniques in the fields of Religious Studies and Middle East Studies.

This class will be beneficial to new graduate students, to those who want to learn in-depth research skills, and to students concurrently enrolled in courses requiring significant research. The course emphasizes a systematic approach to a single research topic, and is designed primarily for students who are writing a senior honors thesis, a Master’s thesis or a PhD dissertation. Concurrent enrollment in a course with a research requirement is encouraged.

The course meets on Wednesday afternoons during the weeks when the Religious Studies Department does not have its colloquia. Typically there are 2 colloquia scheduled for fall quarter so this course will meet the other 8 weeks.

This course covers a variety of electronic and print resources in the humanities and social sciences. Students are expected to complete the written assignments and to come to class prepared to discuss assigned readings.

 

Those interested in taking INT 100RS should have some proficiency in basic library skills, such as using an online library catalog and searching article databases.  Undergraduate students who do not possess these basic skills are strongly encouraged to first take INT 1 (Introduction to Library Research).

Course Objectives

• To learn how to locate research materials for Religious Studies
• To gain an understanding of general research techniques and sources within different disciplines, and to apply this understanding to research in Religious Studies
• To learn research strategies for finding materials from and about the Middle East (for the Middle East Studies students)
• To explore specialized collections and libraries at UCSB
• To develop and utilize a strategy for organizing information resources as one finds them
• To learn to evaluate critically various types of information on related topics
• To understand the politics governing information

Grading Guide:

Assignments: 5 @ 5% each = 25%
Resource Presentation: 20%
Research journal: 10%
Collections Assessment (for graduates); Annotated bibliography (for undergraduates): 20%
Attendance and Participation: 25%

Requirements:

The five assignments must be turned in on the dates shown on the syllabus. This course progressively develops skills and therefore it is important to complete the assignments sequentially and on time. Often there will be time in class to research.

 

Resource Presentation
Each student will give one resource presentation. This entails:

• becoming familiar with assigned library resources
• creating a guide (either in print or as a webpage) describing the aspects and functionalities of the resource
• meeting with the instructor or one of the librarians for discussion of your presentation
• giving a 10 minute demostration of the resource to the class

 

Research Journal
Successful research is a reflective and iterative process. As you explore new resources, it is helpful to write down exactly what you searched, how you searched, and what the results were. Then you can see patterns and make adjustments for greater success. Taking the time to record this now will make you a more effective researcher later. We each bring different strengths and backgrounds to this class. Giving each other feedback on research strategies provides us all with opportunities for improving our research skills.

 

Collections Assessment
This project will require you to use several library catalogs to determine both what UCSB has for you to use and what is missing. It is designed to make you intimately familiar with our holdings and to give you the opportunity to make recommendations for purchase.

Attendance, Participation, and Readings
ON RESERVE: The Craft of Research , 3rd edition. (I do recommend you get your own copy at some point, but I didn't order any for the bookstore.) Guide to the Study of Religion by Braun & McCutcheon
ON E-RESERVE:Religious Studies by Walter H. Capps. Chap. 7. "Vanity's Fare"
We will discuss these readings in class. Attendance and active participation is expected in this course.

No other texts are used. Some classes incorporate guest speakers or trips to local collections, so attendance at each class is required. One unexcused absence is allowed, after which the student’s grade will be dropped one letter per unexcused absence. It is important to be on time to accommodate presentations by fellow students and guest speakers or me.

Hopefully, there will be weeks when part of the class time will be devoted to your research. Students should be prepared to take advantage of this time to do research with help from the instructor and from each other.

Kurt Miller INT RS 100

Anthropology Plus

How to access:

---Electronic database “FirstSearch,” provided by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center)
---Access through the UCSB library (paid for by the UCSB library), on campus or off campus through the proxy server

What are the resources?

---Index of periodicals related to Anthropology

Who produces the resources?

 

---Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute and Anthropological Literature,
Harvard University

 

What is in the resource?

 

        Types of materials references?

---“Provides extensive worldwide indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture and interdisciplinary studies.”

Scope:

 

Subject area of coverage:

 

---Anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, linguistics and literature, art history, material culture, demography, museum studies, economics, primatology, ethnology, psychology, folklore, religious studies, economics, sociocultural, anthropology, human ecology  

 

Dates of coverage:

 

---Anthropological Index: 1957-present
---Anthropological Literature: Early 19th century to present

 

Languages:

 

---Search in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

---Articles in English (typically)

 

Places of publication included:

 

Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute
50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)20 7387 0455 Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 8817
Web: http://www.therai.org.uk/ Email: admin@therai.org.uk

 

How are items selected for inclusion?

---“Brings together into one resource the highly respected Anthropological Literature from Harvard University and Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute from the UK”
---“Offers worldwide indexing of all core periodicals, in addition to lesser known journals…”

 

How do you use the resource?

                Search techniques:

                                Boolean?

                                                ---Includes: AND, OR, NOT, and parenthesis

                                Limit Functions?

---Limit to: Year, language phrase, database name phrase, full text, and articles held by my library

                                Thesaurus?

                                                ---Related subjects function

                Results lists:

                                How to sort results:

---Date, source, author, title, number of libraries, source

 

How to mark/tag records:

 

---Click the box next to the resource

 

Email/print results:

 

---Both available

 

                Any extra tips / tricks?

 

---The search engine related to Anthropology Plus (FirstSearch) is extremely powerful and can look at databases beyond just Anthropology Plus. “FirstSearch” can look through a number of other resources, including WorldCat and WorldCat Dissertations. The limit function can help narrow down the resources found on the search engine. Make sure you use the advanced search to get the best results.

 

Advantages of the resource?

 

---HUGE and reliable anthropology related database

---Easy to mark and save resources

---User can log in to save progress

 

Disadvantages of the resource?

 

                ---Amount of functions and data can be overwhelming

                ---Does not separate search results by type (ie: books, audio, etc)

---Takes some time to figure out all the functions

---User can only be idle for 5 minutes before you have to log back in

---No citation function for articles found in Anthroplogy Plus, must go to article source or UC eLinks to use an automated citation function

---Extremely easy to leave the Anthropology Plus database, make sure you double check your database

 

Citation functions?

 

Available under external resources when searching under the WorldCat tab, but not under Anthropology Plus. Also available when going through UC-eLinks