Bodleian Social Science Library Workshop 17th June 2014
Thesis Research Skills for PPE
Craig Finlay, Reader Services Librarian
Helen Worrell, Senior Library Assistant
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the session, you should:








Understand the literature review process;
Be able to plan an effective and structured search for your thesis;
Know where to look for different types of information;
Have evaluated different methods of searching;
Have developed search skills that can be applied across different resources;
Be aware of ethical issues such as plagiarism
Have had a chance to practise;
Know where to come for future help.
Course structure:
1. The literature review process
2. Sources and search tools
3. Writing up and referencing
Course powerpoint + workbook:
Available on the SSL website, under the Skills Training menu @
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ssl/workshops/training-materials-archive
Access to online resources provided by the Bodleian Libraries:





1
SOLO http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
OxLIP+ http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
OU E-Journals http://ejournals.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Libguides http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Single Sign On http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/webauth/oxfordusername.xml
Bodleian Social Science Library Workshop 17th June 2014
Doing the literature review
Key questions and some answers…
1. Why is the literature review important?
a. To understand your topic, how it has been researched before, and the issues involved
b. To develop a conceptual framework for your own research
c. To identify gaps in the literature
d. To help focus your own research question
e. To develop your own argument
2. Why be methodical?
a. Gives a true, comprehensive and unbiased picture of previous research
b. Provides a broad coverage of what IS there and identifies what ISN’T there - gaps
c. Justifies what you want to include in your review – scope, coverage etc – and what
you leave out
d. Transparent and replicable – easy to find material again, can explain what you did to
your supervisor/examiner
e. Efficient use of time (not the same as time-saving!)
f. Finds manageable and relevant results
3. How do you choose your search terms?
a. Discussions with your supervisor
b. Subject dictionaries/ thesauri
c. Initial readings
d. Subject databases – scope notes, thesauri
e. Repeat searching – using subject headings, thesaurus terms
f. Experimentation – keywords will evolve during review process
4. Where do you plan to search for the literature?
a. Library catalogues and search tools
b. Subject-specific databases
c. interdisciplinary databases
d. references at the end of articles
e. hand searches/online browsing of key titles
f. scholarly search engines, e.g. Google Scholar
g. general search engines
5. What sources are you trying to find? Includes:
a. Key books (avoiding secondary references, where possible)
b. Journal articles (from peer-reviewed journals)
c. Conference papers/proceedings
d. Government/academic research reports (check for reputable authors, dates, etc.)
e. “Grey literature”
f. Dissertations and theses
g. The internet (but need to be careful)
Look for: Publications by key scholars and most recent and relevant material in the field
2
Bodleian Social Science Library Workshop 17th June 2014
Building a structured search
An example of one possible approach…
Building a search for my research question:
Globalisation and feminist thought in development
Row 1 Concept 1:
globalisation
Row 2 Globalization
Multinational
Global
Market
Row 3 #1 = globali?ation OR
multinational OR global
market*
Concept 2:
Concept 3:
Feminist
thought
development
Feminism
Economic
Gender theory Policy
Poverty
#2 = “feminist
thought” OR
feminism OR
“gender
theory”
#3 = development
AND (economic OR
policy OR policies OR
poverty)
Row 4 #1 AND #2 AND #3
(N.B. # means search number)
SOLO results
31 results (30 books, 1 thesis)
Example result:
Rethinking empowerment : gender and development in a global/local world
Parpart, Jane L ; Rai, Shirin ; Staudt, Kathleen A ; University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of
Globalisation and Regionalisation
2002 | London ; New York : Routledge | xix, 250 p. ; 25 cm. | book
Social Science Library
HQ1240.5.D44.RET
3
Bodleian Social Science Library Workshop 17th June 2014
Building a structured search – task
Write your research question (or if you don’t have one, a brief sentence about a research interest) in
the top box.
Row 1. Identify the key concepts in the research question and write one in each concept box
(you may have more, or less, than 3 concepts).
Row 2. In the column under each concept brainstorm alternative terms which might be useful (e.g.
synonyms, alternative spellings, broader/narrower/related terms.)
Row 3: Decide on your search terms and note down truncation and Boolean operators as
appropriate.
Row 4: Complete the search strategy by combining your search sets.
Research Question:
Row 1
Concept 1:
Concept 2:
Concept 3:
Row 3
#1 =
#2 =
#3 =
Row 4
#1 AND #2 AND #3 (or as appropriate to your search)
Row 2
4
Bodleian Social Science Library Workshop 17th June 2014
Search tools
Access to online resources provided by the Bodleian Libraries:
 SOLO http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
o Good for finding books and e-books
 OU E-Journals http://ejournals.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
o Good for accessing journals when you know the journal title
 OxLIP+ http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
o Good for finding databases to search
 Libguides http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
o Good for tips on which sources are relevant to your subject
Primary Sources:
News
• Multi-regional
•
Nexis UK (BBC Monitoring International Reports under Countries Tab)
•
Factiva
•
World News Connection
•
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
•
Emerging Markets Information Service
•
Regional
•
Nikkei Telecom21 (Japanese news and finance)
•
Russian Central newspapers
• Pravda (1912-2009)
•
China Core Newspapers Database
• WiseSearch (China)
•
Ethnic Newswatch (mainly US, ethnic publications)
•
Archives
•
Proquest (New York Times, Guardian, Observer, Washington Post)
•
Separate Digital Archives available for the Times, FT, Daily Mirror and Economist
•
Times of India archive
Data and statistics
 Multi-regional - ESDS International (World Bank / UN / IMF), OECD iLibrary, EMIS
 Regional – Indiastat, China Data Online, Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP),
Latinobarómetro (via ESDS), Historical Statistics of the United States, Inter-University
Consortium for Political and Social Research archive (US), Russian State/CIS Statistical
Publications
Lists of IGO’s, NGO’s and Institutes (for grey literature):
• International Inter-governmental Organization webpage finder inc. UN and its subsidiaries:
http://faculty.libsci.sc.edu/bob/IGOs.htm
• PolicyFILE: research organizations, think tanks, university programmes and NGOs listed:
http://www.policyfile.com/organizations/organizations.do
• Forced Migration Online (FMO): Lists NGOs and IGOs, (search by country or subject):
http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/organizations
• CIAO: lists many university research institutes http://www.ciaonet.org/main/wps.html
5
Bodleian Social Science Library Workshop 17th June 2014
Theses and dissertations:
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses / Index to Theses / Ethos / ORA / SOLO
Conference proceedings & working papers:
ZETOC (conference proceedings, British Library) or OCLC databases
Working papers generally available on institutional websites or subject based repositories
such as REPEC (economics papers) and SSRN.
Reports: e.g. Oxford Analytica (Regional analysis) / Country Reports (via Business Source Complete)
World Development Reports, World Bank
Secondary Sources
Full–text e-journals:




Major aggregators, e.g. JSTOR
All major publishers, e.g. SAGE, Wiley, OUP, CUP, Taylor and Francis, Brill
Area journal collections, e.g. China Academic Journals (CNKI) / China Online Journals
(Wanfang) / Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services / JAIRO: Japanese Institutional
Repositories Online / Central and Eastern European Online Library
Accessed via ‘Find it at Oxford’ links, OU ejournals site, SOLO journal articles search tab, etc.
Ebooks:
•
•
•
•
Packages, e.g. Oxford Scholarship Online
Series, e.g. Handbooks in Economics (Elsevier)
Individual titles listed in SOLO
Google Books
Online reference works: e.g. International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences, SAGE
research methods online, SAGE reference, and the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
Catalogues: SOLO, British Library Catalogue, COPAC (UK), WorldCat (Global)
6