A Guide to Effective Research Methods
Deborah Morrison
July 2005
A Guide to Effective Research Methods.........................................................................1
Deborah Morrison......................................................................................................1
Starting your research ....................................................................................................5
Introduction............................................................................................................5
Find out what is expected of you ...........................................................................5
Choosing good topics.....................................................................................................5
Exploring topics further .................................................................................................6
Exploring the library catalogue ( http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/ ) ...................6
Using online databases...........................................................................................7
Using Miracle.........................................................................................................7
Using the web ........................................................................................................7
Determine the type of information about your topic that you need or would like
to find. ....................................................................................................................8
WRITE from the beginning ...................................................................................8
Focusing your topic........................................................................................................9
State your topic as a question.................................................................................9
Ask five basic questions Before you start your research on a topic, try to break it
down by answering these basic questions:.............................................................9
Starting Your Research ................................................................................................11
Publication of information ...................................................................................11
Magazines, newspapers, journals and books .......................................................11
Books ...................................................................................................................11
Government publications and other primary sources ..........................................11
Internet .................................................................................................................12
Designing A Research Strategy ...................................................................................13
Keeping records ...................................................................................................14
Finding books...............................................................................................................15
Keywords .............................................................................................................15
Using phrases .......................................................................................................15
Boolean searching................................................................................................16
Truncation ............................................................................................................17
Evaluation ............................................................................................................17
Finding periodical articles............................................................................................18
What is a periodical index?..................................................................................18
Evaluation checklist Before you use information from an article for your paper,
take a critical look at it. To critically evaluate an article, consider the following:
..............................................................................................................................19
Using indexes.......................................................................................................19
Finding periodical articles online.........................................................................20
Finding websites ..........................................................................................................21
What you can't find on the Web...........................................................................21
Articles.........................................................................................................................21
Suggestions for starting off..................................................................................21
Evaluating the Quality of Web Resources ...........................................................22
Timeliness ....................................................................................................................22
Expediency...................................................................................................................23
Mapping a research plan ..............................................................................................24
Think about the who and what of your topic .......................................................24
2
Think about the when, why, where of your topic ................................................24
Here are some top tips for Internet searching ......................................................25
Search engines and subject directories ........................................................................27
Search Engines.............................................................................................................27
Subject directories........................................................................................................27
Common search engines and subject directories .................................................29
The Ten Commandments of Internet Searching ..................................................29
Scenario of Internet use by a Researcher.....................................................................30
Book reviews, biographies and statistics .............................................................31
Citation.........................................................................................................................33
Journal abbreviations ...................................................................................................33
Citation systems ...........................................................................................................34
APA and MLA Citation Styles ....................................................................................34
Book British Standard (Numeric) System (B.S. 1629:1989).......................................34
Listing references in the Bibliography.................................................................34
Harvard System of Referencing...................................................................................35
Citation in the Text - The Harvard System.................................................................35
Additional notes about citations: .................................................................................36
Personal communications:-..................................................................................36
Using footnotes and endnotes ..............................................................................37
Bibliography at the end of a piece of work..................................................................37
Reference to a book .............................................................................................38
Reference to a contribution in a book ..................................................................38
Reference to an article in a journal ......................................................................38
Reference to a conference paper ..........................................................................38
Reference to a publication from a corporate body (e.g. a government
department or other organisation)........................................................................39
Reference to a thesis ............................................................................................39
Reference to a patent............................................................................................39
Electronic material ...............................................................................................39
Citation in the Text ......................................................................................................39
Electronic References - Elements to include in the list of references at the end of a
work .............................................................................................................................40
Reference to individual works .............................................................................40
Reference to E-Journals .......................................................................................40
Reference to mailbase/listserv e-mail lists...........................................................40
Reference to personal electronic communications (E-mail)................................40
Reference to a newspaper article .........................................................................41
Reference to CD-ROMs.......................................................................................41
Reference to web articles from World Wide Web...............................................41
Punctuation ..................................................................................................................42
Setting out Quotations..................................................................................................42
Abbreviations and terms used in references ................................................................42
Using the Miracle Website...........................................................................................44
RAC Catalogue ............................................................................................................44
Electronic Resources....................................................................................................44
Journals ................................................................................................................44
Company information ..........................................................................................44
Market Information..............................................................................................44
Newspapers ..........................................................................................................45
3
Business and Management Gateways ..........................................................................45
Explore the Web ..........................................................................................................45
Lost? Get help here. .....................................................................................................45
Definitions....................................................................................................................46
4
This guide has been produced in an attempt to answer many of the questions the
students ask during their dissertation preparation time. Although it focuses on
researching this large project, most of the tips and techniques can be used for any
research you may have to undertake, be it essay writing or preparing a speech! It is
stressed that this is a working document. Any comments, corrections and, of course,
questions to [email protected]
Starting your research
Introduction
A successful research paper begins with planning—a little "pre-research." Before you
begin researching your paper, you should do a few things:
• Find out what is expected of you
Choose a manageable topic about a subject you are interested in
• Determine the type of information about your topic that you need or would
like to find.
• WRITE from the beginning
Find out what is expected of you
Check back to the course director’s presentation
• Pure/applied research
• Primary/secondary
• Theoretical
• Interpretive
Choosing good topics
The key to doing good research is to decide on a topic that is neither too broad nor too
narrow. If you choose a topic that is too broad, there will be too much information for
you to sort through. Too narrow a topic, and you’ll struggle to find anything at all.
For example, you may be interested in a subject like "crime in the UK." As a subject
of interest, "crime in the UK" is fine, but there are too many categories within it to
manageably explore for a research paper.
•
•
•
•
•
•
violent crime
drugs and crime
guns and crime
crime rates
crime in inner cities
organised crime syndicates
What aspect of this topic interests you?
5
Likewise, too narrow a topic is difficult to handle. Will there be enough information
available for you to write a paper on this topic?
Choose a topic that you can live with for some weeks without getting completely fed
up with it. Also, choose warily, being careful not to decide on a topic just because you
are enthusiastic about it – this doesn’t mean you have in-depth knowledge about it. If
you DO have knowledge, you could find it difficult to focus on one particular aspect
of the subject.
Take time to make your choice, possibly looking at several subject areas, before
starting to narrow it down to a particular field or aspect of that field.
e.g. AREA : Marketing
FIELD : Brands
TOPIC : How changing a brand identity affects company sales in a SME
Consult with you dissertation adviser. They know the subjects they teach and can
recommend topics worth investigating. They can help focus your topic because they
have been through the research and writing process many times. Try looking at a
subject specific reference book that focuses on a particular subject, issue or theme.
Look through dissertations done by previous students – you could follow up on some
previous research.
Exploring topics further
Once you have discovered a topic you might like to research, consider these next four
options for finding out more information: search the library's catalogue, use online
indexes, use the Web or ask in Miracle.
Exploring the library catalogue
( http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/ )
The online catalogue contains a listing of all books, government documents, technical
reports, magazine and journal titles, as well as many other materials such as maps and
videos. To see how much information is available on your topic, and what kind of
information, try doing a keyword or subject search. If the search shows that a number
of items are available, you can be relatively confident that there is enough information
available for further exploration. If a search retrieves little or nothing—check your
keyword search; it may be too narrow. Sometimes you need to use broader keyword
terms. For example, instead of "groundwater pollution," try "water pollution”
Even if coverage is not exact, references can lead on to further research. Try the RAC
catalogue too. ( http://www.miracle.man.ed.ac.uk/catalogue/index.html )
6
Using online databases
The library catalogue lists all magazine and journal titles, but it does not list the
individual articles within them. Tracking down journal articles can be very timeconsuming but the best place to start is with one of the journal databases. Most of
these databases relating to Business/Management are to be found linked from
Miracle/Electronic Resources/Journals. However, should your interest lie closer to
another subject e.g. law or health, there are other databases to be found in the main
Library Online ( http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/ ) Resources/Databases/List by subject.
There is a very useful new website called JAKE ( http://www.jake-db.org/ ) where
you can enter a journal title and it tells you which electronic databases hold it. The
University does not subscribe to all of them but to some. If you want to find a listing
of journals covering your subject another good site is Goldrush
(http://goldrush.coalliance.org/ ) This is an American site, so the references to library
holdings are of no relevance.
Using Miracle
http://www.miracle.man.ed.ac.uk/catalogue/index.html
Check the RAC catalogue. This lists holdings of material in Miracle, including
dissertations, pamphlets, research papers and titles of journals held. Try a keyword
search on the catalogue search and the more general Miracle search. Browse the links
in ‘Explore the web’ If you are getting no leads, try using one of the ‘Business and
Management Gateways’ such as SOSIG or freebizinfo.
Using the web
The World Wide Web (WWW) provides a huge network of electronic sources on
millions of topics including billions of Web sites. Search engines like Google and
Alta Vista can search the Web for you. Enter a keyword into a search engine, just as
you would with our catalogue and indices, and view the results. The Web is especially
useful for exploring recent news and current events topics. Many news networks like
BBC and FT.com maintain web sites with up to the minute news.
But beware! Not all information is valuable. You need to be critical of the type of
information you use, especially when it comes from the Web, because anyone can
make a Web site that looks expert and informative. In general, rely more heavily on
those sites sponsored by colleges and universities, government agencies, professional
associations, and well-known corporations. Take care to check URL’s for worthiness
of information. Any site ending with .ac.uk.; or .org or .edu are academic sites or
recognized organizations as opposed to the millions of commercial sites.
See Finding websites 21 for more detailed information on this subject.
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Determine the type of information about your topic that you need or would like
to find.
Are you doing a case study or a business plan? Is the material you require historical or
up to the minute? Will you need to include interviews? Facts and figures?
Comparative tables?
WRITE from the beginning
This might sound strange given that you have not yet any information to base writing
on, but the key is to be disciplined from the beginning. See the following writing tasks
to start you off.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Jot down ideas while reading
Document all your reading; a bibliography will be required for your
dissertation so that readers can source the original material you have used in
your research. See the section on Citation Error! Bookmark not defined.
Do quick summaries of what you have read – you’d be surprised how quickly
you lose track
Sketch out a working plan
Plan a structure for the dissertation based on information from lecturers and
looking at examples of similar types in the RAC
Critiques of other research
Make notes of the various routes your topic could go down
8
Focusing your topic
State your topic as a question
Often it is helpful to state your topic in the form of a question and then isolate the key
ideas or concepts. Consider questions that focus on how a particular discipline would
intersect with your topic, such as the environmental impact, social policy, economic,
medical and psychological impacts, aesthetics, design considerations, as well as
approaches from other fields of study.
For example, instead of saying that you want to do a paper on "genetics", pose the
topic in the form of a specific question:
What are the scientific and ethical issues of reproduction research?
Is research involving the use of embryos to clone human beings ethically acceptable?
If you are having trouble forming a question, you may want to find a respected journal
in your field and review some of the article titles and abstracts. These journal articles
are often framed around a specific question in your discipline. As you gather ideas
from recent journal literature, also look at the scope of the topics covered. In some
disciplines, the focus of the topics will be extremely narrow --too narrow for most
research papers.
Here are some other questions to ask yourself:
• What is the main idea of my paper?
• What specific ideas am I trying to describe or prove?
• What academic discipline does my topic fit into?
• What specific aspect of the topic do I wish to consider?
The keywords contained in these statements will then form the basis for search terms
you can use when searching for your topic in the library catalogue or appropriate
periodical databases.
Ask five basic questions
Before you start your research on a topic, try to break it down by answering
these basic questions:
1. Where does your topic relate geographically? Consider global versus local
regions, as well as cities or countries.
9
2. When did this event or issue become important? What is the time span? Did it
happen last week, in the 1980's or was it influenced from a previous century?
What are the past, present or future implications? Does the information you
need represent the current view only or will you need to get the historical
view, too? Be careful about choosing topics that are immediate. It can be
difficult to find information, especially scholarly information, on very current
events.
3. Who are the people involved or affected? Consider by gender, age group,
ethnicity, profession or other characteristic. Are you researching a particular
individual, a group of people? An organization? Internet customers?
4. Why is the topic important, and to whom is it important?
5.
How does your topic function? Some research may focus on explaining
processes. How is the way a particular company is run, make it more
successful than another?
10
Starting Your Research
Publication of information
So much information is published every day that the sheer amount can be
overwhelming. Fortunately, since you will be investigating a specific topic, you do
not need to read everything that is available on your subject.
In order to do good research, you need to be sensitive to the type and source of the
information you gather. The format in which the information is published says a lot
about the information. Take a brief look at some information types that are
particularly useful for writing research papers.
Magazines, newspapers, journals and books
Popular Magazines and Newspapers such as Life, People,or
Newsweek contain articles that are designed to inform and entertain
general readers with brief accounts of events, issues, and
individuals. They have a broad focus, but limited depth.
Journals such as the Harvard Business Review and Sloan
Management Review contain articles usually written by
experts affiliated with universities or research institutions.
Journal articles address specialized topics, such as theory,
analysis or process, and use strong arguments backed by data and statistics.
These are the articles you will often use when writing research assignments.
Books
Books, like articles, can be published for either a popular or a scholarly audience.
Books tend to give a broad overview on a topic or explore a topic in a certain context.
Depending on the audience, books can be written either to entertain or to provide
serious argument.
Government publications and other primary sources
Government publications provide a wide variety of information for research papers.
Government agencies at all levels do research, collect information, and publish books,
articles, information sheets and other materials to meet the broad information needs of
the general public and elected officials. Most of this information is available in print
sources, but is increasingly becoming available online through the Internet.
11
Primary sources present first hand accounts or information in its original form. This
can be a work of literature or an account of an event. Examples of primary sources
include the following:
• diaries
• correspondence
• autobiographies
• official government records
Internet
There is a huge amount of information available on the Internet, but it is important to
evaluate the sources found there. Some Web information is unreliable and inaccurate.
Most books and journal articles go through some type of editorial review to ensure
accuracy and logical argument, but most Web material does not. As mentioned
earlier, you need to be careful when using the Web and take a critical look at the site’s
sponsors and authors.
12
Designing A Research Strategy
To save yourself time and to get the most out of your research, plan your research in
advance. There is an immense amount of published information on every topic, and
you'll rarely find it all in a single resource.
Scholarly books are usually written by leading researchers for other researchers and
students in order to provide overviews of information. These important books draw on
many other published materials to present a deductive reasoning of a field, or to
provide a new viewpoint. Scholarly books provide extensive bibliographies - lists of
previously published books and articles - that you can use to find more information on
your topic. Although the book may not be entirely on your chosen topic, it can
provide important leads.
Periodicals articles provide current, focused, and detailed information, and bring
three strengths to your research:
•
•
•
Articles are more current,
Because periodicals are published frequently and the time between writing and
publication is short, articles are up-to-date.
Articles are more specific
Because articles are relatively brief, they focus on particular aspects of topics.
Articles are more detailed
Because of this focus, articles go into extensive detail.
Conference Proceedings are books that contain brief papers presented by researchers
at a conference.
Dissertations as mentioned earlier, can provide good ideas, leads, differing
viewpoints and are a valuable resource
Using quick reference sources
You may need to supplement your research with facts and statistics that are not
available in the scholarly books and articles you find. While there is considerable
factual and statistical information available on the Internet, much of this information
is available in print as well.
Examples of these quick reference publications include:
• Almanacs
• Statistical collections
• Biographical information
• Directories of companies, organizations, and government departments
• Opinion poll data
• Subject-specific dictionaries
13
Keeping records
Keep records of the books, articles, and Web sites you use because you will need to
properly identify, or "cite," them in your paper and because the research process can
become quite complicated.
In your paper, you must cite your sources in order to give credit to the author(s)
whose ideas or research you used, and to help your readers find these sources for
themselves. You need to follow specific rules when making your reference list. To
learn how to cite your sources completely and consistently according to a particular
style, consult a style manual or follow the format used in a journal such as HBR.
While every style manual uses the same basic information, each style arranges that
information differently. Be consistent and remember that web resources also need to
be cited. See the separate section on Citation
These records will help you keep track of where you are in the research.
Keep a list of the following:
• Databases you've searched
• Keyword strategies you've used
• Books, articles, and web sites you've found
14
Finding books
Familiarise yourself early on with the main Library Catalogue
(http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/ ) and with Library Online ( http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/ )
There is a lot of information to guide you through the resources. If you are unfamiliar
with the Library Catalogue, help is at hand in the form of a simple training module
now available on Library Online at: http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/lib/howto/opac/
A series of short, informative slides are accompanied by animated displays of
catalogue screens in action. The module introduces new users to the catalogue,
covering how to search for books, journals and course reserve items, and how to
access user information to check and renew items on loan. The Learning & Resource
Centre in the Main Library has more information and the whole module should only
take about 10-15 minutes to complete.
The RAC catalogue lists all hard copy material in the Miracle room. Search by
author, title, subject, keyword or phrase. There is a separate section on using Using
the Miracle Website 44
Keywords
Before you enter your keyword in a catalogue, spend some time thinking of words
that best describe your topic. The keywords you use for a search should clearly
identify your research topic. Some words are unique to your topic and define
important concepts from your topic. Other words are general terms and could be used
in just about any topic. Let's say, for instance, that you wanted to research violence in
the media and its effects on children. Three main categories of ideas emerge from this
topic:
• Violence
• Media, television, movies, films, music, Internet
• Children, adolescents
Notice that some of the words in this list (violence, media, children) came directly
from the research topic, while others (such as television, movies, and adolescents) are
words that are related to words in your research topic. Significantly, these words are
all nouns--they describe objects or people. Nouns make some of the best keywords.
The word effects also appears in the topic and is also a noun, but it is not an effective
word to use as a keyword. It is too general to be of much help--it might appear in
connection with a range of subjects, from biology to economics to fine art. Effects
describes a relationship between television and violence, but it does not describe a
main idea that is unique to your topic. Avoid general words like effects, trends,
causes, and research when you choose keywords.
Using phrases
Sometimes essential concepts can't be expressed in single words. For instance, if you
wanted to do research on “the effects of birth order on sibling relationships”, using
the words birth and order separately would probably not yield the results you wanted.
You would want to use birth order as a short, descriptive phrase because it would
yield results that would be specific to your topic.
15
This isn't the same case for every catalogue or database you search. Search engines,
like Google, for example, are very forgiving of the word order you enter. On the other
hand, search engines like Google aren't as discriminating in the type of results you get
back, which you may already know is not entirely a good thing. Just keep in mind that
all catalogues, databases and search engines differ, so you'll want to plan your search
strategy accordingly.
Boolean searching
Combining keywords to broaden or narrow a search is called Boolean searching, and
the terms you use to combine the keywords are called Boolean operators. The three
most common Boolean operators are:
• And: Placing the operator and between two or more keywords narrows your
search. And tells the database to retrieve books and articles whose database
records contain all the keywords you enter.
Example: children and violence
•
Or: Placing the operator or between two or more keywords broadens your
search. Or tells the index to retrieve books and articles whose database records
contain at least one of the keywords you enter.
Example: children or youth or teens or teenagers
•
Not: Placing the operator not between two or more keywords will exclude a
word from your search. Be careful using not in your search--you might
exclude something you didn't intend to exclude.
Example: violence not war
16
Truncation
Sometimes the keywords you choose appear in different forms in book titles. The
word "theatre" is related to several similar words:
If you wanted to include each of these different forms in your search, you would enter
theat? Or theat* in the search box. It is the shortest truncation of the word that will
include all of the different forms of the word. Databases vary on what symbol is used.
Evaluation
Before you use information from a book for your paper, take a critical look at it.
Consider the following:
• Determine the book's purpose. Is it to inform, to present opinions, to report
research or to sell a product? For what audience is it intended?
• Identify the author. Are qualifications, experience, and/or institutional
affiliation given? Look for a short biography at the end of the book.
• Identify the publisher. Is the book published by an academic institution or a
large commercial publisher? Is the book published by a non-profit
organization or a business? The publisher of the book may give you clues as to
the reliability and/or bias of the information presented.
• Consider the authority of the book. Does the book contain documented facts or
personal opinion? Are there footnotes, bibliographies, or lists of references
that allow you check the accuracy of statistical or factual information?
• Check the timeliness of the book. Do you need a recent book that discusses
current research or issues? Do you need an older book that discusses the
research and issues of a particular historical period? Are the statistics and facts
cited in the book recent enough for your research needs?
• Consider the information contained in the book. How does the book compare
to information you've read in other books and articles? Does it give historical
or theoretical context to information you've found in other articles and web
sites? What aspect of your topic does the book not cover? Can you use the
book to support or challenge a position you plan to take in your paper? How
well does the book document facts or a point of view? Can you use the
bibliography or list of works cited to find more information on your topic?
17
Finding periodical articles
There are several types of periodical publications found in research library
collections. Knowing something about the characteristics of each type--popular,
scholarly or trade--will help you identify periodical titles appropriate for your
research.
Scholarly periodical articles (also known as journal articles)
• are long (5-50 pages)
• contain footnotes or a bibliography
• are written by academics, specialists or researchers in the field Note: Look for
the author's university or professional organization
• often begin with an abstract (a summary of the article's contents)
• sometimes present the author's methodology or discussion of results
• are published in periodicals with little or no advertising
An example of scholarly periodical: Harvard Business Review
Popular articles
• are usually short (1-5 pages)
• do not have bibliographies or footnotes
• are written by journalists or staff reporters
• do not have abstracts
• appear in periodicals with lots of commercial advertising
An example of popular magazine: Newsweek
Trade periodical articles:
• are similar to popular articles in length and content.
• often contain industry news
• offer practical advice for the profession or industry they cover
• may be written by specialists or journalists
Example of a trade publication : Advertising Age
What is a periodical index?
A periodical index points you to articles from scholarly journals, popular magazines,
and newspapers. No two periodical indexes are alike. In order to find articles on your
topic, you need to find a periodical index that covers disciplines or subject areas
related to your research. Sometimes the name of the index will indicate what subject
area it covers, such as Psychological Abstracts. Other indexes give no such indication,
as with Agricola. Most of these are now held electronically and Library Online has
information on all of them, divided into subject coverage.
( http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/lib/resources/databases/findlits.shtml ) The ones you are
most likely to need are linked from Miracle/Electronic resources/Journals.
18
Evaluation checklist
Before you use information from an article for your paper, take a critical look at it. To
critically evaluate an article, consider the following:
Determine the article's purpose. Is it to inform, to present opinions, to report
research or to sell a product? For what audience it is intended?
• Identify the author. Are qualifications, experience, and/or institutional
affiliation given?
• Consider the authority of the article. Does the article contain documented
facts or personal opinion? Are there footnotes, bibliographies, or lists of
references that allow you check the accuracy of statistical or factual
information?
• Determine whether the date of the article is important for your research
needs. Do you need a recent article that discusses current research or issues, or
do you need an older article that discusses the research and issues of a
particular historical period? Are the statistics and facts cited in the article
relevant to your research needs?
• Consider the information contained in the article. Is it relevant or useful for
your topic? How does the article compare to information you've read in
books? What aspect of your topic does the article not cover? Can you use this
article to support or challenge a position you plan to take in your paper? How
well does the article document facts or a point of view?
Using indexes
Coverage.
It is very important to know the dates of coverage when you are using an index.
Some indexes cover only a decade or two. Others are more comprehensive.
Depending on the kind of research you are doing, you might only want to look at
articles from a brief time period-–or you might want to be able to see historical
patterns over a longer time period.
Subject.
Knowing what topic is covered is very important to choosing the right index. It is easy
to think that there hasn't been very much written on a topic if you are using an index
that doesn't cover that subject area.
Materials covered.
Some indexes cover only journal articles. Others include conference papers, technical
reports, and other types of publications that could be useful for your paper.
Type.
Some indexes include only the citations to help you find the articles you need. Some
include abstracts or summaries of the articles. Others include the entire article
(indicated by the phrase full text) that you can download and print from your
computer.
19
Periodical indexes are available in both electronic (databases) and print formats.
Periodical indexes are available in the following ways:
• on the Web through the University Library’s web site
• in paper format
• on CD-ROM in the main library
Reading citations
An article citation contains all the information you need to use to locate the article in
the library and cite the article in your paper.
Print articles vs. full text electronic articles
Most articles are published in traditional print journals, which means they will be
located at a physical place - an actual library. In the citation below, the article's title,
the author's name, and the journal's title are followed by the date, the journal's volume
number (v.76), the issue number (n.4), and the page numbers of the article (starts on
page 109 and has 11 pages).
The promise - and peril - of integrated cost systems. Robin Cooper; Robert S.
Kaplan. Harvard Business Review, July-August 1998 v76 n4 p109(11)
See the separate section on Citation Error! Bookmark not defined.
Finding periodical articles online
Most articles are available in the regular paper format; however, a growing number
are becoming available electronically on the web either within periodical indexes, or
within electronic versions of the journals, or e-journals.
Think creatively about your topic when searching through periodical indexes
Experiment with different keywords in different combinations and think about the
various terms that writers and scholars would use to describe your topic.
Write down, or print out, the full citations of articles you identify in a periodical
index. Remember, a citation contains all the information you need to find the article in
the libraries.
20
Finding websites
Information on the World Wide Web is organized into Web sites. Each site contains
at least one page and many sites contain dozens to hundreds of pages and this number
is increasing rapidly. With so many pages available, you need search strategies for
finding sites that are valuable to you. Since anyone with a computer can publish on
the Web, from government agencies to scholars and experts to the person next door,
you will need techniques to evaluate the sites you find. Here is information about how
to find and evaluate Web sites, and to use search tools, such as search engines and
subject directories, to find useful sites quickly and easily.
There are literally millions of documents available on the Web to help support your
papers and projects. The Web is especially useful for finding:
• Government information: state, national, and international
• Statistics; brief reports; and studies
• News and current events; press releases
• Information on educational institutions, companies, and non-profit
organizations
• Selected electronic journals and texts
• Reference works, such as encyclopaedias and dictionaries
What you can't find on the Web
Articles
Although you can find on the Web some very current news stories and a few scholarly
articles, most articles published in newspapers, journals, and magazines are not
available unless you are using a periodical database through the RAC or main library
Web site. We pay for access to these articles for use by students.
Books - You won't be able to find books unless you need old ones that no longer have
copyright restrictions, such as Pride and Prejudice or Hamlet.
Some of the information that you find on the Web is unreliable. Unlike a library,
where all items are carefully selected by library professionals and organized by
subject, the Web is home to a variety of information sources, all of which vary greatly
in quality. It is up to you, the researcher, to evaluate whether a web page is relevant
for your purposes, or even if a web document is the best type of source for you to use.
Suggestions for starting off
Visit your course Web site. Your instructor may provide recommended sites or tips
for finding internet sites for your assignment.
Use RAC (Miracle/Explore the web) (www.miracle.man.ed.ac.uk )
Follow links from one reputable web site to another. One good web site will often
lead to many similar sites.
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Use a subject index or directory like Yahoo!
Use a search engine like Alta Vista or Google.
Visit the home page of a professional or research organization that is doing work
in an area that ties into your topic. They also tend to recommend sites they feel are
reputable.
Look for references to web sites in journal articles. It's becoming common for
authors to include web sites in their bibliographies.
Join a listserv or mailing list about your topic. Online discussion groups often
share information about helpful resources.
Evaluating the Quality of Web Resources
Since the web provides a forum for just about anyone to publish just about anything,
users of information found on the internet should look at it with a critical eye.
Assessing the quality of information involves looking at a variety of factors.
There are five characteristics of superior information sources: accuracy, timeliness,
authenticity, expediency and objectivity.
Accuracy
If you are relying on web based information look at the credibility of who is providing
the information. Is the provider an authoritative source, such as a governmental body
or other organization? Might there be any sort of bias on the part of the provider of
information? What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced? Can the
content of the information be independently verified for accuracy if need be? Does the
provider of the information also supply contact information such as an e-mail address,
street address or telephone number? Know the distinction between author and
webmaster.
Timeliness
The date of the information is another important factor. Is the information itself up to-date? Does the provider of the online information keep the website fresh and
provide updates as quickly as possible? Is it easy to update the information on the
site? When was it produced? How many dead links are on the page? Is the
information on the page outdated?
Authority
There are three ways in which information is filtered for quality in traditional
publication methods:
• written/issued by an authoritative source
• authenticated by editorial review
• evaluated by experts, reviewers, subject specialists or librarians.
Publication on the web can often bypass these traditional methods of filtering
information for quality, thus making the end user of the information more responsible
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for the evaluation process. Who published the document and is it separate from the
"Webmaster?" Check the domain of the document - what institution publishes this
document? Does the publisher list his or her qualifications? What credentials are
listed for the author(s)? Where is the document published? Check the URL.
Government sites end in ".gov", non-profit organizations end in ".org", university
sites end in "ac.uk" or “.edu” if it is from the States, commercial sites end in ".com"
Information from a site with the domain names ".org" or ".ac" will most likely
provide a different viewpoint on the information presented than a site ending with
".com"
Expediency
Evaluate the options available to you to suit your information needs in the most
time/cost efficient manner. Thus, evaluation of web resources should not be made in a
vacuum, but within the context of the research situation. Evaluate not only the end
product and the way in which the information is retrieved, but also the context in
which the research is being performed. This involves a comparison of the various
research methods available to you at the time you are performing the research. For
example, are you at home in the middle of the night, and the web your only option?
Are you at work, with a well-equipped library full of varied print and electronic
resources? Is the web the only place to retrieve the information conveniently?
Researchers should not only ask themselves whether the information is current and
from a credible source, but also whether the site providing the information is the most
suitable given the particular circumstances of the research project.
Most students today tend to conduct research with speed rather than accuracy and
rarely evaluate resources. They must learn to evaluate a web document like second
nature with patience and practice.
Objectivity
What goals/objectives does the page meet? How detailed is the information?
What opinions (if any) are expressed by the author? Determine if page is a mask for
advertising; if so information might be biased. Ask yourself why was this written and
for who. Are the links (if any) evaluated and do they complement the documents
theme? Is it all images or a balance of text and images? Is the information presented
cited correctly? Is it free, or is there a fee, to obtain the information?
Is there an option for text only, or frames, or a suggested browser for better viewing?
Putting it all together
Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the page and
provides a way of contacting him/her, and . . .
Authority. If your page lists the author credentials and its domain is preferred (.edu,
.gov, .org, or .net), and . . .
Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising and
it is objective in presenting the information, and . . .
Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page) and
the links (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . .
Coverage. If you can view the information properly—not limited to fees, browser
technology, or software requirement, then . . .
You may have a higher quality web page that could be of value to your research!
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Mapping a research plan
Resist surfing without a plan
Having decided on a research topic and determined that the web really is the best
place to do some of your research, it's tempting to jump in and start surfing. However,
in order to search more effectively and more efficiently, it's helpful to create a
research plan before putting your foot in the water in order to help guide you through
your research. The research plan answers the familiar questions of who, what, where,
why, when, and how. Answering these questions will help you have a more concrete
idea of what you're looking for, so you will be in a better position to recognise the
information when you find it.
Think about the who and what of your topic
Suppose you are working on a research paper, and the topic you're interested in
researching is Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation. Your research plan might
look something like this:
• Who (or what) are you researching? A particular individual, a group of
people? An organization? An idea?
• What kinds of information sources do you need: journal articles, books,
encyclopedias?
• What types of information do you need: facts, studies, critical analyses?
• What will you do with the information you find: create a presentation, write a
research paper?
• What would be the best source of information: a non-profit organization,
educational institution, professional or trade association?
Possible answer: Journal and magazine articles on the subject of Bill Gates/Microsoft.
The best source of information might be a biographer or specialist in
entrepreneurship. The perfect web site would give background information about the
subjects, such as how they developed, why they developed and when, how they
spread through our culture, and what is their possible future.
Think about the when, why, where of your topic
When did the event or phenomenon that you're researching occur, long ago or
recently? Does the research about this event need to be recent or contemporary to the
event?
Possible answer: The topic has been around since the later part of the last century. The
information needs to represent the current view as well as the historical context to get
the fullest view of the issue.
Why is this issue important?
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Possible answer: The issue is important because it affects everyone. How did it come
about? What does it mean to us?
Where did the event or phenomenon that you're researching take place? Where are
you in the research process both physically and time-wise?
Possible answer: Focus on the US, but research from other countries would be helpful
too.
How much information do you need? How far back do you need to research?
Possible answer: Not sure yet. Look for current information about what other
researchers have found, and historical information.
Once you've articulated your goals and have mapped out a plan, you are ready to
conduct a web search.
What is your topic?
Example: What is the effect of economic recession on unemployment?
What are the 2 or 3 keywords or concepts for your topic?
Example: recession, unemployment
Are there any similar words that describe each of these concepts?
Example: recession - deterioration, regression; unemployment - lay-offs, joblessness
Are there any other more specific keywords that could limit your search?
Example: You could consider searching for particular types of unemployment, eg
cyclical, structural, frictional
How can you combine these keywords together to search?
You can combine keywords together using "Boolean operators" as mentioned earlier
when using catalogues.
Example: recession AND unemployment returns web pages containing both words;
recession OR unemployment returns web pages containing either word.
Here are some top tips for Internet searching
Don't choose the wrong (search) tool for the job
Make sure that you are using the most appropriate search tool for your purposes.
Don't use vague keywords
Try typing "weather" into a search engine and you will probably find millions of web
sites. Combine "weather" with "Greece" and you're likely to retrieve a more
manageable set of results.
Don't misspell keywords
Don't expect to find the information you need if you search for things like "adress",
"tecnical" or "comittee" (although you might get lucky!).
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Don't overlook alternative spellings
On the other hand, ask yourself if the keyword could be spelt differently. For
example, if you want to find out about Pearl Harbor make sure you use the American
spelling (Harbor, rather than Harbour).
Don't ignore the help
An obvious one this- almost all search tools offer an online help. Make sure you use
it!
Don't get bogged down
Okay, so the worst has happened. You've typed a keyword into a search engine and
have found 20 million web sites. Don't waste your time wading through pages and
pages of resources. Look at the first few sites listed and see if there is anything
relevant. If there isn't, start again using more specific keywords that will limit the
number of web sites you retrieve.
Don't get lost
It's all too easy to hop from one web site to another whenever something looks
interesting. Don't get distracted! Use the Back button on the top toolbar to navigate
back to pages you have recently visited. Even better, make a note of web sites that
look interesting and visit them later.
Don't be afraid to experiment
It may be that you won't find what you are looking for on the internet immediately.
Try out different keywords, new combinations of words and different search tools to
find the information you need.
Don't expect miracles
The internet seems to offer so much, but is it really the right place for you to be
looking? Think whether it might be easier to turn your computer off and look for
information elsewhere. It's surprising how many simple enquiries can be answered by
opening the telephone directory, or looking in an encyclopaedia or dictionary.
And if all else fails, don't be afraid to ask for help
If you are having difficulties finding the information you want, ask the Information
Research Officer in RAC either in person or by e-mail. She will probably be able to
point you in the right direction and she’s human too!
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Search engines and subject directories
Below is a comparison of the characteristics of search engines and subject directories:
Search Engines
Computer programs are used to find web
sites and to compile them into an index.
Large index, no evaluation or annotations
of web sites, usually organized by how
relevant the web sites in the index are to
the search terms.
Able to search for web sites using
important concepts as keywords.
Use a search engine if you know exactly
what you're looking for, or a person,
place or a thing, or a unique term.
Subject directories
Humans select web sites and compile
them into an index.
Small index, usually with evaluated and
annotated web sites that are organized by
subject or topic.
Users are able to browse the list of sites
that have been compiled from the web, as
well as search for them by keyword.
Use a subject directory if you want to
browse through general topics to get to a
more focused one, or if you would rather
not use a search engine.
Search engines allow you to scan the contents of web sites with keywords, so they
lend themselves well to searching for specific information, such as people, unusual
terms, particular combinations of concepts or ideas, and specific sections of web
pages or web sites. When you use a search engine, you do not search the whole
Internet directly; rather, you search the small group of web sites the engine has
selected. No two search engines contain the same list of web sites, so you may need to
use more than one to find the information you need.
Although most search engines let you search by keyword, each search engine works
differently. To get the most out of your search, you need to know how to create a
search that will work with the search engine you've chosen. For example, the
following table shows you what happens when you do several different searches in a
search engine like Excite:
Search terms
Louis Armstrong
Number of Web Pages
Found
435,493
“Louis Armstrong”
3,470
+“Louis
Armstrong”+portrait
338
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Kinds of Web Sites Found
Web sites with "Louis", or
"Armstrong" but not
necessarily both and
definitely not next to each
other.
Web sites with "Louis"
and "Armstrong" next to
each other.
Web sites with both "Louis
Armstrong" and "portrait."
Although many search engines allow you to use quotes and "+" like Excite does,
methods vary with search engines. Before you begin a search, click on the link to
"help" or "tips" to learn how to use that particular engine. Most people soon develop a
favourite.
•
Some search tips for using search engines
Be careful of the defaults.
Many search engines insert an invisible "or" between your keywords unless
you specify otherwise. In this case, the "or" is a Boolean operator that instructs
the search engine to look for any of the words for which you search. For
example, searching for the music group "Dave Matthews Band" would search
for any occurrence of the word "Dave," or any occurrence of "Matthews," or
any occurrence of the word "Band", regardless of whether all these words are
on the same page.
•
Use "+" and "-" to counteract the defaults.
The "+" in your search tells many of the search engines that your results must
contain a word or phrase. The "-" tells the search engine that your results must
not contain a word or phrase. (These keys are similar to using the Boolean
operators "and" and "not".)
•
Use quotation marks to search for phrases.
Quotation marks tell most search engines that the words you specify must
appear consecutively, such as "used cars."
•
Avoid common terms.
Be specific in your search; don't use "computers" when you really want "Intel
processor." Using "computer" will likely present tens of thousands of hits.
Also, never use terms like "a," "an," "of," "if," or "the" in your searches--they
are much too common. Nowadays, many engines disregard them.
•
Look for web sites created by libraries and academic institutions. These often
contain lists of web sites found useful for particular subjects. Save time by
using their selective lists rather than finding your own.
•
Don't look beyond the first few screens of search results.
The web sites that most closely match your search terms will be listed near the
top of the search results screen(s). Sites at the end of the results are unlikely to
be useful.
Using subject directories
Use subject directories to find broad topics, current events, organisation or business
homepages, or when you are just starting your research. A subject directory organises
its database of web sites into subject categories. Unlike search engines, subject
directories have been created by actual people who have searched the web, selected
appropriate sites, evaluated them for their usefulness, and then organised them by
category or by subject.
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Sites included in a subject directory are usually annotated, and often the compilers of
the directory rate the sites, which lets you know how relevant the site is. Since
creating a directory by hand is so much more time consuming than using a computer
programme to collect sites, subject directories are much smaller than and not quite as
current as search engines. Also unlike search engines, which allow you to search for
web sites using keywords, in many subject directories you search by browsing. The
Web sites included in a subject directory are organised into broad subject categories.
You locate the sites you want by using your mouse to point and click your way from a
broad topic to a progressively narrower one.
Common search engines and subject directories
Become familiar with common search engines and subject directories.
There are reviews of some of the search engines/directories accessible through
Miracle/ Explore the Web/Search Engines.
The Ten Commandments of Internet Searching
(according to Washington Researchers)
1. Know your search engine. Most of them index only a portion of all the
websites
2. Use multiple search engines (or metacrawlers)
3. Don't count on being anonymous. Don't forget about cookies!
4. Search for sources, not just information. Look for people you can call to get
more detailed information.
5. Consider the source of what you find. Just because it is in print, doesn't mean
it's true. Information can be typed incorrectly or copied from another source
that was wrong. Or perhaps it is written just to be misleading.
6. Be prepared to spend some money to get the really good stuff.
7. Ask, "Is there any reason to believe what I want is out there?" BEFORE going
on-line.
8. Don't use the internet to do a database service's work.
9. Know your outcome. Searching or surfing? Searching has an outcome in
mind. Surfing implies enjoying the ride, letting yourself be taken along where
links lead you. Each has its purpose -- understand the difference.
10. Buy a kitchen timer. If you don't watch yourself, you will spend hours looking
for something that can't be found or you will end up surfing instead of
searching.
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Scenario of Internet use by a Researcher
Postgraduate student Joanne Bloggs is researching subliminal advertising as part of
her MSc in mass communication. This morning she is looking for information on
research into the effects of subliminal advertising.
The librarian points her to several useful bibliographic databases, including the Social
Science Citation Index and PsycInfo. At Joanne's university these are available via the
internet on BIDS and Web of Science and she can use her EASE username and
password to gain access to them.
The librarian also suggests searching the internet, and Joanne books a session in the
library to do just that. She has used SOSIG before and found useful results, so she
goes directly to this site and searches for the keyword "subliminal". There are no
matches in the main SOSIG database, so Joanne repeats her search in SOSIG's Social
Science Search Engine, where there are twenty hits.
Following a link to the Social Psychology Network (SPN) she finds profiles of several
psychologists who research in this area. Joanne notes that SPN provides a discussion
forum for researchers and professional psychologists, and she makes a mental note to
return and use it to try and make contact with others engaged in the same research.
She also finds an in depth description and selected chapters from a book she has been
meaning to get on inter-library loan: Psychological Experiments on the Internet. It
looks so useful that she decides to order her own copy from Amazon, the online
bookstore.
She bookmarks several links to existing Web-based psychology studies, some of
which she was already aware of, for example CogLab at Purdue University in the
USA, and some which did not show up in her literature search. One is currently
running subliminal tests. Joanne will follow up on all these as she intends to set up her
own Internet-based research later and needs to understand the pitfalls of doing
research in this way.
The other links look less relevant. Joanne is aware that there are a lot of scare stories
about subliminal advertising on the Internet and wants to avoid using material that is
based on rumour and speculation. She skims through the remaining results, finding a
useful potted history of scares and "urban legends", which describes how several of
the most infamous stories spread.
Joanne is worried about citing the Web-based materials in her work, but she consults
the librarian who is able to direct her to several guides to citing electronic materials.
The Internet has helped this researcher:
Get access to traditional journals and online databases, through subscription services
Buy books
Locate and contact other researchers
Plan and carry out research
Taken from:
www.vts.rdn.ac.uk
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Book reviews, biographies and statistics
There are alternatives you can use to supplement your reading in more familiar
sources. Book reviews are one kind of supplementary source that can serve several
purposes. Book reviews can help you evaluate the usefulness of a book you'd like to
use for your paper or speech, and they can help you determine how important that
book is in its field - how well it was researched and how other scholars received it.
Before you look for the review
You need the following information:
• book's title
• author's name
• publication year
• edition - in the case of several editions, find out when the first edition was
published
The first place to look for this information is in the book itself. The
title page of the book should contain the title, the author, and
publisher. The publication or copyright date will either be here too or
on the back of the page.
Scholarly and popular reviews
As is the case with articles in scholarly and popular magazines and journals, there are
differences between scholarly and popular book reviews. The easiest way to tell
which is which is to look at where it's published or at who wrote it:
Popular reviews are usually published in popular magazines like Time. They are
usually brief (one page or less), and are generally written by someone who only has a
basic knowledge of the subject field of the book. They often provide a very general
summary of the book with an equally general positive or negative rating of it.
Scholarly reviews are usually published in scholarly journals like Sloan Management
Review. They tend to be at least two pages long or longer, and are written by experts
in the same field as the book’s subject. They provide not only a summary of the book
but also information about how the book fits into the general scholarship of the field.
You can use indexes to find book reviews. Some specialized indexes cover only book
reviews (Book Review Index, Book Review Digest), and some indexes cover book
reviews in addition to other kinds of articles. Some book reviews are available online,
while others are available only in print format. Try the Book Review Index or Social
Sciences Citations Index or Sociological Abstracts available in the Library. IBSS
Online is also good if you are working in the field of economics.
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Finding Biographical Information
Dictionaries
These give brief, factual information about famous people as well as how to find more
extensive sources on an individual by searching for online information and books. A
search on Library Online’s electronic reference shelf takes you to The Biographical
Dictionary from the Parallax Group
Encyclopedias
Good encyclopaedias contain biographical material about well-known people. So if
you are looking for information on a famous person, check the index volume of one or
more encyclopedias. For example, the Encyclopaedia Britannica
Locating books about a person
If you need a lot of information about a person’s life, books will provide the most
extensive record. To find a book owned at the University of Edinburgh about an
individual, go to the catalogue then enter the person’s name (last name first) as a
subject.
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Citation
Introduction
When writing a piece of work you will need to refer in your text to material written or
produced by others. This procedure is called citing or quoting references.
Consistency and accuracy are important to enable readers to identify and locate the
material to which you have referred. The same set of rules should be followed every
time you cite a reference. If you are providing work for scholarly journals you should
check what method the editors prefer to use.
Bibliographical citation can be a complex business and there are many variations in
detail. This guide describes some of the most commonly accepted forms of
bibliographical citation and then gives fine details about the Harvard System – the one
the School recommends.
It also gives guidance on the most commonly encountered problems. The terms
'journal', 'periodical' and 'serial' all mean the same thing: something which appears
periodically or serially such as the Scotsman, the Economist or History Today.
Journal abbreviations
In the examples quoted above the journal title was given in full but in references in
indexing and abstracting sources and CD-ROMs, the title is often abbreviated and it
can be difficult to know what it means. Indexes and abstracts often give a list of the
journals they cover, together with abbreviations. Fortunately journal title
abbreviations are standardised and they are listed at:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/JAS.htm. Within this link is ISI
Journal Abbreviations. This allows you to verify periodical titles, either in full, or
abbreviated form.
Citing bibliographical references to published information requires two steps:
It is important to be aware of this because honest and professional citation of
references provides the framework for sound written research, as you must
acknowledge the sources you have used to establish your arguments and criticisms.
It also enables other people to identify and trace the sources you have used for your
ideas.
There are two principal components to citing references:
• the way you acknowledge or cite the source in your text.
• the way you list your sources at the end of your work to enable identification,
i.e. the bibliography.
Citation systems
APA and MLA Citation Styles
Collection of handouts discussing citation styles from the Undergraduate Writing
Center at the University of Texas at Austin
http://uwc.fac.utexas.edu/pages/students/handouts.html#Sources
Book British Standard (Numeric) System (B.S. 1629:1989)
The list of references or bibliography is arranged in the order they appear in the text.
Each time a document is referred to its number in the list of references is inserted in
brackets or in superscript.
e.g.: 'There is some evidence (12) that these figures are incorrect' or ' Smith (12) has
provided evidence that these figures are incorrect'
Listing references in the Bibliography
1.1 Books - Items for inclusion:
Number of reference in text (in brackets if not superscript)
Name of author/s (Surname followed by forename/s)
Title of publication (in italics or underlined)
Edition (if not first edition)
Place of publication
Publisher
Year of publication
Page number/s referred to. (Abbreviated to pp.)
e.g. Sax, N. Irving. Industrial pollution. London: Van Nostrand, 1974. pp. 4650.
1.2 Journal articles - Items for inclusion:
Number of reference in text (in brackets if not superscript)
Name of author/s (Surname followed by forename/s)
Title of article
Title of periodical or journal (in italics or underlined)
Volume number (may be abbreviated to' vol.')
Part number (in brackets) 'pt.' may be used
Year of publication
Page number/s of article (Abbreviated to 'pp.')
e.g. Turner, A.C. Airborne mercury concentration. Air pollution. Vol. 12 (4),
1983. pp. 13-17.
1.3 Extracts or sections/chapters of books contributed by individual authors Items for inclusion:
Number of reference in text (in brackets if not superscript)
Author/s of the contribution (Surname followed by forename/s)
Title of contribution (followed by 'In:')
Author/s or editor/s of books (If editor put 'ed.' after the name)
Title of book (in italics or underlined)
34
Edition (if not first edition)
Place of publication
Publisher
Year of publication
Page number/s of contribution (Abbreviated to 'pp.')
e.g. Jones, J. L. Acid rain in Sweden. In: Tockwith, A. ed. Acid Rain Review. 3rd
ed. London: Butterworths, 1982. pp.4-72.
Columbia Online Style: MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources
Style sheet from University of Columbia for citing electronic resources,
including Web pages, electronic mail and newsgroup citations, and
publications on CD-ROM or disk.
Harvard System of Referencing
In general the Harvard system works well with relatively modern publications. It is,
however somewhat inflexible and not very suitable for citing older material and 'non
standard' items such as newspapers articles which are not clearly authored or 'bylined'. There is an excellent online guide at:
http://www.library.uwa.edu.au/guides/citingsources/harvard.html#citation
Citation in the Text - The Harvard System
All statements, opinions, conclusions etc. taken from another writer's work should be
cited, whether the work is directly quoted, paraphrased or summarised. In the
Harvard System, cited publications are referred to in the text by giving the author's
surname and the year of publication in one of the forms shown below.
If details of particular parts of a document are required, e.g. page numbers, they
should be given after the year within the parentheses.
1.1
If the author's name occurs naturally in the sentence the year is given in
parentheses:e.g. In a popular study Bloggs (1996, p.173) argued that ...
1.2
If, however, the name does not occur naturally in the sentence, both name and
year are given in parentheses:e.g. More recent studies (Bloggs 1998; Smith 1999) show that ...
1.3
When an author has published more than one cited document in the same year,
these are distinguished by adding lower case letters (a,b,c, etc.) after the year
and within the parentheses:e.g. Bloggs (1994a) discussed the subject ...
1.4
If there are two authors, the surnames of both should be given:e.g. Bloggs and Smith (1993) have proposed that...
35
1.5
If there are more than two authors the surname of the first author only should be
given, followed by et al :e.g. Bloggs et al. (1997) conclude that...
1.6
If there is no originator then "Anon" should be used:e.g. A recent article (Anon 1993) stated that...
However, if it is a reference to newspapers where no author is given, the name of the
paper can be used in place of author or Anon whichever seems most helpful. You will
need to use the same style in the reference list so the name of the newspaper may be
more helpful.
e.g. The Times (1996) stated that....
1.7
If you refer to a source quoted in another work you cite both in the text:e.g. A study by Smith (1960 cited Bloggs 1994 p.34) showed that...
(You need to list the work you have used, i.e. Bloggs, in the main
bibliography.)
1.8
Quotations:A short quotation of less than a line may be included in the body of the text in
quotation marks but if it is longer start a new line and indent and italicize it
Include the page number if desired.
e.g.: .... so "good practices must be adhered to" (Smith 1996, p.15)
and we should...
or:
Bloggs, 1994, p.92
Theory rises out of practice, and once validated, returns
to direct or explain the practice
.
1.9
Diagrams:Diagrams should be referenced as though they were a quotation with the author
and date given alongside and full details in the list of references.
Additional notes about citations:
Personal communications:Taken from : APA, 1983. Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association. 3rd ed. Washington: APA.
They do not provide recoverable data and so are not included in the reference
list. Cite personal communications in the text only. Give initials as well as the
surname of the communicator and provide as exact a date as possible.
e.g. Many amateur investors do not consider the whole picture
according to Joe Bloggs (personal communication, June 15, 1997).
36
Using footnotes and endnotes
Footnotes also provide references for text within a document. Footnotes appear at the
bottom of a page in a document. Footnotes consist of two linked parts - the reference
mark and the corresponding text. For help in using word to format these go to
http://www.ucs.ed.ac.uk/eucs_documentation/Documents_by_Number/3473/3473.pdf
Essentially, you can follow the Harvard system, (1 below) or give a more full
reference (2 below). Footnotes are usually in a smaller size of text. You still have to
have a complete list of references at the end of the work
For example:
1. In text:
Further, the amount of effort put forth by each student converges quickly to
the precise amount predicted by tournament theory. 4
At foot of page:
4
See Bull, Schotter and Weigelt (1987)
2. In text:
Kenneth Elzinga and Thomas Hogarty used these concepts to develop an
approach for identifying geographic competitors that is frequently used in
antitrust cases.5
At foot of page:
5Elzinga, K. and T. Hogarty, “The problem of geographic market definition revisited: The case of coal,” Antitrust Bulletin, 23, 1978: pp1-18.
Bibliography at the end of a piece of work
The term bibliography describes references to cited documents given in a list at the
end of the text. These are usually described as bibliographic references. Sometimes
the bibliography is called a references list and there is a separate bibliography of
works that have been read but not cited.
•
In the Harvard System, the references are listed in alphabetical order of
authors' names. If you have cited more than one item by a specific author they
should be listed chronologically (earliest first), and by letter (1993a, 1993b) if
more than one item has been published during a specific year.
•
Whenever possible, elements of a bibliographical reference should be taken
from the title page of the publication.
•
Each reference should use the elements and punctuation given in the following
examples for the different types of published work you may have cited.
37
Reference to a book
Elements to cite:
Author's SURNAME, INITIALS,
Year of publication.
Title.
Edition. (if not the first).
Place of publication:
Publisher.
e.g.
BLOGGS, Joe. and SMITH, Peter., 1993. Venture capital in the UK.
2nd ed. London: Longman.
Reference to a contribution in a book
Elements to cite:
Contributing author's SURNAME , INITIALS.,
Year of publication.
Title of contribution. Followed by In:
INITIALS. SURNAME, of author or editor of publication followed by
ed. or eds if relevant.
Title of book.
Place of publication: Publisher, Page number(s) of contribution.
e.g.
BLOGGS, Joe., 1995. Finding business angels.
In: P. SMITH, ed. Annual review of venture capital. London: Heinemann,
123-156.
Reference to an article in a journal
Elements to cite:
Author's SURNAME, INITIALS.
Year of publication.
Title of article.
Title of journal,
Volume number and (part number), Page numbers of contribution.
e.g.
BLOGGS, J., 1996. Finding a business angel.
Journal of venture capital, 3 (2), 48-67.
Reference to a conference paper
Elements to cite:
Contributing author's SURNAME, INITIALS.,
Year of publication.
Title of contribution. Followed by In:
INITIALS. SURNAME, of editor of conference proceedings
(if applicable) followed by ed. or eds.
Title of conference proceedings including date and place of conference
Place of publication: Publisher, Page numbers of contribution.
Example on next page
38
e.g.
BLOGGS, J., 1996. Electronic mail: the new way to communicate.
In: P.SMITH, ed. 14th international online information meeting,
London 3-5 December 1995. Oxford: Learned Information, 221-251.
Reference to a publication from a corporate body
department or other organisation).
(e.g. a government
Elements to cite:
NAME OF ISSUING BODY,
Year of publication.
Title of publication .
Place of publication:
Publisher,
Report Number (where relevant).
e.g. UNESCO, 1993. General information programme and UNISIST.
Paris: Unesco, (PGI-93/WS/22).
Reference to a thesis
Elements to cite:
Author's SURNAME, INITIALS.
Year of publication.
Title of thesis.
Designation, (and type).
Name of institution to which submitted.
e.g. BLOGGS, P., 1997. Case study of a small electronics company looking for
financial capital. Thesis (MBA). Edinburgh University.
Reference to a patent
Elements to cite:
ORIGINATOR,
Date of publication.
Title of patent .
Series designation.
e.g. JOSEPH BLOGGS INC., 1996. Wap technology apparatus using images.
European patent application 0021337 A1.
Electronic material - following the Harvard System.
No standard method for citing electronic sources of information has yet been agreed
upon. The recommendations in this document follow the practices most likely to be
adopted. Those intending to use such citations in papers submitted to scholarly
journals should check whether an alternative method is used by that journal.
Citation in the Text
Follow the author, date procedure specified earlier.
39
Electronic References - Elements to include in the list of references at the end of
a work
Reference to individual works
Author/editor. (Year). Title [online]. (Edition). Place of publication, Publisher (if
ascertainable). Available from:
URL [Accessed Date].
e.g
Bloggs, P. (1996). Working the system [online]. Edinburgh,
Edinburgh University. Available from: http://www.man.ed.ac.uk/miracle/workingthesystem.hml .
Reference to E-Journals
Author. (Year). Title. Journal Title [online], volume (issue), location within host.
Available from: URL
[Accessed Date].
e.g.
Bloggs, P. (1995). Business angels: book review of
Bringsjord on Business Finance. Venture capital [online],
3 (4). Available from:
http://man.ed.ac.uk/electronicjournals/archives/venturecapital95.V3.hml.
[Accessed 17 Jun 2004].
Reference to mailbase/listserv e-mail lists
e.g.
Author. (Day Month Year). Subject of message. Discussion List
[online]
Available from: list e-mail address [Accessed Date].
Bloggs, J.. (2 May 1995). Re: Virtual learning environments. Lis-link
[online]. Available from: [email protected]
[Accessed 17 Apr 1996].
It should be noted that items may only be kept on discussion group servers for a short
time and hence may not be suitable for referencing. The author who is giving the
citation could keep a local copy, with a note to this effect.
Reference to personal electronic communications (E-mail)
Sender (Sender's E-mail address). (Day Month Year). Subject of Message. E-mail to
Recipient (Recipient's E-mail address).
e.g.
Bloggs, J. ([email protected]). (4 Apr 1996).
RE>> ProCite and Internet Refere. E-mail to P. Smith
([email protected]).
40
Reference to a newspaper article
Format:
Author/editor. (Last update or copyright date), Title, [Online], Publisher, Available
from: <URL> [Date of access].
e.g
Done, Kevin (2005) Bookings down 10% at Ryanair after bombings,
[Online], Financial Times July 14, Available from
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=050714000973&query=Bookings+down+1
0%25+at+Ryanair&vsc_appId=powerSearch&offset=0&resultsToShow=10&vsc_sub
jectConcept=&vsc_companyConcept=&state=More&vsc_publicationGroups=TOPW
FT&searchCat=-1
Reference to CD-ROMs
This section refers to CD-ROMs which are works in their own right and not
bibliographic databases.
Author/editor. (Year). Title [type of medium CD-ROM].
(Edition). Place of publication, Publisher (if ascertainable). Available
from: Supplier/Database identifier or number (optional) [Accessed Date]
(optional).
e.g.
Bloggs, J. (1996). A Brief history of time: an interactive
adventure [CD-ROM]. Crunch Media
Reference to web articles from World Wide Web.
Format:
Author/editor. (Last update or copyright date), Title, [Online], Publisher, Available
from: <URL> [Date of access].
Note:
• If no readily identifiable author can be found, use the page title.
• If a web document includes both a date for the last update and a copyright
date, use the date of last update.
• The publisher element is optional.
Grossman, M. (5 September 2001), Technology and Diplomacy in the 21st Century,
[Online], U.S. Department of State, Available from:
<http://www.state.gov/p/6580.htm> [21 May 2002].
Australian Stock Exchange. (21 May 2002), ASX – Australian Stock Exchange,
[Online], Available from: <http://www.asx.com.au/asx/homepage/index.jsp> [21 May
2002].
41
A Guide to Effective Research Methods
Punctuation
In general, the various parts of a bibliographical reference are best separated by full
stops. It is normal to put a comma after the author(s) name(s), and before the initial of
forename. A colon should be used to divide the title from the sub-title.
Setting out Quotations
Exact quotations of a well explored or controversial statement can be telling, but
extensive word-for-word quotations should be avoided. Quotations, if short (say up to
three lines), can be set in quotation marks and included in the body of the text, e.g.:
Franklin has pointed out that "no-one can predict the timing of family crisis support
has to be on a continuous 24 hour basis". Page 57
Longer quotations should be entered as a separate paragraph and indented from the
main text - quotation marks are not required, e.g.:
MacDonald (1986) has observed that:
Drug prevention efforts utilising positive peer pressure and young people's
desire may be divided into four general groups: (I) peer groups, (2) peer
participation programme, (3) kids teaching kids and (4) peer counselling.
There are few, if any mature and effective programmes for five year olds.
Page 29
If part of the quotation is omitted then this can be indicated using three dots.
.
Abbreviations and terms used in references
app.
Bd.
c.
ca.
cf.
ch.
chap.
col.
comp.
e.g.
ed.
et al.
et seq.
etc.
ff.
HMSO
Heft
appendix
Band : German for 'volume'
copyright
circa : Latin for 'about, approximately'
confer : Latin for 'compare with'
chapter (usually in legal references)
chapter (plural, chaps.)
column (plural, cols.)
compiler ( plural, comps.)
exempli gratia : Latin for 'for example'
edition ; edited by ; editor (plural, eds.)
et alii : Latin for 'and others'
Example:
Marcus, C. et al. Investigations into the phenomenon of
limited-field criticism. Broadview Press, 1990.
et sequens : Latin for 'and the following'
et cetera : Latin for 'and so forth'
German for 'following pages'
Her (His) Majesty's Stationery Office
German for 'number, part' of a book or journal
Guide to Researching
ibid.
i.e.
infra
ISBN
Loc.cit
MS.
n.d.
n.p.
no.
n.s.
op.cit.
o.s.
p. pp.
para.
passim
sic
supp.
supra
tom, t.
Trans.
viz.
vol.
vs.
ibidem : Latin for 'in the same place'. This word can
only be used in the next consecutive reference in a list
after an earlier reference to the same work.
Example:
1. Gilster, P. Finding it on the Internet. John Wiley,
1994, p.133-81
2. Ibid., p.155.
3. Ibid., p.170
id est : Latin for 'that is'
Latin for 'below'
International Standard Book Number
‘in the [identical ] passage [previously] quoted’
‘loc. cit.’ and ‘op. cit.’ are occasionally found in
footnote references.
manuscript (plural, MSS)
no date (of publication known)
no place (of publication known)
number (plural, nos.) In America the symbol # is often
used
new series
opere citato : Latin for 'in the work cited' Example :
1. Brandt, Willy. Organisierte Wahnsinn. London : V.
Gollancz, 1986. p. 110.
2. Germany speaks. London : Thornton Butterworth,
1938. p.97
3. Brandt, Willy. op. cit. p.243.
old series
page (plural pp.)
paragraph
Latin for 'scattered, spread about'. In a book reference
it means that several non-consecutive pages are being
quoted:
e.g. pp. 348-356 passim
Latin for 'thus so'. It is used to show that an author or
editor has recognised a form of spelling or phrase in an
original text:
e.g. liberarian (sic)
supplement (plural, supps.)
Latin for 'above'
tome : French for 'volume'
translator ; translated by
videlicet : Latin for 'namely, that is to say'
volume (plural, vols.)
versus : Latin for against
43
Guide to Researching
Using the Miracle Website
The Miracle website is designed to be self-explanatory. It is divided into 7 sections
indicated by the seven round buttons.
RAC Catalogue
This is a catalogue of all hard copy material held in the Miracle room, searchable by
author, title, keyword or journal title. It contains books, research papers, reprints and
dissertations
Electronic Resources
This section contains links to sections of the main University library and databases
subscribed to by the Management School and Edinburgh University Library. There
are databases for journals, company information, market research information, and
links to newspapers and MBA dissertations.
There is a short description of contents and a help page for each database.
Journals
Each database has to be searched separately for individual article titles / subject
searches / journal titles. There is a website which helps find databases for particular
journal titles. The URL is: http://www.jake-db.org/ . It is to be found in the ‘Journals’
section. Type in journal title and it comes up with information about holdings in the
various databases (not all subscribed to by us). If you have an exact citation, check the
main library catalogue first, to see if there are holdings. You will also still need to
check the database Business Source Premier separately as well, as there are titles in
there which have still not been included in the library catalogue.
Company information
Annual reports are held in hard copy in the RAC, but as more and more are available
electronically, we are cutting down on paper copies. Electronic copies can be obtained
from CAROL, FT Annual Reports Service or Northcote. Hoovers Online is an
excellent provider of European company information, including financials, summary
of activities, key people, links to the company web site, share prices, and top
competitors and more detailed profiles. LexisNexis provides business and financial
information on UK companies. Datastream, and Thomson Onebanker provide very
detailed financials and historical data for companies with a global coverage.
Market Information
Market information is notoriously difficult to find. Datastream has very detailed
financial information. Business Insights publish some very worthy business reports
and we also have access to Datamonitor reports giving access to 300 reports and
13,000 profiles, DBIC, the Datamonitor Business Information Centre collection and
over 700 reports from Keynote.
44
Guide to Researching
Newspapers
Here are links to a large number of UK newspapers held on CD Rom in the main
library, but also to the online services of some of them, such as FT.com and
Economist.com.
Business and Management Gateways
are academic portals to specialised databases which aim to provide a trusted source of
selected, high quality Internet information for students, academics and other people in
the world of business and management.
Explore the Web
If you wish to further your research, this page takes you to carefully evaluated links
on specific subjects pertaining mainly to business and management but also to general
sites of interest such as electronic services for directories, internet guides, standards
and patents; links to other UK libraries, general reference services and search engines.
Lost? Get help here.
Here you will find information on how to use the various databases we have access to.
This information is also linked from each database under Electronic Resources. There
are also contact details for the Information Research Officer who welcomes requests
for help.
45
Guide to Researching
Definitions
Abstract
Bibliography
Boolean
operator
Call numbers
CD Rom
Citation
Conference
proceeding
Cross
reference
An abstract is a brief summary of a research publication (usually an
article) that gives you a quick idea of the contents of the article. An
abstract may appear in a periodical index or at the beginning of the
article.
A list of source publications on a particular topic. A scholarly
publication such as a journal article usually lists source publications
used by the author at the end of the article
A logical term you can use to expand or restrict a keyword search in
an electronic database. Combining two or more keywords with an
"and" narrows the search to items containing all the keywords;
combining two or more keywords with an "or" expands the search to
items containing any of the keywords.
Each item in a library collection is classified in a subject area by
some classification system. These call numbers are placed on the
spine of the book to locate it in the stacks. Call numbers are entered
on the records in the Library Catalogue and RAC catalogue to help
you find the book. Our books have Library of Congress call
numbers, a combination of letters and numbers (e.g., PQ 1756 .I15
1990).
One of several computerized formats used to store information. "CD"
means "compact disc" and a CD-ROM looks much like an audio CD
you would play in your stereo. "ROM," on the other hand, means
"Read-Only Memory." This means that you can only "read"
information off the CD-ROM. You can't add new information or
make any changes to the information contained on the CD-ROM.
CD-ROMs are often used by libraries to offer library users the
capability of searching for lists of publications using keywords. This
information may be stored on only one computer workstation or a
number of designated workstations connected to a server
A citation is a standard way of listing information needed to identify
and locate publications such as books and articles. It includes
information such as title, author, publisher, year of publication, and
more.
A meeting of scholars to present results of recent research in a field
is frequently followed by the publication of a book containing the
reports (called "papers") presented at the meeting. This book is
called a conference proceeding.
When a database that lists books, articles, and other publications is
constructed, each item in the database may be given a set of subject
words that you may use to search the database. A note that refers you
from unused words to used ones, or from used words to other used
words of related meaning, is called a cross reference.
46
Guide to Researching
Database
Dissertation
Field
Full text
Home page
HTML
HTTP
Index
Interlibrary
loan
Internet
Journal
Keyword
Link
Logoff
In library language, a database is usually a computerized list of
books, articles, and other publications that you may search by words
you type in or select from a list.
A dissertation is a published research project required of MBA and
other students
Records in a database are often broken up into parts called fields. For
example, the author (au) field in a database record displays the
author for the record.
The complete text of the item (such as a periodical article) which is
referenced in a database. An increasing number of indexes that list
articles by topic are including the not just information about the
article but the article itself.
The introductory page to a Web site or collection of Web documents.
For example: the University Library Web site's home page is located
at http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. HTML is the
programming used to create hypertext documents displayed on the
World Wide Web.
http stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol; Most Web site
addresses start with http. It is this set if conventions that dictates the
exchange of requests and information between web clients and a web
servers
An index is made up of a list of terms, subjects, or people taken from
journal articles, books, etc. Indexes provide information to locate
those terms in an indexed volume or a database.
Interlibrary Loan is a free service for University students, faculty,
and staff with current borrowing privileges. This service is provided
by the University of Edinburgh Library to promote coursework and
scholarly research by providing access to materials not held by the
University Libraries.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN Materials usually arrive within 2 - 4
weeks, but the length of time varies depending on availability and
other factors. It is best to request materials well in advance of your
deadline.
A global collection of computer networks that exchange information
by the a suite of networking protocols such as http or ftp.
a periodical containing scholarly articles written by authorities or
experts in a given discipline or field of study.
A keyword is a word or brief phrase you can use to search electronic
resources such as library catalogues, periodical indexes, or the
internet. A keyword should relate to a main concept of the subject
Keyword searching allows you to construct a search by looking for a
word or combination of words from the author, title, or subject or
other fields in the database.
In the World Wide Web and other electronic and internet resources, a
link is a word, phrase, or graphic symbol that connects you with
another related source when you click on it.
To disconnect from a network or remote system.
47
Guide to Researching
Logon
Magazine
Media
The process of connecting to a network or remote system
A periodical aimed at a general reading audience
Films, video or audio tapes and other audio-visual materials that
require the use of special listening or viewing equipment.
Microform
Microfilm and microfiche are the two most common forms used in
libraries. The original materials are photographed and reduced in size
in order to save on the storage space or to preserve them. Many
newspapers, magazines and government documents are available in
microform.
Two or more computers connected together over phone lines are able
able to exchange files and generally communicate through a modem.
To move around on the WWW by following hypertext links from
document to document.
Online information is information that you access via the
internet.When a user is connected to a network, they are described as
being online.
Modem
Navigate
Online
Password
Periodical
Periodical
index
Primary
source
In other words, you must use your computer to connect to another
computer that contains the information you desire. For example,
when you access an online database, you use your computer to
connect to the computer that houses your database.
A secret combinations of letters and other symbols needed to login to
a computer system.
A periodical is any publication, including magazines, newspapers,
trade magazines, or scholarly journals, that is published periodically
- weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. Publications which are issued at
least twice a year, including journals, magazines and newspapers.
A periodical index is a database that lists information about
individual articles from many different periodicals. You can search
for information about articles that interest you by using keywords
that describe your topic.
Primary sources present first hand accounts or information in its
original form. This can be a work of literature or art or an account of
an event. Examples include:
•
•
•
•
•
Written accounts of first recorders or eyewitnesses of an
event. Primary written accounts are often letters, diaries,
newspaper articles, recorded interviews, official transcripts of
meetings, etc.
Documents obtained through original research , statistical
compilations and legal requirements. Examples include
historical documents, government census reports, reports of
scientific experiment, etc.
Original works of art or literature, musical compositions, etc .
Artifacts such as shards of pottery.
48
Guide to Researching
Record
Reference
collection
Reference
librarian
References
Search engine
Secondary
source
A record is one item in a database with information that describes it.
For example, in a library catalogue, each record would have all the
information you need to know about a single book including the
author, title, call number, and more.
A selection of library materials used by reference librarians to help
people find information or to do research. Reference collections
contain many sources of information, such as encyclopedias,
dictionaries, almanacs, directories, and statistical compilations.
Reference librarians are specialists in the field of information
retrieval. Generally they have graduate degrees in library science,
and many have other Master's degrees as well. They are available at
reference desks to help you find the information you are looking for.
The publications to which an author refers in the text, bibliography,
or reference list of his or her book or article. Generally, references
are the publications the author used to write the book or article.
When you search the World Wide Web for information on a
particular topic, the software that allows you to type in words and
retrieve lists of relevant resources is called a search engine.
A secondary source interprets and analyses events and issues. A
secondary source is one step removed from a primary, or first hand,
account of an event. Most journal articles and books are secondary
sources. Examples include:
•
•
•
Serials
Subject
headings
Thesis
Truncation
URL
Username
Volume
a journal article about the effects of global warming.
a book about the gender roles during World War II.
a web site with literacy statistics.
Publications that appear more or less regularly--daily, weekly,
monthly, quarterly, annually, or biennally. Journals, magazines and
newspapers are listed as serials in the main library catalogue.
Words or phrases assigned to books and articles and used to index
these items by topic, In library catalogues, publications listed usually
include words and phrases describing the subject of the publication.
These descriptive words or phrases are usually drawn from a sort of
"dictionary" of official terms. These official terms are called subject
headings. Determining the correct headings for a specific database or
catalogue is an important part of effective research.
A thesis is a published research project required of final-year and
post-graduate students.
Typing a special symbol at the end of a word to retrieve all possible
endings of that word. Use the question mark (?); the pound sign (#),
the asterisk (*), or another symbol.
A URL is the address you use to tell your browser where to find a
particular Internet resource. URL is short for "uniform resource
locator" or "universal resource locator."
The name assigned to users of a computer network
When all the issues of a magazine or journal for a certain time period
(often one year) are collected and hardbound like a book, this is
called a volume. The volumes are numbered by the publisher for
easy identification
49
Guide to Researching
Website
World wide
web
One collection of information produced by an individual or
organization available on the Web. Usually includes links to a
variety of related sources. For example, the University Libraries'
website includes links to databases of books, articles, and other
websites that contain encyclopedias, directories, and a variety of
other resources.
A growing network of computers around the world that offer a
variety of information and entertainment in a multimedia format.
Click on highlighted words and graphics within websites to link
directly to information contained on other computers in the network.
50