Title: APG5365 - Principles of Global Communications - DRAFT

APG5365 - Principles of Global Communications

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

- Identify scholarly resources
- Utilise library guides
- Formulate search terms to locate assessment task resources
- Locate specialised discipline resources using databases
- Identify and locate grey literature for research projects

Overview

- Your assessment
- Library Search
- Library Databases
- Citation chaining
- Evaluation of sources
- Harvard referencing

You will also see images indicating:

Flux - student polling

Link to further information

Video

Your research essay

The marking rubric for this essay indicates that you will need to demonstrate the quality and breadth of your research, as well as apply and undertand the research you've done. To achieve a High Distinction, you will need to:

- Clear evidence of a wide variety of relevant and quality academic reading
- Skilful engagement with and integration of sources and examples to facilitate argument

This module will show you how to find appropriate research material using Library resources.

Library Search

Library Search is often a good place to start your search for resources. It will search across the Library's 3 million physical items, and many of our online collections.

For your research essay, you can use Library Search to find:

- Known items (see citation searching later on)
- Academic journal articles
- Books (including eBooks)

[Image: Library Search box]

Using Library Search effectively

[Image: Search sign in]

Signing in before you search allows you to:

- Save your search to revisit later
- Mark individual search results you want to view later

Use the options on the left of your search to narrow your results:

- Select peer reviewed journals to view only academic sources
- Refine by year to view results from a certain date range

[Image: Search refine options]

Accessing resources in Library Search

Click the information buttons below to learn more about accessing items you find in Library Search.

[Image: Library Search - search result]

Click on the title for more information including:

- Blurb
- Abstract
- Key subjects covered

Looking at the title of the journal can help you decide if it is appropriate for your research. Library Search will find results from all fields, so it's important to make sure your resources are from a sociological perspective.

This indicates that the resource is peer reviewed and appropriate to use in academic research.

Click 'online access' to view the full text of the resource.

Questions

Test yourself - Library Search

To become familiar with Library Search, have a go at answering the question below.

Q: Look up the following title in Library Search. Where is it available?

Romero, M 2018, Introducing intersectionality, Polity Press, Newark.
- Caulfield Library
- Online (correct)
- Matheson Library

What are databases & why use them?

- A database is a collection of online information, such as journals, that has been organised in a way that is easily searchable
- Excellent sources of academic research including peer reviewed journals. Some databases are specific to a subject area.
- Extensive search functionality for more precise searching, eg. advanced search filters
- Authoritative scholarly content – only credible information indexed
- Not all journals are automatically included when you use “Search”

Library databases. add BUTTONS

While Library Search is a good place to start your research, you will find many more resources by searching a Library Database.

You can find some recommended databases for Communications & Media in the Communications & Media Library Guide.

Search tips for library databases

Most library databases will provide you with an Advanced Search feature, that allows you to combine different search terms. The following techniques will help you combine key words from your topic to make your search more effective. These are known as Boolean operators.

Advanced search tips

You can use the following techniques in most library databases to make your search more effective.

Use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase, e.g: "western society"

[Image: Quotation marks icon]

Use an asterisk (*) to include multiple letters and forms of a word, e.g. environment* will find environment, environmental, environments, environmentalism etc.

[Image: Asterisk logo]

Use a question mark (?) to replace a single letter in a word, e.g. globali?ation will find both globalisation and globalization.

[Image: Question mark icon]

Putting your search together in a library database

Most databases will have an advanced search that allows you to combine your keywords using the search techniques from the previous two slides. We this example the database used is Proquest sociology collection.

As an example, if we were using Topic 5, we might construct a search like this.

Topic 5: It has been argued that the practical reasons for getting married have declined over recent decades, but symbolic reasons for marriage have increased. Discuss social changes in Western views about marriage.

[Image: Example of an advanced search in Proquest database]

Here we have used similar terms marriage and family formation. We have separated them with OR to search for either term.

"Family formation" is in quotation marks to search for it as a phrase.

Most databases will have these dropdown boxes. We put our different search concepts on a different line each. We then use AND to join our concepts and narrow our search.

symbol* will find: symbol, symbols, symbolic, symbolism etc.

Test yourself - databases

Q: Adding AND between your search terms makes your search:
- Broader
- Narrower (correct)

Q: Where will you find relevant Sociology databases?
- Sociology Library Guide (correct)
- The Library homepage
- Google Scholar

Google Scholar can be an alternative resource to locate sources for your essay.

Use it if necessary as a back-up to Library SEARCH and the Proquest social sciences databases.

*You will need to go to Full Screen to view the video.

Citation searching

Citation searching is a search method that can be done forward or backward in time.

Forward citation searching retrieves records that have cited an item, also known as “cited by”. This provides you with more recently published articles that may be relevant for your topic.

Backward citation searching involves records that an item has cited (these will be located in the article's reference list). This is also known as snowballing - using known relevant articles to identify other key articles or search terms.

Using citation chaining you can:

- build an overview of an unfamiliar field - useful for a literature review
- trace the origins of an idea
- trace the impact and development of an idea
- identify key articles, authors, journals and research centres in your field

Forward citation searching

[Image: Search Google Scholar from the Library site]

Forward citation searching allows you to find more recent articles that have cited an article you have.

Using Google Scholar is the simplest method of forward citation searching.

1. Access Google Scholar via the Library website
2. Search for the title and author of the article
3. Click 'cited by' to see articles that have subsequently cited the original article
4. Click 'check for full text' on any relevant articles to see if the Library has access.

1.& 2.

[Image: Google Scholar - see cited by]

3.

[Image: Check for full text from Google Scholar]

4.

Backward citation searching

As you read journal articles and book chapters take note of other sources the author/s make reference to. Some of these may be useful for your own research.

You can then track down these sources and use them in your own research. To see if you can access a source, search for the title and author in Library Search.

[Image: Searching for a known item in Library Search]

[Image: Example of a reference list]

Evaluate, evaluate

Is this a scholarly source?

To evaluate the suitability of your source, consider the criteria listed.

If you have answered yes to most of these, your source is scholarly.

Are these scholarly resources?

The four examples are results retrieved from Library SEARCH. They are all available online. Using the criteria listed on the previous page, could you use the following for your essay?

No. 1

No. 4

No. 2

No. 3

[Image: Harvard Guide]

Citing and referencing

Remember that any sources used in your assesments will need to be referenced.

The Harvard Library Guide covers the rules of citing and referencing with Harvard at Monash.

To learn more about citing and referencing, there are three tutorials on the Library website.

[Image: Referencing tutorials on Library website]

Librarians can assist you with :

- how and where to start researching a topic,  effective use of Library collections, databases and the Internet
- finding and evaluating information, demonstrating academic integrity through effective research and citing and referencing practices, including identifying sources and using referencing styles.

Learning Skills Advisers are also on hand to help with :

- approaching assignments, written and oral communication skills
- study methods and exam preparation, effective listening, reading strategies and note-taking
- problem-solving and critical thinking,  demonstrating academic integrity through correct acknowledgement of the work of others, including quoting, paraphrasing and knowing when to cite and reference.

Further assistance

Should you require any further assistance, the Library currently runs an Online Drop-In service, which you can access every weekday during semester.