AMER STD 191: American Studies Thesis

Read an introduction to the campus libraries for undergraduates.

Set up your computer for off campus access to library databases.

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Each library has its own hours.  Click on the calendar for each library to view a month at a time.

The UCB Library sponsors the Library Prize for Undergraduate Research.  Win $1000 (upper division students) or $750 (lower division students) for your research paper!

Looking for a location in Doe, Main Stacks or Moffitt?  Try the floorplans, or ask for assistance!

Example:

Topic:  Image of African American women in advertising

potentially relevant disciplines:

African American Studies
Gender and Women's Studies
Ethnic Studies
Media Studies
Psychology
Sociology
Business
etc.

Developing appropriate keywords/search terms is an essential part of research.  First, break your topic into components.  Develop a list of synonyms and alternative terminology for each component.  Think about broader and narrower concepts and word variants.  What words can you exclude?

Topic: Image of African American Women in Advertising

image(s) or stereotyp(es)(ing) or depict(ion) or portray(al)...

african american(s) or black(s) or minorit(y)(ies)

women or gender

advertis(e)(ing) or media

Remember to be creative with your terminology!  More examples:

people of color and environmental activism*
environmental justice
environmental justice and hazardous waste*
environmental equity
environmental discrimination
environmental racism
environmental injustice

Search an article database to find citations (title, author, title of journal, date, page numbers) for articles on a particular topic.  The Library gives you access to over 200 article databases covering different disciplines.

1.  Think about which academic disciplines might write about your topic.  Examples:  literature, film, anthropology, history...

2.  Find the appropriate article database by subject (academic discipline or department).  Look for "Recommended" databases.

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject

Sample searches in ProQuest Social Science databases:

Library home > Articles > Article Databases A-Z > ProQuest Social Sciences   to search multiple social science databases

1.  Example of a search using multiple terms, truncation,etc

celebrit*  (all fields + text)
athlet* (all fields + text) 

check off:   limit to:  peer reviewed

* = truncation symbol or wildcard;  child* = child, childs, children, childish, childhood

narrow down your search by searching all parts of the items except full text:

celebrit*  (all fields (no full text))
athlet* (all fields (no full text)) 

2.  use a phrase; using official subject terms

"air jordan*" (all fields + text)
 

click on subject term:  archetypes

add another search term:  advertis*  (all fields (no full text)) 

Sample Searches in Film & Television Literature Index/Academic Search Complete

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > Film > Film and Television Literature Index

choose databases

also check off Academic Search Complete (general, interdisciplinary database)

television (select a field - optional)
famil* (select a field - optional)

find an official subject term, put in quotes to make it a phrase

"families on television" (subject)

queer* or gay*  (select a field - optional)
television (subject)
race or racial* or ethnic* or color (select a field - optional)

Sample searches in America:  History and Life:

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > History > America:  History and Life

fashion*  (select a field )
advertis* (select a field))

historical period from:  1950   to   1960

• click on the title to see full record (including abstracts and descriptors)
• to limit by publication type (peer-reviewed journals, conferences, books, etc.) click on the appropriate tab or link
• if necessary,look for other limits (latest update, journal articles only, english only) and more advanced searches
• select records to save to your personalized list; lists may be e-mailed, downloaded, printed

Citation management tools help you manage your research, collect and cite sources, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles.  Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but any are easier than doing it by hand!

Zotero: A free plug-in that works exclusively with the Firefox browser: keeps copies of what you find on the web, permits tagging, notation, full text searching of your library of resources, works with Word, and has a free web backup service.

RefWorks - free for UC Berkeley users. It allows you to create your own database by importing references and using them for footnotes and bibliographies. Use the RefWorks New User Form to sign up. Refworks Help is pretty good.

How to link from the Refworks record to a pdf on your hard drive

Exporting from OskiCat to Refworks

EndNote: may be purchased from UC Berkeley's Software Central.  The Library's Guide to EndNote.  And more Tips from EndNote.

It's always good to double check the formatting -- sometimes the software doesn't get it quite right.

In order to avoid plagiarism, you must give credit when

• You use another person's ideas, opinions, or theories.
• You use facts, statistics, graphics, drawings, music, etc., or any other type of information that does not comprise common knowledge.
• You use quotations from another person's spoken or written word.
• You paraphrase another person's spoken or written word.

Recommendations

• Begin the writing process by stating your ideas; then go back to the author's original work.
• Use quotation marks and credit the source (author) when you copy exact wording.
• Use your own words (paraphrase) instead of copying directly when possible.
• Even when you paraphrase another author's writings, you must give credit to that author.
• If the form of citation and reference are not correct, the attribution to the original author is likely to be incomplete. Therefore, improper use of style can result in plagiarism. Get a style manual and use it.
• The figure below may help to guide your decisions.
  
  

This content is part of the Understanding Plagiarism tutorial created by the Indiana University School of Education.

If you've never used Zotero before, use the QuickStart Guide to get started.

Change your preferences if you want  Zotero to

• set your default citation style
• search the full text of pdfs you save
• Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items

To use Zotero to find specific articles in our library's databases, set up the Open URL resolver with this link: http://ucelinks.cdlib.org:8888/sfx_local? 

An in-depth discussion of the relative virtues of Endnote and Zotero,

The UCB Library Guide to Citing Your Sources discusses why you should cite your sources and links to campus resources about plagiarism.  It also includes links to guides for frequently used citation styles.  Also:

• MLA handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
  Doe Reference Reference Hall LB2369 .G53 2009
  Main Gardner Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009
  Many older editions available throughout the UCB libraries.
• The Chicago Manual of Style (UCB-only access)
  15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003. Searchable, online version of the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition).
  Many print editions available throughout the UCB Libraries.
• Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More (UCB-only access) Charles Lipson. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006.
  Many print editions throughout the libraries.
• Columbia Guide to Online Style (UCB-only access)
  Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. 2nd ed. NY: Columbia Univ. Press. 2006.
  Many print editions throughout the UCB libraries.

Google Scholar is an easy way to do interdisciplinary research, and with some settings changes can become even more useful.  You may need a Google account to use some of these features.

• Set up Google Scholar to display links to full text of articles that Berkeley subscribes to:

Open Scholar.  Click on scholar preferences [upper right corner]. Under Library Links, enter the word Berkeley.  Choose  UC Berkeley eLinks and Open WorldCat - Library Search and Save your preferences.  UC e-links will now appear in Google Scholar search results.

• Set up a Google Scholar Alert to be automatically notified when new articles are added to Google on topics of interest: 

Do your search in Google Scholar. Look in the green toolbar for the envelope icon, and click it.  New items will be sent to your email account as they are found by Google.

• Ever wanted to trace an article’s impact? Google now permits searching within citing articles.

Do a Google Scholar search. Click on the "Cited by" link under a citation and select the "Search within articles citing..." checkbox.

You already know that you should evaluate anything you find on the Internet.  Here are some reminders of what to look for.

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Other ways to get help:  in person, by e-mail, using specialized chat services

And of course:  e-mail Corliss or email Theresa (Bancroft Library)

Research Advisory Service for Cal Undergraduates

Book a 30-minute appointment with a librarian who will help refine and focus research inquiries, identify useful online and print sources, and develop search strategies for humanities and social sciences topics (examples of research topics).

Schedule, view, edit or cancel your appointment online (CalNetID required)

This service is for Cal undergraduates only. Graduate students and faculty should contact the library liaison to their department or program for specialized reference consultations.

• American Studies
• Ethnic Studies
• Library Subject Guides
• Library Course Guides