Looking for a more detailed, step-by-step introduction to research? Try our interactive online Library Workshop.
Let us know what you think! After you've used this research guide, please take a moment togive us your comments.
Library Workshop: Research 101
Unsure how to start a paper or research project? Think maybe you could stand to brush up on search strategies?
If this sounds familiar, Library Workshop: Research 101 has you covered. This interactive tutorial explores six stages of the research process. You can view it from start to finish, or focus on specific sections as needed:
Specialized search strategies for targeting specific topics.
Is it a scholarly source?
Your instructor may want you to use scholarly (or "peer-reviewed") sources. What does this mean?
There are two main types of scholarly sources:
Articles published in scholarly journals (print or electronic), which are usually peer-reviewed.
Books (print or electronic) intended for an expert or specialized audience.
Scholarly sources are:
Specialized: written by scholars for an informed, academic audience, at a level that requires some background knowledge in the subject
Build upon the work of other scholars, often including extensive bibliographies.
Examples: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of African American History, and JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
Popular sources, on the other hand, are intended for the general public. These sources are more introductory, may not be written by experts in a field, and often do not cite any other sources. Examples of popular magazines include National Geographic, The Economist, Time, Newsweek, and People.
How can you tell if an article or book is scholarly? Look for:
Who wrote it? Does the author have an advanced degree or a university affiliation?
Who is the audience? Is the writing style introductory or advanced?
Who published it? If your source is an article, what journal was it published in? Is that journal a peer-reviewed source? If your source is a book, was it published by a university press or an academic publisher, like Sage or Routledge? (Note: Publication by a university/academic press is not a guarantee that a book is scholarly -- just a good sign.)
Footnotes/endnotes/bibliography? Does your source include a bibliography and/or footnotes with citations of sources used?
Other features of the 'best' research:
Peer-reviewed (applies mainly to articles from journals): Before publishing, the article was vetted by other scholars in the field.
Has been cited by other scholars. (This can take time, so the newest articles might not be heavily cited yet.) How do you know if your article has been cited by others? Try searching the article citation in Web of Science or Google Scholar, which indicate the number of other articles that have cited your article. (Note:Neither of these sources is comprehensive.)
Scholarship is always changing. Try to find the most recent scholarly sources you can.
MLA International Bibliography Scholarly articles on literary topics. Use UC-eLinks button to get to the articles themselves.
Literature Resource Center (LRC) Includes biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers. Scope is international. Full text.
Project MUSE Several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. Topics include literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics and many others.
JSTOR Easy to use, full text, multi-disciplinary scholarly article database. Note: the most recent 3-5 years of the journals are usually not available through JSTOR.
Academic Search Complete A multi-disciplinary database that includes both scholarly and popular articles. Most articles have pdfs.
Literature Online Includes more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, 131 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism and reference resources. Includes reference works on literary criticism and biographical information.
What is This? Reading Citations...
Finding a citation in a bibliography (online or in print) is a great way to find more resources on your topic.
However, you have to be able to read the citation in order to find the item in the UCB Library.
The most common citations are for books, articles, and book chapters. Can you tell which citation below is for a book? For a chapter? For an article?
Orbe, Mark P. "Representations of Race in Reality TV: Watch and Discuss." Critical Studies in Media Communication 25.4 (2008): 345-352.
Winters, Loretta I., and Herman L. DeBose. New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Inc., 2003.
Fine, Michelle, and Adrienne Asch. “Disability Beyond Stigma: Social Interaction, Discrimination, and Activism.” The Culture and Psychology reader. Eds. Goldberger, Nancy Rule; Veroff, Jody Bennet New York: New York University Press. 1995. 536-558
Orbe, Mark P. "Representations of Race in Reality TV: Watch and Discuss." Critical Studies in Media Communication 25.4 (2008): 345-352.
The article "Representations of Race in Reality TV: Watch and Discuss" is in the journal Critical Studies in Media Communication, volume 25, number 4, 2008, pages 345-352.
Find it by searching a library catalog (OskiCat or MELVYL) for the journal titleCritical Studies in Media Communication. Do we have volume 25, number 4? Is the text online or is that issue of the journal available in a campus library?
Winters, Loretta I., and Herman L. DeBose. New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Inc., 2003.
This book, New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century was published in 2003 by Sage Publications, which is located in Thousand Oaks. (Place of publication and publisher are standard parts of a book citation).
Look it up in a library catalog (OskiCat or MELVYL) by title or by the authors (last name first).
Fine, Michelle, and Adrienne Asch. “Disability Beyond Stigma: Social Interaction, Discrimination, and Activism.” The Culture and Psychology reader. Eds. Goldberger, Nancy Rule; Veroff, Jody Bennet New York: New York University Press. 1995. 536-558
This article, "Disability Beyond Stigma..." is a chapter by Fine and Asch. It was published in the book The Culture and Psychology Reader, edited by Goldberger and Veroff. The book was published by New York University Press, located in New York.
Look it up in a library catalog (OskiCat or MELVYL) by the author or title of the book, not the chapter.
There are many other types of resources available for research. If you have questions about interpreting a citation or locating a source, please ask for assistance.
Citation Linker: Finding the article when you have a citation
Sometimes you find an article in a bibliography, a book or a footnote -- and you want to see if we have it. The Citation Linker searches through our online databases to see if it is available fulltext. If not, it sets up a search for the paper journal in Melvyl. And if we don't have it at Berkeley, it lets you request it through Interlibrary Loan.
Catalogs and Google Scholar
Oskicat. UC Berkeley libraries catalog. Includes records for most UCB library materials, including books, e-books, journal and e-journal titles, films and videos, maps, archival materials, and much more. See also the Quick Guide to Oskicat and Oskicat Tutorial.
Melvyl. Catalog for all UC Campus libraries, including selected libraries on campus not in Oskicat, e.g. the Boalt Law Library. Why use Melvyl? It includes thousands of scholarly journal articles and links to WorldCat, which gets you into the collections of libraries around the world
Google Scholar. It automatically connects you via UC eLinks to articles and other content licenses by the UC libraries.
Using call numbers to find books
Books and journals are arranged on our shelves according to the Library of Congress (LC) classification system. Each is assigned a unique call number based on its subject matter and other characteristics. Items on the same subject will often be grouped together.
In using a call number to locate a book on the shelf, consider each element in turn before moving on to the next segment.
These call numbers are arranged as they should appear on the shelves. In each case, the element shown in boldface distinguishes the number from the preceding one:
Q 76 K26
QA 17 F75
QA 17.1 C98
TK 3 Z37
TK 29 M49
TK 29 M5 1997
TK 29 M5 2007
Each call number consists of several elements. For example::
TK 7881.6 M29 1993
The FIRST line, TK, is based on the broad subject of the book. Within Class T for technology,TK represents electrical engineering.
The SECOND line, 7881.6, defines the subject matter more finely. When looking for the book, read this as a whole number with a decimal component. In this example, TK7881.6 represents magnetic recording (a subdivision of TK— electrical engineering).
The THIRD line, M29, usually indicates author, but may also represent a further subject subdivision, geographic area, etc. There may also be a fourth line, formatted the same way. When looking for the book, read the numeric component as if it were preceded by a decimal point. In the example above, the numeric part of M29 should be read as ".29" (and the call number TK7881.6 M29 comes before TK7881.6 M4).
The YEAR of publication, such as 1993, may also be present. These file in chronological order and often indicate successive editions of a book. The call number may also have additional elements, such as volume numbers.
SMS and QR Codes in OskiCat
You can now text yourself a call number or use a QR code reader to find the location of an item in the UCB Library. Just click on a title in your OskiCat search results, and both options will be displayed on the right.
Formatting Citations
Citing Your Sources - a brief online guide to the main citation styles and a brief discussion on what constitutes plagiarism.
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.
An annotated bibliography lists important works you will use in your research: articles, books, chapter, reports, etc.
Your annotations are not just summaries, but are meant to inform the reader why each work is significant, how it relates to other works on the subject, and how well it succeeds in its task.
Here are a couple of excellent online guides to preparing an annotated bibliography.
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.
It's always good to double check the formatting -- sometimes the software doesn't get it quite right.
Research Advisory Service
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.
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.
You can type your question directly into this chat window to chat with a librarian. Your question may be answered by a reference librarian from Berkeley, from another UC campus, or another academic library elsewhere in the US. We share information about our libraries to make sure you get good answers.
If the librarian can't answer you well enough, your question will be referred to a Berkeley librarian for follow-up.
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