Using Sources: Strategies for starting and ending the search
Kyle Feenstra
Coordinator, Learning & Instruction Support
(he / him / his)
In this session:
- Getting a good start on finding relevant sources
- A model of a search process you can use
- Discussion: scope and relevance
Please feel free to ask questions as we go!
Research, Language
& Learning
Search, read,
review the literature.
Develop an understanding of the literature considering relationships between concepts, authors, and publications.
Expand understanding & critique of concepts, theory, and data.
Our understanding of things is mediated through vocabulary that is contextual, cultural, and subject to interpretation.
* Language representing concepts in dialogue, research, and literature is not always consistent with the language we use for information organization and retrieval.
Natural Language
Taxononomies
Language naturally developing in everyday speech and culture.
Language used to categorize information
in a field of study for the purpose of organization and retrieval.
Controlled Language
Language structured by linguistic rules, grammar and hierarchies.
All language representing a domain of knowledge or field of study.
A Search Process Model
- Consult reference texts and influential works
- Read to gain foundational concepts and terminology
- Identify relationships between concepts
- Determine useful search language
- Continue to search in relevant libraries and databases
- Consider the relationships between authors and texts
- Consult reference texts and influential works
Consult these types of sources:
- Reference materials
- Introductory texts
- Handbooks and guides
- Topic Histories
Become familiar with:
- Key authors and texts
- Influential works
- Foundational literature
Example: Social Capital
Find and organize the language used in this field or area of study.
2. Read to gain foundational concepts
3. Identify relationships between concepts
If you start with a strong conceptual overview of the topic you can more easily :
- narrow the focus of your study
- define the scope of your literature search
- set parameters on what libraries & databases you will search
- and most importantly - determine the relevance of sources you find
With a good overview of the topic you can more easily :
- narrow the focus of your study
- define the scope of your literature search
Pierre Bourdieu
Social Capital
Robert D. Putnam
Education
James Coleman
Public Health
Social Politics
Pierre Bourdieu
Social Capital
Education
Michael James Grenfell. 2014. Pierre Bourdieu : Key Concepts. Vol. 2nd ed. Key Concepts. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Pierre Bourdieu
Social Capital
Social Networks
Symbolic Capital
Cultural Capital
Human Capital
Economic Capital
Education
Higher Education
Pierre Bourdieu
Social Capital
Education
From the library record you can find the taxonomies
for 'Author' and 'Subject'
4. Determine useful search language
Continue searching with the correct taxonomies or authorities for 'Author' and 'Subject'
Pierre Bourdieu
Social Capital
Education
5. Continue to search in relevant libraries and databases
6. Consider the relationships between authors and texts
Are you unsure about the quality and relevance of sources?
Are you unsure about
when to stop
searching?
Quality and Validity
What are the academic standards used to determine the quality and validity of scholarship and publications?
- Published books, articles, dissertations, conference proceedings that have passed through a peer review process.
- Publication by a reputable academic press.
- Extensive referencing of other sources indicating thorough research.
- Material that contributes new findings to a recognized field of research.
- Citation by subsequent sources and demonstrated impact (Author H-Index).
Quality and Validity
What gives an author/speaker authority and credibility?
- Level of education, prior research, recognition of expertise.
- Social-historical factors where lived experience history grant authority
- Oral histories, survivor accounts
- Indigenous Knowledge (IK)
- Exercise some caution with metrics such as h-index.
- It is difficult to compare metrics across disciplines,
- Some research topics generate more interest than others,
- Important work is often published outside high impact journals.
Making decisions about relevance...
- With every text you read ask yourself consider how it contributes to your research topic or question.
- Is the material in scope?
- Is there a clear relationship with the other texts you using in your research?
Is there a clear relationship with the other important texts you are studying?
- Do the papers reference the other?
- Do they represent a dialogue?
- Do they pose additional questions or present additional information that is not addressed by the earlier work?
- Do they fill in gaps in research?
- Do they provide an important critique of an earlier work?
- Do they present marginalized voices/perspectives that are otherwise absent from the discourse?
Is there a clear relationship with the other important texts you are studying?
Website Resources
Searching & Note Taking Worksheets
Kyle Feenstra
Coordinator, Learning & Instruction Support
University of Manitoba Libraries
kyle.feenstra (at) umanitoba.ca
Questions?