       
1060 Library 101 assignment
LIBRARY 101 : Developing a Bibliography
DUE: Upload Bibliography by noon 10.12; Bring catalog entries printed off the online data bases to preceptorial 10.12
On Searching Library Databases: Cracking the Cataloging Code
Looking for relevant sources (books, articles, entries) on online library databases is a progressive task:
- One starts with some basic search terms to see what they find and deliver.
- A review of these sources may then suggest other search terms.
- One continues the process, trying out alternative terms, modifying search terms or trying them out in different combinations.
- By using the Advanced Search fields one can continue to refine the search terms.
Developing and refining a bibliography is a serial and methodical process; you will not find everything at one sitting. It takes a series of tries to identify the search terms that will help you find additional interesting sources/entries. After you’ve spent some time trying out different search terms, keywords, etc, you will get a sense of which search terms and in what combinations
prove particularly productive.
Once you have found some relevant books and articles, you can use the information given in their catalog entries to further sharpen your search terms:
- The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data that is found at the front of every book lists the subject heads under which that particular book is catalogued.
- Keywords listed at the beginning of scholarly articles can also provide additional search terms.
- Bibliographies at the end of books and articles are a great source for search terms as well.
During this exercise you will be expected to continually refine your search in this manner. Keep track of the search terms and keywords that turn up a particular book or article. You can either print out the catalog entries for each relevant book or article you find, or you can make a careful note of it.
Task
This exercise asks you to develop a bibliography of relevant books and articles on a particular topic: The impact of Katrina on the city and citizens of New Orleans.
You are required to use a number of different online catalogs. These catalogs are listed on the Library Tutorial page http://cool.coa.gatech.edu/coolspace/915
Before you begin we ask you to read Dan Baum's article: lost year.pdf
This article, written a year after Katrina devastated New Orleans, will give you a sense of the complex and diverse issues that are in play in pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans: its not just, or only, a matter of engineering or geography, or planning, or policy, or politics, or race, or class, or law, or history.
As you search for material on Katrina and New Orleans actively engage, as search terms, the following filters:
- Politics (local, state, regional, federal)
- Society (race, class, gender, ethnicity, civil/civic organisations)
- Culture (customs, language, material culture, etc.)
- Economics
- Policy; Law (federal, regional, local)
- Engineering and Technology
- Environment (flora and fauna; climate, etc.)
- Geography; Hydrology; Geology
- Construction
- Architecture and Planning (house types, neighborhoods, wards, etc.)
- Infrastructure (levees, interstates, dams, etc.)
Steps
- Review Library Tutorial http://cool.coa.gatech.edu/coolspace/915
- Familiarize yourself with the screens and steps outlined in the tutorial. Go to the URLs for each of the online databases. Refer to the tutorial pages as you walk through the screens.
- Begin searching the databases for catalog entries by using various logical ombinations of primary and secondary terms.
- You may want to use the COA Architecture Library webpage as the portal into the online databases available to you. Go to http://www.library.gatech.edu/architect/
- Search as many, but at least four, of the following databases: GIL; Avery; ProQuest; EBSCOhost; ProQuest; LexisNexis Academic.
- Also search the Internet. Sometime Wikipedia and Amazon etc. can provide interesting source material. However the purpose of this assignment is to develop a bibliography primarily drawn from material drawn from books, scholarly journals, and newspapers.
- Find at least 5 relevant entries from each of the databases you are searching. You will find material that will NOT be relevant.
- Print, or screen capture, the catalog data for each of the sources (books, journals, etc.) that you think are relevant. Also note the search terms that lead you to them.
- Review these 25 to 30 sources/entries for possible additional search terms.
- Go back to the databases with these new and refined search terms and continue to develop your bibliography.
- Stop when you get to 30 to 40 entries.
- Organize these entries into a bibliography, by section or in alphabetical order. List author, title, publisher, date following proper citation formats. For proper citation examples for books and articles, see below.
- Upload this bibliography to your assignment page by noon 10.12.
- Print it out as well. Bring this with your print outs of the catalog entries to the preceptorial on 10.12.
- Be prepared to discuss the process of searching research databases.
So, what's due? on 10.12
Two things:
- Bibliography. A list of the 30-40 most relevant books and articles that you have found. Organized alphabetically or by subject. The books and articles should be listed following proper citation formats. You can use Chicago Manual of Style or AP or another format. Click on this link to the Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide is: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html for all you need to know. Upload this bibliography to your assignment page before 10.12. Bring a copy to the preceptorial as well.
- Print outs of catalog entries turned up while searching along with search terms used. Bring these copies, or your summarized list of catalog entries turned up while searching, to your preceptorial 10.12. These copies are evidence of your search process.
Link to this Page
- RESEARCH_D last edited on 10 November 2007 at 5:45 pm by arch-218-04.coa.ad.gatech.edu
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