journals are often kept in a Periodicals Reading Room, not the stacks, and that they are sometimes organised not by call number, but alphabetically.
Searching the internet
The internet has become a valuable research tool. There is a warehouse of information stored in cyberspace, and it is relatively easy to access. First you need to log on to the internet, usually done by clicking the appropriate icon on your computer screen. Next you must select a search engine, which is a data base containing a wide variety of information, usually organised by subject. Click onto your search engine, type in your subject, and you will be offered access to a lot of information. A good search engine will help you refine your search so you get exactly what you are looking for.
To find internet information on the English madrigal composer Thomas Weelkes, for example, I Googled Weelkes’ name on the search line. Google offers 10,200 web pages on Weelkes, some of which are audio, which means you can not only learn something about the composer but also listen to some of his music on line.
You must exercise some caution when accessing information from the internet. Anyone can publish anything on the internet, including misinformation and disinformation. You must make certain the website you are using is authoritative. If it is affiliated with an institution of higher learning or associated with a known expert in the field you are investigating, the information should be valid. Unless you have a way of authenticating internet information, be wary of using it.
Consulting your librarian
If you are having trouble finding information about your topic, if you are having trouble using the library computer, if you aren’t sure where something is located in the library, don’t hesitate to consult your librarian. Librarians are experts at tracking down information, and I have never met one who was unwilling to help.
Our Case Study continued
Having mulled over the needs and expectations of her reader, considered her aim in writing her essay, and spent some time freewriting, Audrey is ready to research her topic: the characters in Shakespeare’s sonnets and the possibility they had real-life counterparts.
As almost all students do today, Audrey begins her research by logging on to the internet and then on to her favourite search engine. Into the subject line she types “characters in Shakespeare’s sonnets” (without quotation marks). The search engine gives her a list of some 11,000 websites. Audrey proceeds to scan the descriptors of the sites and she calls up about a dozen of the ones that seem promising. There after, the sites become less and less relevant to her topic, more concerned, as they are, with the plays and with biographical information; many of them are syllabi for courses that feature or even merely touch upon Shakespeare’s work. Of the dozen sites she does scan, several contain the texts of the sonnets (some with commentary), while others feature bright colours and flashing lights to get her attention and encourage her to buy essays about the sonnets or order books about them. She does find one promising site, containing 23 pages, specifically about the identity of the three characters whose identity she is exploring, but it is a personal website and the identity of the author is not completely clear. This is a problem because such sites can be unauthoritative and unreliable. Other sites link to this one, though, and that suggests the site has some credibility, as does the fact that the author includes a bibliography of authoritative sources. But she will have to use information from this site with discretion. Her internet search rewards her with a few other promising leads, which she might return to later and pursue. But her plan now is to walk over to her university library and look for books and journal articles about her topic.
At the library, Audrey goes to the computer which catalogues all the books and journals the library contains and tries a “keyword search” by typing “Shakespeare and sonnets” (without quotation marks) into the search line. Up comes a list of more than 400 book titles. Clearly she has not been specific enough so she tries again, this time typing “Shakespeare and sonnets and characters” into the search line. This time only a dozen books are listed. She jots down the call numbers of the most promising titles.
Audrey then accesses a humanities database that catalogs journal articles, and she is overwhelmed again by the volume of information available. In one journal alone, The Shakespeare Quarterly, there are thousands of scholarly papers about the sonnets, some explicating a single line, a single reference, the structure, even the punctuation of single poems. Here she makes a wise decision: she will stick for now to books about the sonnets and only check journal articles later if she feels the books do not provide her with the current, relevant, and authoritative information she requires. Were she writing a thesis about the prototypes for the characters in the sonnets, she would have to study the scholarly journals, but for a basic undergraduate essay, on a topic about which many books have been written, she is safe to limit her research to authoritative websites and books. Some of the books she will eventually select are collections of the best articles that originally appeared in journals, so, in a sense, she has that base covered anyway.
Audrey goes to the third floor of her library where the books she needs are located and makes her selections. While she is doing so other potentially useful and relevant titles catch her eye and, by the time she has completed her search, she has eleven books relevant to her topic including many by scholars she knows from the class lectures are recognised experts in the field.
Audrey signs out the eleven books, stuffs as many as she can into her backpack, precariously balances the remaining ones in her arms, catches the bus back to her flat, and drops the books onto her desk.
She then begins to read, making notes as she goes. Some student writers use index cards at this point in the process, since using cards forces the researcher to make clear, concise notes. Audrey simply uses a separate notebook. She carefully begins with all of the relevant bibliographical information—full title, author’s complete name, place of publication, date of publication. She is careful to put page numbers after the notes she makes. There is nothing more frustrating than returning a borrowed book to the library then having to go and find it again, after discovering you need it for a page number or an author’s first name you forgot to include during the note-taking phase. Carefully write down all of the information that must appear in your source list at the end of the essay to avoid this inconvenience.
As she works, Audrey is careful to limit her notes to information clearly relevant to her topic and, in so doing, she is beginning to formulate a plan, a structure for her essay.
Tutorial
Progress questions
1 1 When should you do your research for an academic essay you must write?
2 2 What is a call number?
Discussion points
1 1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of searching for information on the internet?
2 2 What advantages do journal articles have over books? Do books have over journal articles?
Practical assignment
1 1 Find the call number of a book written by one of your professors.
2 2 Find the titles of three journals which should contain information relevant to your course of study.
3 3 Find a website which should contain information relevant to your course of study
Study and revision tip
1 1 Check your textbooks for bibliographies, lists of additional readings, lists of related readings, and references. You can often find titles relevant to your area of interest, and your research will be easier if you have to look for a specific book or journal title.
