serious blog is SERIOUS

How to get an overview of a discipline

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Use Google to find the major associations for your field. Try searching for:

association "name of field"

Often the major associations in your field will have its' own journal, which will give you a starting point for compiling a list of journals to follow.

Use Google Books to find overviews of your field. Try searching for the following:

"name of field" history
"name of field"reader
"name of field"overview
"name of field" "critical introduction"

Related: How to find a Journal that covers [insert specific topic in field of literature studies here]
If you are looking for journals in an interdisciplinary field, try this search in the major Interdisciplinary databases.

Finding a complete bibliography of a specific text

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:35:00 +0000

Start by searching MLA International Bibliography. Coverage goes from 1926-present. You can click here to see what exactly is covered by MLA. MLA is the most extensive database we have in terms of literature studies. This video has information on how to use some of the advanced search options in MLA

However, no one database indexes all scholarly publications.
On the English guide I would also suggest searching LRC (most useful for biographical information on an author rather then scholarly research) as well as ASC, Project Muse & JSTOR (the largest interdisciplinary databases we have).
Click here to see the complete list of Literature related databases. (So if your text was published in the 18th century, search the 18th century database and so on.)
Think about whether scholars in other disciplines would have written on your text and search those databases as well (for example, if you are writing on Oedipus Rex, search the Classics databases as well)

You can also search WorldCat (either though FirstSearch or Google Books) to see if anyone has published a bibliography of your text. Try searching for bibliography "title of work" "author's name" Click here to see a sample search of bibliographies of Hamlet.
I would also suggest searching for annotated bibliographies in a dissertation databases such as ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

If you are searching for scholarship from journals that have not been digitized, this is a slightly more complicated proposition. You will need to search in FirstSearch WorldC at to see if there are any print indexes available for the time frame you are looking for (ex. Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800: Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth-Century Novelists, Poets, Playwrights, Philosophers, and Other Creative Writers, from the First Published Critical Appraisals to Current Evaluations OR Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism OR Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, etc). If we hold the print index, you can search it for mentions of your text. If we do not, you will need to request that print index though ILL. Keep in mind, if an early review of your text remains significant in the field of literature, it is likely that it will be mentioned in more recent bibliographies.
Print bibliographies can also be useful.

This guide has resources on searching out the textual histories of books, it may have some useful resources.
Please contact me if you have any questions.

Nothing is original.....

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:35:00 +0000

I do love Creative Commons (also, hot pink).
If you are looking for content to re-use without violating copyright, searching CC licensed material is a great way to go.

National Library Week!

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:40:00 +0000

"Yeah, you can get 50,000 Google results on something, but you can also have a librarian who can point you to the right one and that can be incredibly important"
Neil Gaiman

Contact librarians through IM, text, email or phone.....

Hist 3309 (women&work)

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:33:00 +0000

For this project you will need to use a variety of resources.

For general government information on: Switzerland, England, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Greece, and Australia, you can begin with this list of international government webpage s (maintained by Northwestern), the CIA fact book , or the list of UN member countries.
I would also suggest looking at some reference books on your country and on women's history.
Here is the Women's studies guide. I would particularly suggest searching Contemporary Women's Issues. If you are interested in how culture is structured around the workplace and women, take a look at Sociology resources, especially Sociological Abstracts.
In terms of laws and government regulations concerning women in the workplace, take a look at the Political Science guide for legal regulations and at PAIS International and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts for political information.
For historical looks at this topic, take a look at the History guide especially Historical Abstracts
In terms of Statistics, try eurostat or search for the statistics gathering arm of the government you are researching (for example, in the U.S.A it is the census) . You can also search Google for WorldBank statistics

Please contact me if you have any questions!
ETA: all databases will require log on with netID

Looking for (brief) biographical information in regards to film & literature

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:26:00 +0000

If you are searching for articles that contain biographical information:

For literature try the Literature Resource Center(log on with netID required)
For popular culture & film try Pop Culture Universe.(log on with netID required)
A useful public site to search is AllMovie .
For the purposes of citation of a web document "if there is no author, begin the reference with the document title." Click here for the MLA handout.
You can also try searching IMDB, but biographical entries are not always cited, so be careful in using this source. This site is more useful for performance history than biographical information.

If you are searching for books that contain biographical information:

You can search our catalog for books. Type the name of the person you are looking for information on as one of your search terms, and add biography or autobiography as another search term

If you have time for Interlibrary Loan you can also use these search terms in Google Books.

Click here to go to the English Guide
Click here to go to the Film Guide
If you have any questions, please contact me or comment on this post.

Public data on Google (statistics & visualizations!!!!!)

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:04:00 +0000

You can search through publicly available data/statistics on Google!! This is useful because the U.S. government collects A LOT of data in order to enact legislation..

If you go to Google.com and type in [unemployment rate] or [population] followed by a U.S. state or county, you will see the most recent estimates..

Here is a video that explains how to search:

ALSO: World bank data is now available (INTERNATIONAL statistics!!!)

History students can find more statistical resources here and Communication students can find more statistical resources here

ETA: Google now has a Public Data Explorer, now you can create VISUALIZATIONS with the data sets!! Click on this link to see how the visualization on US unemployment was created.

How to research GLOBAL MEDIA: A Systems Analysis of the Media of Selected Countries.

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:15:00 +0000

For this project you will need to use a variety of resources.

Describe your assigned country—its location, people, type of government, economy, and education system.
Here you are looking for the historical background of your assigned country. You can look at the resources on the History subject guide as well as some of our reference resources. I would also suggest looking at the government web sites of your country as well. Here is one directory. Does the government in your country run or regulate the media industry?
Describe the media system of your assigned country: structure of its media--commercial and or non-commercial etc.; type of media--radio, television, film, Internet, newspapers, magazines.
Here you are searching for information on media in your assigned country. Try searching communication databases using a combination of terms such as: [name of your country] and structure and media; or types and media or radio, television, etc. Your professor has given you quite a few search terms to try.

Remember, for articles you search our databases; for books search our catalog.
State whether your assigned country has a constitutional provision for freedom of expression and freedom of the media; are the media expected to support government policies and actions or criticize government policies and actions or a combination of both?
This topic covers both communication and political science. Use the search terms suggested by your professor to search the Communication databases, as well as the Political Science databases. (ETA: This may also include legal information. We have limited resources in regards to legal information. You will probably have to make use of Interlibrary Loan to borrow materials from other libraries on this topic)
Describe any measures (successful or not) by government or civil society organs in your assigned country in the last decade to (a) improve the ability of citizens to engage the media, and (b) limit media freedom.
This topic covers both communication and political science. Use the search terms suggested by your professor to search the Communication databases, as well as the Political Science databases.
Using systems approach, state how the media have positively or negatively impacted the culture, people, politics and economy of your assigned country in the last five years.
Can you clearly define what a 'systems approach' is and how it related to this topic? If not, try looking up the term in a reference resource. Once you have, try searching various databases, focusing your search on scholarly articles or media coverage from the last five years.

Online, FULL text, FREE books! Through Google Books, Project Gutenberg, or Hathitrust

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:13:00 +0000

If you are looking for literary works or primary resources that are in the public domain, you can probably find the full text online at Google Books Advanced Book Search , Project Gutenberg

or Hathitrust

Q: What is Public Domain?

A: Public domain = Not protected by copyright law. Basically, if it is a U.S. government document published at any time, or if it is a text was published in the U.S. before 1923, it is in the Public Domain. Here is a chart that explains it.

Link to video

video & outreach & librarians

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Eric and I were talking about our library and wrote a blog entry on how we think our library is doing in terms of outreach. When you type it all out, we are not doing too badly!

The importance of videos in library outreach and instruction is something that seems to be getting more and more important, with the rise of YouTube as the second most popular search engine as well the likely increase in distance education.

Anecdotal support for the importance of video in libraries (which is point number 4 here):

I have been recognized by students who have seen one of our library videos of their own free will! (Not even in a classroom setting.) They came across our videos when they happened to be doing a YouTube search on 'UT Arlington' or 'UT Arlington libraries.'
This mention of our videos in this post on teaching through video at In the Library With a Lead Pipe.

The University of Texas at Arlington has started a series of “Librarian vs. Stereotype” videos that are engaging and informative while still getting their message across.

What is a Catalog? What is a Database? What kind of resources will you find in each?

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:01:00 +0000

This diagram explains what you will find in our catalog! Clink on image to embiggen.

This diagram explains what you will find in our databases! Click on image to embiggen.

Here is a clickable link to our complete list of databases.

I used bubbl.us to make these digrams, and I really found it useful. Also, Embiggen is totally a word

Why can’t I just search Google or Google Scholar for articles? What does Peer Review or Refereed or Scholarly Article mean? Also: Open Access?

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:39:00 +0000

This video has a really good explanation of why ONLY searching Google or Google Scholar is not the best idea when you are looking for scholarly articles.

Short reason: Copyright issues
Slightly longer explanation: You will miss out on a lot of stuff that is either: not indexed by Google because the publisher said NO!, OR it is indexed by Google but the publisher wants $$ to let you read it.
Longer explanation: Watch the video below.

If you just want to jump to the explanation of what exactly is a scholarly article (also called peer-reviewed or refereed) watch 0:23-1:00 of the video below.

Open Access 101, from SPARC from Karen Rustad on Vimeo.

After watching this video you might say: Wait! This video seems to be implying that the current way of publishing scholarly articles is not the best! Everything should be publicly indexed and available and I should be able to use Google Scholar or some other index to find and read articles! And I would agree with you, that is what it is arguing, but we are so far from that, so for now, use the library databases.

Sometimes you are just not sure how a journal is classified,and you want to double check what kind of journal it is (popular, trade, scholarly, etc) .

Here are some ways to tell if an article is popular or scholarly from UTAustin.
You can also use the Ulrichsweb database to find that information. Search for the journal by title and the results will tell you how that journal is classified (is it peer reviewed or not)

How to find a Journal that covers [insert specific topic in field of literature studies here]

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:46:00 +0000

Go to the MLA International Bibliography which you can find on the English Subject Guide
Watch the video below, try what it says.
If you are having any issues, contact me.

These are not directions on finding the most relevant articles in this database, these are directions on how to use MLA International Bibliography to find out what journals are covering specific topics, and how to find those journals at UT Arlington Library.

Curious abut how to use the Thesaurus, MLA Directory of Periodicals, or Names as Subjects links near the top of MLA International Bibliography? Watch this video!

P.S. Click on the Maximize button to be able to see the full screen!!!

Moving Images Archive = free movies and primary sources online!

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Oh, Archive.org, you are totally non non non heinous. (Note: Use Urban Dictionary at your own peril. It is a really good resource for current slang, but some things, once learned, CAN NEVER BE UNLEARNED. You have been warned.)

Okay, on to the Moving Images Archive -- the amount of content here is pretty incredible from a research perspective -- or even possibly, maybe, the perspective of entertainment. I must admit I cannot really take a look at an ephemeral film and not MST3K* it in my head.

Remember, copyright law is still in effect for most newer releases, but if a film is in the public domain, or it was created by the U.S. government, or if it was released under a Creative Commons license it can be in this archive. (Click here for the FAQ)

Here are just some of the collections (descriptions taken from the site):

Film Noir: "Expressionistic crime dramas of the 40s and 50s: tough cops and private eyes, femme fatales, mean city streets and deserted backroads, bags of loot and dirty double-crossers."

Animation & Cartoons: Contains "classic cartoons from a bygone era, Brick Films made with your favorite building toys, Machinima patched together from video games, or the artful computer animations selected for the 2001 SIGGRAPH competition"

Cultural & Academic Films: "This library of academic and cultural films features collections from the Academic Film Archive and the Media Burn Independent Film Archive, as well as a selection of documentaries created by Dorothy Fadiman." ...and more!

News & Public Affairs: "An analysis of news and public affairs independent from traditional corporate media is available from this diverse video library. From Democracy Now's daily news program, to three days of TV news coverage following the 911 attacks, to Mosaic’s timely clips of Middle East newscasts, to UCSF's Tobacco Industry Videos"

There are also collections focused on: sports, spirituality & religion, arts & culture, computers & technology, home movies, The Prelinger Archives, videogames, youth media...and more.

* Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) was a GENIUS SHOW. We don't have any DVDs of episodes at the library, but we do have an academic text on it! (at least, one of the chapters is on it)

This is one of my favorite MST3K clips that dealt with a ephemeral film. If car commercials were still like this, I might be more interested in cars.

AND! UT Arlington library has EVEN! MORE! resources. Take a look at our Film Studies Guide which lists resources like Pop Culture Universe

WordCat (Specifically, the FirstSearch version, and how to use it to find publisher, translation, etc. information)

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Ok, first you want to go to FirstSearch WorldCat. There are also links to it on the English and Textual Histories guides.

WorldCat is a union catalog - what that means is that not only does it have the records from UTArlington library, it also has the records from many, many other public and academic libraries worldwide (over 32 million records).

FirstSearch refers to the specific interface. There are other ways to access WorldCat (for example there is a free public version) but the directions I am going to give apply specifically to the FirstSearch interface.

Link to video
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Octavia Butler's papers! (and other authors, in CA.)

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:46:00 +0000

This library sounds like it has a really impressive collection of authors papers and manuscripts! They just got Octavia Butler's which should be accessible in about a year. Octavia Butler is one of my favorite science fiction authors, but I can only read so much of her at a time, because it is so well written and sometimes depressing (sort of how I view Battlestar Galactica, though her works are much more internally consistent. Also, I finish books by Butler. I am stuck on season 4.5 of BSG, and apparently I am never, ever going to finish.)

The Huntington Library is in California, so that could be an issue and you have to submit an application but their collections look amazing. They have papers from Jack London, Christopher Isherwood, W.H. Auden, Langston Hughes, and Charles Bukowski. If you can't make it out there, it looks like you can request reproductions here.

NARA Holocaust records online and NARA Ft. Worth

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:57:00 +0000

For the first time ever, over one million Holocaust-related records – including millions of names and 26,000 photos from the National Archives– will be available online.
The collection can be viewed here or here

After October, the Stories section will remain publicly accessible but not the entire archive. After October, you will need to be on a NARA computer to access them (there is a NARA facility in Fort Worth) and then they will become publicly accessible again in five years. See the full press release for details.

I have added these online resources to the Web Resources section of the history guide
My social bookmarking account can be found here

Information on National Archives Southwest Region in Fort Worth, Texas can be found on the Primary Resources Guide under the Government Documents tab

Via h/t framesofref

"Twitter is weird" ....& amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Twitter is weird. Some are using it to defeat dictatorships, and others are using it to tell the world what kind of sandwich they just ate.
Gail Simone

In this case, I think the weird combination of frivolous and important is what makes social media like Twitter amazingly useful in spreading information...or as Ethan Zuckerman puts it

Web 1.0 was invented to allow physicists to share research papers.

Web 2.0 was created to allow people to share pictures of cute cats.
........

With web 2.0, we’ve embraced the idea that people are going to share pictures of their cats, and now we build sophisticated tools to make that easier to do. as a result, we’re creating a wealth of tech that’s extremely helpful for activists. There are twin revolutions going on – the ease of creating content and the ease of sharing it with local and global audiences.

...thus creating what he calls the The Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism .

Another way of explaining twitter...

Open Access Week (October 19-23, 2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:49:00 +0000

Scholarly Communication & Open Access
Originally uploaded by librarianrafia

A UT Arlington Library video made the front page of international Open Access Week website!

Feedback on UT Arlington Librarian vs. Stereotype videos!

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Looke what a Twitter search on 'Librarian Stereotype' brings up!

UT Arlington Library Outreach (YouTube Channel & Facebook)

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:29:00 +0000

Occasionally, after we meet with students we will get feedback like "I wish I had come talked to you sooner" or "I did not know that you helped undergraduates" and so we have talked about ways in which we could reach out to students to say "Hey! We are here for you! Come ask us questions, we love that stuff, for we are librarians!"

We started with the idea of maybe making a facebook fan pag e but we wanted to have something to put on the page. Then we thought of making mini-ad-type videos to show how accessible! and fun! and helpful! librarians can be!

And so, BEHOLD! The UT Arlington Library YouTube channel!

Here are some blogs that have mentioned our videos (positively, even). Yay!

Promoting & Poking Fun @ Your Libary at CogSci Librarian

Librarians vs. stereotypes + Rock Band at Karen Munro, Learning Librarian

Librarian vs. Stereotype at Please Be Quiet

If you have any comments, or you see us mentioned anywhere else let us know!

ETA: (4/19/09) We are also mentioned here and here(in german) at libtab der/die/das Blog des LibraryTable

Library Guide - Communication

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:23:00 +0000

If you would like to integrate a library presence into your department or class web page, I would be happy to provide you with the code for a LibGuides widget. This code will enable you to embed LibGuides content into any web page in the same way you would embed a YouTube video or a chat widget.

I can make adjustments based on:

What color widget box you prefer (blue, gray, orange, etc.)
What size widget box you prefer (small:190 x 270 px, large:400 x 370 px or wide: 500 x 200 px) The example on this page is small: 190 x 270 px
What libguides you want included. Right now it specifically lists the Communication LibGuide, as well as the FAQ and Technology workshops LibGuides, but I can link to all the library LibGuides if you like.

Please click here to see an example of what this would look like on a web page.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to discuss this with you. I also check comments on the blog, so you can also leave a comment here and I will respond.

Library Guide - English

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:40:00 +0000

What color widget box you prefer (blue, gray, orange, etc.)
What size widget box you prefer (small:190 x 270 px, large:400 x 370 px or wide: 500 x 200 px) The example on this page is small: 190 x 270 px
What libguides you want included. Right now it specifically lists the English LibGuide, as well as the FAQ and Technology workshops LibGuides, but I can link to all the library LibGuides if you like.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to discuss this with you. I also check comments on the blog, so you can also leave a comment here and I will respond.

Library Guide - History

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:03:00 +0000

What color widget box you prefer (blue, gray, orange, etc.)
What size widget box you prefer (small:190 x 270 px, large:400 x 370 px or wide: 500 x 200 px) The example on this page is small: 190 x 270 px
What libguides you want included. Right now it specifically lists the History LibGuide, as well as the FAQ and Technology workshops LibGuides, but I can link to all the library LibGuides if you like.

Wikiality

noreply@blogger.com (Rafia!) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:44:00 +0000

I am trying to think of how to make an instructional video that could talk about both the strengths and weaknesses of Wikipedia better then Stephen Colbert, but I am not sure I could be as entertaining.......

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Wikiality

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

Also see:
Wikkilobbying and this interview with the founder of Wikipedia

PRO: Anyone can contribute information! Anyone can edit it!
CON: Anyone can contribute information! Anyone can edit it!

You may have seen "The free online resource Wikipedia is about as accurate on science as the Encyclopedia Britannica, a study shows." Keep in mind, that is ON AVERAGE. At any moment, Stephen Colbert could have called on the Colbert Nation to edit the entry that you are looking at! Perhaps someone who does not like a certain figure has chose to edit the entry to reflect their opinion, rather then verifiable facts. Maybe someone from a company's PR department is editing that company's entry.
ALWAYS CHECK FOR CITATIONS.

It CAN be useful; for example, look at this entry on Census. When you scroll to the bottom, you can see that it is CITED, so you can go look at the articles and government websites that have further information on this topic.

Remember, you might start your research with Wikipedia but you can't end it there! When all is said and done, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and you should not base an entire college research paper on one encyclopedia entry.

ETA:Colbert's Best Wikipedia Moments