LITR11055 Popular Genres

This guide will show you how to conduct a search for resources you can use for your assignments.

It is divided into the following topics:

• Planning your search
• Searching the library catalogue
• Searching online databases

One of the topics for Assessment Item 1 is used as an example throughout this guide:

Lacey (180) suggests that SF ‘has the ‘man of action’ (to resolve narrative conflict)’. Consider the representations of gender roles in SF narratives, with reference to Lacey’s comment that ‘while women [in SF] often fulfil the function of the princess they may at least be granted intellectual credibility by being cast as a scientist’.

Planning your search

Before you begin searching for resources, you need to to spend some time thinking about the topic.

Firstly, try brainstorming what you already know about the topic.

You might like to use concept maps, flow charts, lists or tables to organise your information.

The brainstorming process should make it easier to select keywords you can use in your search.

Your list of keywords should include:

• topic words - words from the assignment topic
  e.g. gender roles, science fiction
   
• synonyms - words with similar meanings
  e.g. gender roles = gender, sex
  e.g. science fiction = sci-fi
   
• related terms - terms related to the topic
  e.g. men = man, male
  e.g. women = woman, female
  
  Also, consider names of texts/films, authors/directors, characters etc. as possible keywords.

Remember to also include:

• spelling variations
   
• plurals
  e.g. man/men
   
• word variants
  e.g. film, films, filmic
   

Searching the library catalogue

To find resources on a particular topic,  perform a keyword search in the Library catalogue:

Example:

This search will return all records containing the phrase science fiction and the word women.
(More information on how to perform a keyword search and a phrase search.)
 

Searching online databases

Journals are an excellent source of current information and research.

The easiest way to find journal articles on a particular topic is to search a database which contains references to journal articles.

There are a number of databases which may prove useful for this course:

Databases vary in the amount of information they provide about particular articles:

• Some will only contain a citation or reference.
• Some will contain an abstract or summary of the article's content.
• Some will contain a link to the full-text article.

If the article you want is unavailable in full-text via the database you're  searching, you can use ArticleLinker to see if the article is available in another database or in hard copy on the Library shelves.