Research on Lang & Ling 2009

Doing Research on Language & Linguistics: An Introduction

Outline
New to research on English Language materials? Here are the topics that will be covered:
Interpreting references
Research process
Boolean operators & search statements
Using databases
Plagiarism & citation
Library services

Interpreting References

Interpreting References
First things first. Can you interpret your reading list or the references at the end of a book or journal article?
Perhaps you can interpret a book reference. But what about references to other materials?
Note: if appears, check out the note at the bottom of the same page.
see powerpoint notes

Interpreting References: Journal Article authors article title Herring, S. C., & Paolillo, J. C. (2006). Gender and genre variation in weblogs. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 10 (4), 439-459. year journal title volume (issue) pages see powerpoint notes

Interpreting References: Book Chapter authors book chapter title Smith, L. E., & Cecil L. N. (2006). World Englishes and issues of intelligibility. In B. B. Kachru, Y. Kachru, & C. L. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of world Englishes. (pp. 428-447). Malden, MA: Blackwell. year publisher book title pages editors see powerpoint notes

To Google or Not to Google
If you have an assignment to complete or thesis to write, can you use Google or Wikipedia?
As initial research tools, they are usually fine. But outdated pages and broken links are common problems, and you can seldom be sure whether the information is accurate and authoritative .
To do ‘proper’ research, you should be using authoritative sources which can be found in the library, either in print (e.g. books & journals) or electronic format (e.g. e-resources).

Research Process

The Research Process
The typical research process looks like this:
Your topic Break down your topic into concepts List keywords from concepts Construct search statement from your keywords Search for materials such as books & articles. Use LINC & databases. Check if they are relevant Locate the materials in the library Find more sources by using references in the sources you have located Do you have sufficient sources for your assignment? Complete your assignment START HERE YES NO see powerpoint notes

Example of Research Topic
Topic: Language planning and the use of Singlish in Singapore
concept 1: singlish
concept 2: language planning
Consider synonyms when searching LINC or databases, eg:
Singlish = Singapore English
language planning = language policy

Boolean Operators & Search Statements

Boolean Operators: AND, OR AND OR Singapore AND language planning Singlish OR Singapore English language planning OR language policy
AND narrows your search & is usually used for unrelated terms
OR broadens your search & is usually used for synonyms

Boolean Operators: Asterisk, ( )
Use asterisk * for variant forms of a word
eg. educat* = educate, education, educational…
Use ( ) for grouping words
eg. (planning OR policy) AND language= language planning OR language policy

Creating a Search Statement
Singlish & language planning
in Singapore
Singlish, Singapore English search statement: (singlish OR singapore english) AND (language planning OR language policy) topic keywords keywords language planning, language policy see powerpoint notes

Using Databases

LINC+/LINC vs. Databases
Use LINC+/LINC to search for resources in the library’s collection, i.e. books, journals, audio-visual materials, theses, etc.
Use databases when you have a topic and want to search for journal articles (or book reviews, conference proceedings, etc). Most databases only provide citations & abstracts, but not the full-text articles.

Accessing Databases or, select from this list of major databases e.g. MLA click here to browse by title, subject, type and location

Databases for English Language
Specialised databases
CSA Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
MLA International Bibliography
General databases
Humanities Abstracts
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (via Web of Science)
Expanded Academic ASAP
Jstor (full-text articles but back issues only)
Factiva (full-text newspaper articles from 1980s)
PERIND (articles on Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei & ASEAN)

Database in Action #1: LLBA type llba in this box type your search statement here click on title of article or ‘View record’ for more information citation title of source, which is a journal explore the useful features

Journal record in LINC
Now that you have a citation to an article which you are interested in, check LINC to find out whether NUS Libraries has the journal.
see powerpoint notes some vols in Bound Journals some vols in Closed Stacks volumes available links to full text latest issue received In current Journals search for specific volume or year click for listing of more volumes

Database in Action #2: Factiva
You may need to look for newspaper articles. You can use either Factiva or LexisNexis Academic .
When searching Factiva or LexisNexis Academic, remember to use keywords which are likely to be found in the newspaper of your choice. It is rare to find jargon such as ‘language planning’ and ‘sociolinguistics’ in the newspapers!
For a guide on Factiva, check out
http://www.brainshark.com/brainshark/vu/view.asp?pi=44319

Database in Action #2: Factiva click on Factiva click on search builder 1. type your keywords here 2. select date or choose all dates 3. search for Straits Times and select the correct newspaper by clicking on it 4. click on run search click on title to view full article click within the boxes, then select an icon to view selected articles, email, print or save this is how an article looks

Troubleshooting Your Search Results
When searching databases, you may encounter:
too many results  use more keywords
too few results  add synonyms
too many irrelevant results  exclude keywords that are
too general
no results  use more general keywords, reduce number of keywords or redefine your research topic
Quite often, you’ll need to refine your keywords through some trial and error.
If you need help, check with your professor or ask a librarian ! 

Plagiarism & Citation

Plagiarism
Passing off someone else’s ideas as your own
To avoid plagiarism:
Jot down your sources
Put all direct quotes in quotation marks, e.g.
“ Both words and images can be evocative in their own ways and independent of each other” (Nikolajeva & Scott, 2006, p. 2)
Acknowledge the source even when you paraphrase, e.g.
Vietnam is one of the region’s fastest growing economies (Rogers, 2008)
Create a reference section, e.g.
Nikolajeva, M., & Scott, C. (2006). How picturebooks work. New York: Routledge.

Citation
Why cite?
back-up your arguments
acknowledge intellectual debt
show the research done
help readers verify your claims

Citation Styles
Style sheet for American Psychological Association (APA)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/apastyle.pdf
Style sheet for Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
http://www.lsadc.org/info/pubs-lang-style.cfm
Style sheet for Modern Language Association (MLA)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/
Using EndNote to import references
http://libpweb1.nus.edu.sg/lion/e/endnoteGuide.html

Library Services

Materials Not Found in Library
Request the library to purchase new books : subject to relevance to NUS’ teaching & research needs and availability of funds
Request for Document Delivery Service (DDS): honours and graduate students only
For both services, go to the library portal at www.lib.nus.edu.sg , click on login at the top left corner and click on e-forms.

Need Help? Phone: 6516-2028 Email: [email_address] -for queries on English Language [email_address] -for general queries Walk in: Information desk @ Central Library Level 5

Research on Lang & Ling 2009

by NUS Libraries on Aug 18, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 6

Statistics

Research on Lang & Ling 2009 Presentation Transcript

http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg	4
http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg	1
http://www.slideshare.net	1