Preresented the paper at the workshop at History Dept. BHU, 2017

1. Literature Search, Plagiarism and Referencing in
Social Sciences with special reference to History
Literature
By
Dr R.N. Mohanta
Librarian (Selection Grade)
Vasanta College For Women
(Admitted to the Privileges of BHU)
Rajghat Fort, Varanasi
rnmohanta69@gmail.com

2. Follow these steps before starting your research.
Choose the right
research question
Do a literature
search

3. Research Problems
Problem may be reflected in the title / topic.
The problem must not be answerable by Yes or No.
Guidelines to help you find the right Research Problem
 Read existing literature in the topic of the problem.
 Identify current problems in your area of interest.
 Identify research gaps.
 Think about these problems/gaps.
 Consult your advisor/supervisor before choosing a research
question.
 Check the practicability of your idea.

4. Most topics are started with too broad to be useful research paper.
If you consider a broad topic, it will be superficial .
Consider this illustration
If your topic is narrow, you can deal with it in depth. If your topic
is broad, you will deal with it only in a shallow way.

5. Verification of the Topic
After selecting the problem and the research topic duplication of the work
selected should be checked and verified through various National and
International tools. Some of them are:
 University News, Departments in the University sites can be checked for
Research in progress and also completed research.
 Dissertation Abstract, Indian Dissertation Abstract, Networked Digital
Library of Theses and Dissertations(NDLTD), INFLIBNET’s database
of thesis i.e. Shodhganga and Sodhgangotri, IndCat: Online Union
Catalogue of Indian Universities, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses-
UK & Ireland, Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD.org)
should be checked to avoid duplication before finalizing any topic of
research.

6. Literature Search
Literature Search is an attempt to identify, locate, and synthesize completed
research reports, articles, books, and other materials about the specific
problems of a research topic.
 Must be organized to cover specific problem.
 Must take all the evidences about the problem with the author’s
experiences.
 As much as possible the latest published materials should be
included and old published materials may be excluded.
 It must be related to your topic.
 At the end of this part you must have a statement how this old
published material helps the researcher in their current study and
relate it to your study.

7. How to find Information
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
 Primary sources are the sources which report the research results from the
grassroots level or from the field/ laboratory etc. e.g. Diaries, Interviews,
Letters, Govt. Report, Proceedings of Meetings and Conferences,
Survey Research (such as market surveys and public opinion polls) etc.
 Secondary sources are based on primary sources and contain information
from primary sources in a more systematic manner from a broader
perspective. e.g. Indexes (Social Science Citation Index), Abstracts,
Bibliographies, Journal Articles, Monographs etc.
 Tertiary Sources are distillations and collections of primary and
secondary sources. e.g. Bibliography of bibliographies, Almanacs,
Encyclopedias, Dictionaries etc.
Surf over the Internet
 Pay attention to domain name extensions (.edu, .gov, .org) as these tend
to be more reliable. Be selective of .com sites. Learn how to evaluate
sites critically and to search effectively on the Internet.

8. Steps in Searching
Step 1: Formulate the Keyword
Step 2: Use of Boolean Operators
Step 3: Using Truncation
Step 4: Field Searching
Step 5: Refining your search results

9. Online Search Strategies
Limiters
Many databases and search engines allow you to limit searches
to specific criteria such as file format i.e. .pdf, .jpg etc.,
particular year, and language .
Keywords Search Results
Indian History 37,60,00,000
Indian History 1526-1725 118
Indian History 1526-1725.pdf 35
Indian History.jpg 2,93,00,000
Indian History in Hindi 2,29,00,000

10. Searching Strategies
There are some searching strategies which help to refine the
searching result.
Advanced searching Strategy
Truncated Searching Strategy
Advanced searching Strategy
Keywords Venn Diagram Mathematical Sign
History AND Culture ∩ (Intersection)
History OR Culture U (Union)
History NOT Culture H-C

11. Truncated Searching Strategy
Truncation, also known as stemming, uses a character such as asterisk
(*) or question mark (?) at the end of a word, which allows you to search
for a root form of a word and pick up any ending.
Example: typing Hist* will find History, Historian, Historiography etc.
Wildcard Symbols
Wildcard symbols can be typed in place of a letter or letters within a
keyword if you are not sure of the spelling or if there are different forms of
the root word.
Example: wom?n will find both women and woman.
Some search engines, such as Yahoo! and Google, bide fault use
truncation without you having to type a truncation symbol.

12. Plagiarism
A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is
presented as being your own work; to steal and pass off (the ideas or
words of another) as one's own; to use (another's production) without
crediting the source.
All of the following are considered Plagiarism:
 Showing someone else's work as ones own work.
 Copying words or ideas from someone else’s work without giving
credit.
 Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.
 Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation.
 Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without
giving credit.
 Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the
majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

13. Types of Plagiarism
• Full Plagiarism: Full plagiarism , where the content is copied
likewise is very high. The reference/citation are not provided.
• Half Plagiarism: It is the technique where in the original text is
reframed either by oneself or by using any translation service.
• Self Plagiarism: In self plagiarism the same context publishing
in different media. Author republish the same research paper in
more than one media either likewise of slight changes in the titles.

14. Intentional Plagiarism
Intentional Plagiarism is buying or copying papers. It
includes
 Copying a friend’s work.
 Copy and pasting a webpage to submit as your own.
 Ordering and downloading a paper.
 Buying or borrowing papers.
 Cutting and pasting blocks of text from electronic sources
without documenting.
 Web publishing without permissions of creators.

15. Unintentional Plagiarism
 Careless paraphrasing.
 Paraphrasing a source without citing it.
 Patchwork plagiarism.
 Poor documentation.
 Quoting excessively.
 Failure to use your own “voice”.

16. Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism
 Use your own words and ideas.
 Give credit for copied, adapted, or paraphrased material.
 Beware of “common knowledge.”
 Attribute references.
 Describe all sources of information.
 Give acknowledgments.
 Paraphrase the original, attributed work.
 Avoid self-plagiarism by taking permission from the publisher of
the previous article authored by you.
 Obtain permission for use of published drawings or other
illustrations.
 Never use special words or phrases without properly quoting and
citing them.

17. Sources that need to be cited
• Print-Sources: Books, Periodicals, Theses,
Dissertations, Conference Proceedings, Pamphlets,
Charts, Statistics, Maps, Direct quotations, Summaries,
Results of others’ research etc.
• E-Resources: Internet, Online Databases, and many
other types of material. When credit is properly
attributed, you reduce the chance of plagiarizing.

18. Sources that don’t need to be cited
You don’t need to provide references for
 Common knowledge or facts: this does not mean you
can copy from texts word-for-word.
 Your own arguments and original ideas (but you
must ask for permission to use part/all of previously
submitted material).

19. Plagiarism Detection
To prevent plagiarism, software tools are developed that are
referred to as anti-plagiarism software. There are various
anti-plagiarism tools, most popular being Turnitin and
Urkund.
To name a few other Anti-plagiarism Tools widely available
on the Web are:
AntiPlagiarism 1.0 http://wareseeker.com/Business-
Finance/antiplagiarism-1.0.zip/317091
Article Checker http://www.articlechecker.com
Plagiarism Checker http://www.plagiarismchecker.com
Plagiarism Detector http://www.plagiarism-detector.com
Urkund http://www.urkund.se
Viper https://www.scanmyessay.com

20. Referencing or Citation
 Referencing or citation is the practice of systematically
indicating the origins of thoughts, ideas, knowledge, or
words that one uses to author a report, essay, article, speech,
book, website, or other work.
 Referencing is closely linked to academic ethics and is a sort
of tribute to the past works and a reflection of the sources
that the researcher has consulted.

21. Reasons for Referencing
 To trace the origin of ideas
 To validate an argument
 To spread knowledge
 To indicate appreciation
 To show influences
 To avoid plagiarism

22. Places where Referencing is essential
 At the time of using tables, statistics, diagrams,
photographs and other illustrations .
 When describing or discussing a theory, model or practice
associated with a particular author or source.
 When using a source to give weight or credibility to an
argument.
 When giving emphasis to a particular theory, model or
practice.
 When there is need to inform your reader of direct
quotations.
 When paraphrasing another author’s work, or summarizing
a prevailing idea.

23. Standards of Referencing
 APA stands for “American Psychological
Association” and comes from the association of the
same name.
 MLA Modern Language Association of America
 Chicago manual of style for referencing .
 IEEE style
 Indian Standards Institution (now Bureau of
Indian Standards) prepared a standard in the year
1963. Its revision was done in the year 1978 (IS: 2381
- 1978

24. APA Format
Books
Author’ last name, first initial.
(Publication date). Book title.
Additional information. City of
Publication: Publishing company.
Allen, T. (1974). Vanishing wildlife of
North America. Washington , D.C.:
National Geography Society. pp.56-
59.
Searles , B. and Last M. (1979). A
Reader’s Guide to Science Fiction.
New York: Facts on File, Inc. pp.46-
49.
Ibid., p.6.
Allen, op.cit., p.39
APA Format
Journal Article
Author’ last name, first initial.
(Publication date). Article title.
Periodical title, volume number (issue
number if available),inclusive pages.
Vickrery, Amanda (1993). Golden age
to separate spheres? A review of the
categories and chronology of English
women's history. The
Historical Journal, 36(2), pp. 383-414.

25. APA Format
Websites/Web Page
Author’name, last initial. (Publication date).
Title of document [Format description].
Retrieved from http://URL
Freakonomics. (2010, October 29). E-ZPass is a
life-saver (literally) [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/
10/29/e-zpass-is-a-life-saver-literally/

26. Digital Library and Web
Archaeological Survey of India
(ASI)
www.asi.nic.in/
Digital library.com
http://digilibraries.com/ebook/the-french-
revolution
World History connected
http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.ed
u/
Bibliographic Index
IBSS: International Bibliography of
the Social Sciences
http://www.proquest.com/libraries/academic/
databases/ibss-set-c.html
Art and Humanities Index
http://ip-
science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/publist_ah.p
df
Power Point
Power Point Palooza http://www.pptpalooza.net/
Slide share http://www.slideshare.net/
Open Access Resources for History

27. Books /Encyclopaedia
E-Books Directory http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/details.php?ebook=6832
E-Book Archive https://archive.org/details/historyofindia00delarich
Bookrix https://www.bookrix.com/books;history,id:21.html
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) http://sanskritdocuments.org/scannedbooks/asiallpdfs.html
Encyclopaedia of World History
http://ghswhite.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/4/7/13471366/volu
me_i_-_the_ancient_world_prehistoric_eras_to_600_ce.pdf
Encyclopaedia of India
http://vedicilluminations.com/downloads/Academic%20Ge
neral/Encyclopedia%20of%20India/Gale%20Group%20En
cyclopedia%20of%20India%20Vol%201.pdf
Journals
Journal of History And Social
Sciences [JHSS]
http://jhss.org/
Springer Open https://link.springer.com/journal/40309
Asian Culture and History
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ach/about/editori
alteam
Culture & History Digital Journal
http://cultureandhistory.revistas.csic.es/index.php/culturean
dhistory/article/view/83/296
World History Matter http://worldhistorymatters.org/
Journal of Social Sciences
http://www.krepublishers.com/journalofsocialsciences.html

28. Dissertations and Thesis
Australasia Digital Thesis Program http://adt.caul.edu.au/
Caltech THESIS: A Caltech Library
Service
http://thesis.library.caltech.edu/
DART-Europe E-theses Portal http://www.dart-europe.eu/
Digital Commons @ McMaster
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissert
ations/
Diva: an Academic Archive Online http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/search.jsf
DRUM : Digital Repository at the
University of Maryland
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/
Mahatma Gandhi University : Online
Theses Library
http://www.mgutheses.org/
PQDT Open http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#
Shodhganga http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/

29. Online Advanced Search to refine the Search Result

30. Thank You