Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
LIBRARY AND DATABASE RESEARCH
Library research has come a long way since just a few years ago, before computers and
search engines became entrenched in our vocabulary and culture. It wasn't that long ago
that your local college library did not even have a computer, possibly in your lifetime and
certainly in your parents' lifetimes. In the past, the intrepid researcher had to take a physical
trip to the library to review the literature. Today, however, you can easily search your
library's holdings from anywhere in the world, given an Internet connection. You are prob-
ably already somewhat familiar with this from having to search for topics and articles as an
undergraduate. However, there is always more to learn about the search process that will
help you with locating the information you seek.
Your first step should be to take a trip to the library. While searching for articles from the
comfort of home is certainly a convenience, you need to familiarize yourself with the actual
physical building. Online databases and catalogs are fantastic resources, but they do not
contain everything ever written. There is a significant amount of work in print that has not
been digitized (and may never be digitized), such as theses, dissertations, certain topics,
etc. You can expect articles and some chapters published after 2000 or so to be online. For
anything earlier than that, it will be dependent on the source.
When doing your literature review search and later write-up, keep in mind that it will infre-
quently be necessary or appropriate to cite sources that are 50 years or older. Circumstances
when this would be important include if you are doing a comprehensive historical literature
review, if the most recent publication on your question happens to be decades old (unusual),
or if you are making a particular point or stating when something historically first appeared in
the literature. Situations in which it would not be appropriate to cite decades-old sources
would include if you need citations for recent applications of certain methods or theory, or
if you need to reference the most updated information for a given topic. For most projects
in skeletal biology, relevant literature will be available that is less than 10 or 15 years old.
For example, if your topic is “sex estimation from the humerus,” you may include the oldest
reference on sexing from the skeleton or from the humerus for historical background, but you
will focus on the most recent literature that your study uses as its starting point.
Take advantage of having access to librarians, who have bachelor's or master's degrees in
library science. They are experts in cataloging and successfully searching for information.
University libraries have subject librarians, who specialize in knowing about publications and
search engines for specific disciplines. Find out who the subject librarian is for anthropology
and go meet that person. Their job is to keep up to date on the latest resources in the field and
buy them for the library when applicable. They will be the most knowledgeable person on
campus with regard to which databases have articles relevant to skeletal biology. If you are at
a school without subject librarians, go talk to one of the general librarians. Part of their job is
to help students and faculty with their information search. They can guide you in the right direc-
tion with regard to your particular literature review. If searching online databases and catalogs is
completely new to you, find out if the library has a free workshop on how to use its resources. It
most likely does. Take advantage of it. The librarymay also offer freeworkshops on topics such as
thesis and dissertation document formatting, and using software such as SPSS or Photoshop .
Begin to familiarize yourself with searching the library's catalog. From a computer inside the
library, go to “catalog” and take the time to read the “help” file. Even if you are already familiar
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