Scholarly vs. PopularDatabases

Frederic MurrayAssistant Professor MLIS, University of British ColumbiaBA, Political Science, University of Iowa

Instructional Services LibrarianAl Harris Library frederic.murray@swosu.edu

Review• Keyword vs. Subject• Boolean• Limiters

Boolean Operators• Connect keywords only• Must be placed between keywords• AND

– Narrows your search• OR

– Expands your search with synonymous terms

• NOT– Excludes words from your search– If used too much, it can work against you!

Class Activity• What’s the Difference?

Periodicals• MAGAZINES

– Popular Info– Audience:

• General Public• Casual Reader

– Purpose:• Hobby• Pleasure• Curiosity

• JOURNALS– Scholarly Info– Audience:

• Researcher• Professional Who

Needs to Stay Up-to-Date

– Purpose:• Goal-Driven

– Research Paper– Certification,

Tenure– Job Requirement

Difference Between Scholarly and Popular PeriodicalsPOPULAR MAGAZINES

• USUALLY SOMEWHAT SLICK AND ATTRACTIVE IN APPEARANCE

• RARELY CITE SOURCES. INFO. IS USUALLY SECONDARY, REPORTED FROM SOURCE

• ARTICLES SHORT, WRITTEN IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE AND FOR A MINIMAL EDUCATION LEVEL

• USUALLY LOT OF ADVERTISING AND PICTURES

• PAGINATION RESTARTS IN EVERY ISSUE

SCHOLARLY JOURNALS• HAVE A SOBER, SERIOUS LOOK

• ALWAYS CITE THEIR SOURCES IN FOOTNOTES/BIBLIOGRAPHIES

• ARTICLES WRITTEN BY A SCHOLAR OR RESEARCHER “HORSE’S MOUTH”

• PEER-REVIEWED BY SCHOLARS

• LANGUAGE OF JOURNAL ASSUMES SOME SCHOLARLY BACKGROUND ON THE PART OF READER

• ADVERTISING IS SPECIALIZED TO THAT DISCIPLINE

• PAGINATION IS CUMULATIVE

Take a Short Tutorial

Databases• A large, regularly updated file of

digitized information related to a specific subject or field.

• This is where we find Journal Articles

• This is where most of your research will take place

Searching in Databases• Keywords with Boolean • Subject terms from thesaurus• Limiters: date, peer reviewed,

geography, and full text

Article SourcesGeneral Article and subject databases

Article Databases

JSTOR• JSTOR is a full-text scholarly

journal archive. JSTOR specializes in making available the back issues of journals in a wide variety of humanities and social science disciplines.

JSTOR• Limit by Language – English

• Limit by Publication Type – Journal Article

• Narrow by discipline – History

Exercise• Academic Search Complete

Worksheet

• Topic: global warming

Questions?

• Contact me:– Frederic Murray

• 774-7113• frederic.murray@swosu.edu

Thank You