BHP-150 (Harris & Newman, Spring 2023)

• Use the Advanced Search. Combine your terms with AND, OR, NOT (Boolean searching).
• Truncate your terms with an *
• Use the databases LIMITERS, EXPANDERS, and SUBJECT TERMS.

BOOKS

BOOKS that are collections of essays contain pages, either at the beginning or the end, that list credentials, affiliations, and/or provide a brief bio. Books written by one person may contain information in the beginning or end of a book, or on the book jacket. You may also find information in the "acknowledgements" section or the preface.

ARTICLES

ARTICLES in academic journals and magazines might list the credentials and affiliations of or give a brief bio about the author either at the beginning or end of the article.

Sometimes, contributor information is given in a separate section of the journal, either in the beginning or end pages.  This preforatory or concluding material may or may not be available through the library subscription databases.  To find out whether it is available, click on the "source" link in the full citation to open up the journal record. Click on the year, volume, and issue for your citation.  All the contents of the journal should be listed there.

You might also be able to get this information by visiting the publisher's web site and by looking in that volume and issue.  While articles may not be available for free through publishers on the regular Web, contributor information is often available.

To use our example for Hypatia (below), we find that contributor biographical information is not available in the article itself (by viewing the PDF). It is available if we browse through the volumes and issues of Hypatia in Academic Search Premier.  Also, if we go to the publisher's web site , we find that there is a separate section called "Notes on Contributors," which comes at the end of the journal. 

If you want more information on the author, Google him or her to see what you can find! It may be helpful to put their name in quotes and include any institutional affiliations.

Is your item an article, a book, or a book chapter?  Is it in a magazine, newspaper, or an academic journal?  What kinds of articles does the journal publish?

The citation information in the library databases will tell you. (The example below uses Academic Search Premier as an example; other databases vary.)

You can search the journal title under Journals and click the title of the journal to learn more about it.

1. Icons in the result list next to the citation should tell you what you are looking at, but you can click on the article title to go the full citation, where you can learn more information.

2. This brings you the full record view, where you can see your "document type" (article), subject terms, an abstract (summary), and the ISSN (international standard serial number) of the journal, a unique number used to identify it worldwide.

To learn more about the "source" itself, click on the title (or in some cases [journal detail] at the end of the "Source" line.) From the intial results screen, we already know it is an academic journal.  But is it peer-reviewed?  What topics does it publish?  Click on the title of the "source" to find out.

3. This is the record for the source "Hypatia," the journal in which the article above was published. We learn that this is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes on feminist philosophy.

4. If we click on the publisher link, we are taken to the journal's home page, where we can learn even more about it, if we like, such as its aims and scope.

• Is this an article from a peer-reviewed journal?

• Is this a popular or a scholarly source?

• What type of magazine or journal do I have?

Ulrichsweb can answer your question!

The Rider University Libraries subscribes to a database called Ulrichsweb that gives "detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals (also called serials) of all types: academic and scholarly journals, e-journals, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more."

You can search by journal title, keyword, ISSN number, and subject area.

Below is the record for a journal called Marvels & Tales.  This record tells you that Marvels & Tales is an academic or scholarly journal that is peer-reviewed. 

Also, click on the website link to go to the journal or magazine's home page, where you can learn more information about it!

Harris & Newman

BHP 150

Annotated Bibliography and Research Narrative

Due: Mon., Apr. 10th

The first step of our research project will involve gathering and exploring ideas before we begin writing the research paper draft. While your 6-8-page research paper will be designed to make and support an original thesis, or argument, for a reader, the annotated bibliography and research narrative will offer insight into how you are developing these ideas as a writer. Doing this assignment before writing the final paper, and allowing yourself to think through your ideas and get feedback from the class as you write, is much more likely to result in a more interesting and successful final research draft. To this end, you will submit both an annotated bibliography and research narrative before composing the final paper.

I. Annotated Bibliography

The annotated bibliography component of this assignment serves two central purposes: 1) This component allows you to both gather, summarize, evaluate, and think about how you might use your secondary sources in your final paper; and 2) This component demonstrates to your reader that you have conducted extensive research into your project and that you can effectively summarize and evaluate the material you have found as well as using it to develop your own ideas. To this end, you will present three relevant scholarly sources you have found, read, and taken notes on.

Each of your three paragraph entries on these sources should be structured as follows:

--Citation in MLA, APA, or Chicago as it would appear on a “Works Cited” page or Bibliography;

--Context of the source: Where was the source published? Who is its author? Who is its audience?;

--Brief summary of the source: What is the central thesis or argument of the source in a few sentences?

--Explanation of how the source connects to your research question(s). Does the source narrow,  expand, or change your question? How might you use this source in your research paper?

II. Research Narrative

The research narrative component of this assignment will narrate (using first-person “I”) the research journey you have undertaken thus far in finding and exploring the sources included in the annotated bibliography. The research narrative will allow you to process and develop your ideas for the final paper as well as to get feedback on their growth and direction. This 3-4-page (750-1,000 word) paper written in standard formatting should be constructed as follows:

--The introduction paragraph should offer your initial research question or questions and explain your motivation for wanting to explore this question; 

--Your body paragraphs should be focused on the major transformations in your ideas, your major frustrations, and/or your major discoveries through the research process as you explore your question;

--Your conclusion paragraph should offer a working thesis for your final paper and explain why this thesis would be interesting to a reader.