GSTR 310: Broadhead (fall 2020)

What is a monograph?

A book, usually by a single author, which addresses one topic or area

What is an anthology or edited work?

A book in which several authors contributed pieces to a larger work. You know you have one when you look at the table of contents and each chapter is by a different author

**********      A special note related to Covid-19:      *************

For the fall of 2020, in the interest of everyone's continued safety, we ask that students do not travel to the library's third floor to retrieve books.

We ask that you instead request books that you want to check out by sending a list of the titles you need to the Circulation Desk at: circdesk@berea.edu.

If you are on campus, the books will be pulled and checked out to you, for you to pick up at the Circulation Desk.

If you are off-campus, we will be glad to mail them to your home at no cost to you. 

How do you find them?

For monographs:

1. Look in BANC (the library catalog) using the keywords (or essential words) in your research question or thesis to search
2. Limit your results to "circulating books" or "ebooks"

For anthologies/edited works:

1. Do the same as above, but add the word edited to your search. Using the phrase edited after your keywords will make sure the catalog only brings back anthologies.

A classmate of yours asked how to find ebooks, as well as how to find anthologies and monographs in the catalog. This short video explains the process:

To ensure you retrieve periodicals when you search, limit your search results to "magazines" or "newspapers"

To ensure you retrieve scholarly, peer-reviewed articles when you search, limit your search results to "scholarly" and "peer-reviewed"

What is a reference work?

A book (such as a dictionary, encyclopedia, handbook, etc.) intended primarily for consultation rather than for consecutive reading. Usually, these contain short, fact-driven entries.

How do you find reference works?

Performa a simple BANC search using your keywords and then limit to "Reference Collection" 

- OR -

Use a database of reference books, such as Gale Virtual Reference, linked to below

What are academic websites?

A website created by an academic institution (or their faculty) that addresses specific areas of research. This is NOT the same as a peer-reviewed article found in an online database.

How do you find these sites?

Use Google's Advanced Search Feature to limit your results to only academic sites. Search for sites ending in the extension ".edu"

Another option for reliable electronic resources is streaming scholarly videos. The database below is like a scholarly Netflix, full of reliable documentaries.

Primary sources in the Humanities (history, literature, religion) focus on original documents or accounts contemporary to a specific event or an individual’s life. Terms such as “eyewitness” or “firsthand” are also commonly used to describe these sources. Autobiographical accounts written at a later date are also considered primary sources. Letters, diaries, journal entries, public records as well as contemporaneous newspapers articles offer solid examples of this type of primary source. Fictional works such as short stories or novels written during that specific time period constitute primary documents, too.

In the Arts (art, dance, music, theatre) primary sources are as diverse as the various disciplines in the category. They may include paintings, sculpture, prints, performances, video or audio recordings, scripts, or musical scores.

Examples include:

• Diaries or journals (published or unpublished)
• Letters, correspondence or other personal communications
• Public documents such as deeds, marriages license or certificates
• Newspapers and weekly newsmagazines (offering contemporaneous reporting of events)
• Radio and television transcripts and wire reports
• Speeches in print or audio formats
• Court cases
• Legislative reports, bills and laws
• Census data
• Government Documents
• Maps
• Art works such as paintings, prints or photographs
• Artifacts or specimens
• Interviews or oral histories
• Works of literature such as fiction, poetry or drama
• Statistics including opinion polls
• Sacred Scriptures

Sources: