Research Methods Finding and Evaluating Sources

Transcription

1 Research Methods Finding and Evaluating Sources I. Introduction A. Since PhD research must be comprehensive, it is essential to know how to find all relevant sources. B. You must know how to evaluate the quality of sources. C. You need an organizational system to manage the information overload. II. Types of sources A. Primary: the original works you are studying 1. Historians have 2 primary sources of data: original documents and archaeological artifacts. 2. Primary source documents in biblical studies: a. Bible, Intertestamental Jewish literature, ancient Greek or Latin religious and secular writings b. Church Fathers: primary source for Church history; secondary sources on Bible interpretation/theology. B. Secondary: books and articles that analyze primary sources, written primarily for researchers 1. in biblical studies: commentaries, journal articles, scholarly monographs, anthologies, papers presented at professional societies (SBL, ETS, IBR), Greek/Hebrew lexicons and grammars 2. Uses of secondary sources a. keep up with current research b. point to additional primary sources (e.g. ancient Greek or Jewish religious literature) c. provide arguments and evidence to support your case d. learn other points of view (you must refute the claims of those who disagree with you) e. use as a model for how to analyze data and present an argument f. develop a working bibliography C. Tertiary: summary works written for non-specialists, based on secondary sources. 1. Introductory overviews, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries (Bible and general), popular books ( popular = written for a general audience), magazines (Christianity Today, Leadership), newspapers 2. Uses of tertiary sources a. Provide a general introduction to a subject. This preunderstanding makes it easier to understand the technical literature. b. Read some Bible encyclopedia articles when selecting a topic. c. Gives a basic bibliography on the broad subject III. Appropriate sources for biblical research A. Mainly focus on primary sources (original texts) and secondary sources (scholarly analyses of the texts) B. Common characteristics of scholarly sources 1. Use technical language (e.g. use of Greek, Hebrew, technical terms; sometimes leaves German or French untranslated) 2. Extensive footnotes and bibliography 3. Discusses alternate views of questions (a popular book will just present one view) 4. Presents evidences for the claims, including views that the author does not agree with 5. Contains many references to primary sources (Bible, Jewish and Graeco-Roman religious literature) 6. May be part of a monograph series (e.g. JSNT) or a dissertation series (e,g, SBL). 7. A collection of essays is usually scholarly. A Festschrift is a collection of essays written in honor of a senior scholar by former doctoral students and colleagues (the title will often say in honor of... ) Copyright 2012 Dr. Harry A. Hahne

2 Research: Finding Sources Page 2 8. The publisher is a strong clue to the academic level of the work and its likely theological orientation. a. Some publishers specialize in scholarly works: (1) University presses (Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, University of Chicago, Sheffield) (2) Fortress, T and T Clark, Sheffield Academic, HarperCollins, Eisenbrauns, E. J. Brill, Society of Biblical Literature, Gerd Mohn. b. The publisher also indicates the likely theological orientation: (1) Zondervan: conservative/fundamentalist Christian, but usually not very scholarly (some important exceptions in their academic series) (2) John Knox: mainline Presbyterian (liberal) (3) Eerdmans: generally scholarly, moderate to fairly conservative (4) Broadman: Southern Baptist, low to moderate scholarship (some exceptions) c. Visit the publisher s Web site to learn about the orientation and specialization ( About link). 9. See and C. For a starting place, consult bibliographies on your general topic area 1. Examples of bibliographies of standard reference books: Barber, Cyril J. and Robert M. Krauss, Jr. An Introduction to Theological Research: A Guide for College and Seminary Students. 2nd ed. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, David R. Steward, The Literature of Theology. A Guide for Students and Pastors. Revised ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, Various topical bibliographies by the Theological Students Fellowship and Institute of Biblical Research (IBR) on Synoptic Gospels, Intertestmental Literature, etc. 2. Examples of specialized NT bibliographies: B. Green & M.C. McKeever, Luke-Acts and New Testament Historiography. IBR Bibliographies. Grand Rapids: Baker, Daniel J. Harrington, The New Testament: a Bibliography. Michael Glazier Books, T.R.F. Longstaff and P.A. Thomas, eds. The Synoptic Problem: A Bibliography, New Gospel Studies. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, Scot McKnight & Matthew C. Williams. The Synoptic Gospels: An Annotated Bibliography. Grand Rapids: Baker, Watson E. Mills. An Index of Periodical Literature for the Study of the New Testament. New Testament Tools and Studies. Leiden: Brill, Stanley E. Porter & Lee M. McDonald. New Testament Introduction. IBR Bibliographies 12. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, Alistair I. Wilson, "New Testament Literature Survey -2000," Themelios 27.1 (2001): Examples of specialized OT bibliographies: George J. Brooke, ed. Society for Old Testament Study Booklist. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001 Simon Gathercole, Devotional Books on the Old Testament: Some Recommended Reading, Themelios 27(3): 2002, Edwin C. Hostetter. Old Testament Introduction. IBR Bibliographies. Grand Rapids: Baker, Elmer A. Martens. Old Testament Theology. IBR Bibliographies. Grand Rapids: Baker, See for some NT and OT bibliographies. 5. Search the Web or Amazon.com for bibliographies on the Internet (e.g. bibliography Gospels ). 6. Once you find one bibliography book in the library, search on the subject category to find others(e.g. the subjects Bible. N.T. Bibliography and Bible. O.T. Bibliography ) and check the library stacks. IV. Organizing bibliographic information A. Before you even go to the library, you should have a strategy for taking bibliographic notes.

3 Research: Finding Sources Page 3 B. Create a working bibliography as you do research 1. Include everything that might even be remotely possible as a source 2. When you see something useful cited in a book or article or in class, create a bibliographic note. C. Method 1: Note cards 1. Create a 3 x 5 card for each bibliographic reference 2. The cards should have: a. author s name (last name first) in the upper left corner, so you can sort the cards b. Full bibliographic details c. [Optional] summary paragraph d. [Optional] Preliminary assessment of usefulness for your research (perhaps a code) e. [Optional] major subjects 3. Advantage: a. portable b. cheap 4. Disadvantages: a. tedious to sort b. may need to see the work again if your writing is not clear c. need to type it later in your bibliography D. Method 2: Word processor document 1. keep a running list in a word processor document 2. advantage: you can cut and paste to your final bibliography 3. disadvantage: difficult to sort, unless you only have the citation without any notes or subjects E. Method 3: Bibliographic database manager 1. Two approaches a. Use any database program (e.g. Access). Create a database with fields for author, title, etc.this is a lot of work to set up. b. Dedicated bibliographic database managers (1) Provide forms ready to fill in. (2) They format bibliographies and citations in most widely used styles, including Turabian. (3) Some add citation commands to your word processor. Just pick a reference and the citation is inserted in your document. (4) They import references from library catalogs and periodical indexes, so you don t even need to type the references! (5) Some allow you to take research notes. 2. Advantages a. Quick to find information. You can search by subjects or any combination of words in the citation and notes. It is easy to find something when you have forgotten what it is called. b. Catalog each item under multiple subjects (solves the dilemma of where to file something). Library Master even lets you classify items by Scripture passages. c. Automatically format footnotes and bibliographies in any style. You don t need to know all the rules for formatting footnotes and bibliographies, because the program knows them. d. Change bibliographic styles easily. If you start out with your dissertation in Turabian style and you later publish it as a book or use part of it for a journal article, the program quickly changes all citations to the publisher s style. e. Reuse bibliographic citations. Type a reference once and cite it in multiple papers or different places in the same paper. f. Import from library catalogs, CD-ROMs and online services. The program can read the records into your personal bibliographic database, saving typing time and ensuring accurate references. g. View information in different ways: Quickly rearrange the way you look at your information, without changing the original data. View in order by subject, author, journal, etc. h. New entries are automatically sorted.

4 Research: Finding Sources Page 4 3. Bibliographic database managers a. Library Master: A sophisticated bibliographic and textual database manager designed especially for students, professors, researchers, librarians and pastors. Unlike most bibliographic programs, it is flexible enough to be used for customized textual databases, including research notes. Creates bibliographies, in-text citations and footnotes in Turabian and hundreds of other styles. It is the only program to format citations in styles used by biblical studies journals and publishers. Design any kind of report. A unique feature lets you classify records by Scripture references and search for a range of references. Very flexible searching. Import from online services, CD-ROMs and library catalogs. (students: $99.95; ; ; Windows, DOS) b. ProCite: A sophisticated dedicated bibliographic database manager, especially designed for librarians. Produces bibliographies in various styles, but offers limited control over report format. Since only limited changes to the database structure are allowed, it is not suitable for nonbibliographic databases (e.g. research notes). (students: $99.95; Windows, DOS, Macintosh) c. EndNote: An easy to use dedicated bibliographic database manager. Produces bibliographies in various styles, but favors scientific styles. A limited number of citations allowed in a document can cause some difficulty with large documents. There is little control of report format, but bibliographic style can be customized. Only limited Boolean searching is allowed. Since only limited changes to the database structure are possible, it is not suitable for non-bibliographic databases. The program is not as powerful as ProCite or Library Master. (students: $99.95; Windows, DOS, Macintosh) F. How to find the bibliographic facts on a source 1. Book a. back of the title page contains publication information b. be careful about dates: (1) The key date is the copyright date of the edition; for older works, the original publication date. (2) There may be many dates, but these are reprint dates (3) Older works may be reprinted by a different publisher, but this date is not as important, unless you want to record it as a reprint date. 2. Journal article a. The Title is the article title b. Author is the author of the article c. The Periodical title, volume and issue are in the front of the journal d. Be sure to record the start and end pages of the article. 3. Article in book a. The main person responsible for the book is an editor b. The author is the author of the article c. The main title is the article or chapter title. d. The book title is the collective title. e. It is a common mistake to record the editor as the author. e.g. in a commentary the chapter on each book of the Bible may be written by a different person. The main name on the title page of the book is the editor. The author of each commentary section is the author of that article. 4. More on this when we discuss footnotes and bibliographies. V. How to find useful sources A. Create a working bibliography 1. When you first encounter a potential source, enter the bibliographic information in your bibliographic database, even if it is of doubtful use. 2. Include the call number and/or physical location, so can find it again. 3. Record the full citation information right away, so you don t have to get the source later.

5 Research: Finding Sources Page 5 B. A suggested basic strategy for finding sources: 1. Search the library catalog and bibliographic indexes. This is most conveniently done at home. 2. Export the matching references from the library catalog and bibliographic indexes to your bibliographic program. Put in your database anything you think might be useful. 3. Print out all or part of the working bibliography sorted by call number to take to the library. 4. As you find books in the library, check things off the list. 5. When you find books in a section, look for other relevant books on the shelf above and below. 6. When you find something new on the shelves, add it to your bibliographic database. C. Gathering sources and doing research is cyclical and recursive: 1. Create a list of potential sources (search library catalogs and periodical indexes, gather from books and journals, etc.) 2. Collect the first batch of sources from the library or online. 3. Take notes on these sources. 4. Set a flag in your database indicating that you have read and taken notes on the source. In Library Master, the Use field is for this purpose. My code system (you can create your own): a. L: looked at (skimmed) b. $: notes taken c. R: read completely d. P: partially read e. C: cited in the paper. f. I: incomplete bibliographic information. 5. When a source refers to another source in a footnote, check your working database and add it if it is not there. These will become the basis of your next round of research. 6. Repeat these steps with any sources that your sources referred to. D. Initial assessment of a work 1. What to do when you see a book or journal article on the shelf in the library a. Do a preliminary estimate of its relevance (see Adler; Turabian 32-34): (1) book: scan table of contents, relevant keywords in subject index, skim introduction, concluding chapter (especially last 6-7 pages), significant authors in name index (key writer on your subject), skim promising chapters. Make sure you have latest edition of book (2) collection of articles: skim editors introduction, table of contents (for key articles); for each relevant article: skim first paragraph, section headings, conclusion (3) For an article, read abstract, introductory paragraph, conclusion, scan the section headings and first paragraph of each section. (4) All this can be done in 5 minutes b. Add a work that seems promising to your bibliographic database, even if you don t know if it will be useful. c. Record a preliminary assessment of the usefulness of a work in your database. d. [optional] Write a brief preliminary note if something significant strikes you or if you want to summarize what the work is about. 2. What to do when you get home a. Add bibliographic information about all potential works that are not in your database. b. Add subject categories for the work to the database (Subjects field in Library Master). This lets you later search only for works on a section of the project you want to write on c. Write a briefly initial summary of the work in your database. This summarizes the impressions gained from your pre-reading of the work. Put this in the Description field in Library Master. E. How to know when you are done collecting sources 1. PhD research must be comprehensive, so you don t want to miss anything important. 2. As collect new references from every source, you will find the same things over again and again. 3. When there are no new sources referred to by your sources, you have saturated the subject.

6 Research: Finding Sources Page 6 4. If you have saturated the English sources you may not be done. Foreign language sources may refer to additional new sources and restart the hunt. a. These may be harder to find, because some may only be available in a European library. b. If it is a seminal work, request it by interlibrary loan from Europe. Allow many months to get it. F. How do you know which are the most important sources? 1. The history of research in scholarly monographs and dissertations shows the most influential players. Get dissertations from interlibrary loan or order a PDF or printed copy from Dissertation Abstracts or UMI. 2. Certain sources will be cited frequently by most scholarly analyses. 3. Names with many pages in the index of a book tend to be the most important. 4. You will find that the same idea recurs in many books and articles. a. The person referred to as the source of the idea tends to be the mover and shaker that came up with the idea or popularized it. b. Some authors will get their ideas from secondary sources who get their ideas from others. Trace the chain of influence to the originator of the viewpoint. c. These originators of new ideas should occupy central mention in your history of research chapter. G. Other tips for finding sources 1. Ask someone who knows you general topic for ideas (professor, a more advanced student). 2. Talk to reference librarians, particularly in the early stages or it you get stuck. 3. Skim specialized references (Bible encyclopedia for bibliography and names of influential thinkers. 4. Search the Internet for bibliographies. 5. Search online and printed indexes to periodical literature (e.g. First Search, Old Testament Abstracts). 6. Look at annotated bibliographies of current research. 7. Look at books on the history of research. Look for works by the influential thinkers on your subject. 8. Look at the history of research chapter in dissertations (usually first or second chapter) 9. Some scholarly commentaries have bibliography for each pericope of the Bible (e.g. Anchor; Word). 10. Search library catalog a. Subject headings. Consult the librarian for tips on the Library of Congress subjects. b. Keywords finds the word in any field (subject, title, abstract). Boolean searches can cut down on false hits and save time, but may miss some works. c. Consider alternative ways to ask the same question. Search synonyms (e.g. clergy, pastor, minister, priest, rector). d. Look for other works by the most influential thinkers on your topic. e. Once you find one good book, click on subject headings in the catalog and find other books. 11. Browse the library shelves. When you find a good book, look on same shelf, one above and below. 12. Look at the bibliography in recent scholarly books. 13. Check the index of a good scholarly book for authors with more than 4 page references in the book 14. For every useful source, mine the footnotes for new sources. 15. Read outside the exact topic a. General books on the broad field (e.g. Apostle Paul, Post-exilic prophets, Old Testament Theology). They can suggest ideas and sometimes contain useful references. b. Read books that are lateral to your subject. H. Once you have exhausted sources available in your school library, repeat the process with other major research libraries. 1. You cannot limit your research to what is available at your school. 2. Each library collection will have different strengths and weaknesses. 3. Search other library catalogs on the Internet to see if they have things you can t find at your school. 4. If you can physically go the library this is best. a. You can photocopy the relevant sections and take notes even if you cannot check it out. b. You can scan the shelves for other books by serendipity.

7 Research: Finding Sources Page 7 c. GGBTS students have borrowing privileges at several other research libraries such as the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. 5. Use interlibrary loan if you can t get to a library physically. a. Request it through the GGBTS library. b. Allow some weeks or months to get the book. You are lowest on the pecking order. 6. Some ways to find books at other libraries a. Search the library catalog on the school s Web site. b. Search WorldCat ( to find other libraries with a particular book. (1) This is free and useful for a quick search for a particular book (2) Weaknesses: (a) Not all libraries are represented. (b) It has no export feature to bibliographic software c. Use Z39.50 to search library catalogs over the Internet. (1) Many library catalogs provide access with the Z39.50 protocol (a standard way of providing database information on the Internet ( (2) BookWhere is a Windows program that can search thousands of online library catalogs and databases worldwide that provide access on the Internet with the Z39.50 protocol. The same search screen works with all catalogs, so you do not need to learn different search syntaxes. You can search multiple catalogs at the same time. The searches are faster than using a Web browser. Search results can be saved directly to a Library Master or ProCite database. Save time in the library by searching the catalog before you get there. You can confirm details of a citation when you do not have the book with you. It is a great way to find a library that has a book you want. (students: $79.95; (3) Advantages: (a) Searches multiple catalogs with a single search (b) Very fast compared to searching catalogs on a Web site (c) Can export references to bibliographic software (it sends records directly into your Library Master database).