Research Master Religious Studies (2015-2016) Library Skills MASTERING YOUR CHOICE Get the finest out of a million title library! Maaike van Rossem Subject Librarian Religious & Medieval Studies m.m.vanrossem@uva.nl University Library of Amsterdam 2015 Full text available on http://figshare.com/preview/_preview/1170080
Contents Take 10 minutes to save 1 hour : define keywords, scope, limits... 2 Interlibrary Loan (ILL)... 2 Access from home... 2 Selecting a search engine... 2 Searching: the basics... 3 Searching CataloguePlus (Known item)... 3 Searching CataloguePlus (Subject search)... 5 Searching Catalogue (Print journal)... 8 E-books...10 Picarta (Subject search)...10 Google Scholar (Subject search)...13 Subject Databases...15 Finding reviews...22 Bibliographic Tools...29 Research Data Management (RDM)...29 Appendix 1...30 Databases Religious studies...30 Appendix 2...32 Useful links/numbers/adresses...32 Front page: Detail of mosaic in the crypt at the Musee Pasteur, on the grounds of the Pasteur Institute. Louis Pasteur is buried in the crypt, which was modeled on the tomb of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy. The mosaics were created by Auguste Guilbert- Martin. From http://www.corbisimages.com, 04082015. 1
TAKE 10 MINUTES TO SAVE 1 HOUR : DEFINE KEYWORDS, SCOPE, LIMITS First of all describe (the limits of) your subject and the purpose of your literature search: Describe your subject in English keywords or - depending on your subject - keywords in other academic languages 1. Try to find synonyms or related terms by browsing subject encyclopaedias, bibliographies and handbooks in the The CataloguePlus or in the traditional - catalogue of the UvA.You may also browse (recent) handbooks or key monographs. Mark useful synonyms in abstracts. Add, modify or replace your keywords during your search. Note orthographic differences, secularization vs. secularisation, hono(u)r, encyclop(a)edia and be conscious of fashionable terminology (religious violence vs. religious force, meditation vs. contemplation, discourse vs. debate). Define the purpose and scope of your literature research: paper, for which you need only some key publications or your master thesis with a nearly complete bibliography. Define the types of documents you will need: primary sources, secondary sources like academic articles, or (translations of) primary sources, films, images, weblogs or ancient manuscripts/books, direct availability, academic quality (e.g. peer reviewed), publication date, language of publication. Open a Refworks-account to make your own references while searching and writing. INTERLIBRARY LOAN (ILL) What if your favourite book is checked out or your most wanted article is only available in print in another Dutch library? In both cases Interlibrary Loan for Humanities could bring the desired texts within a few days to your desktop or any library location of the UvA. You can open a ILL-account (free deposito of E 12 for UvA-students) in the Reference desk of the UB (Singel 425, first floor) or any other UvA-library. ACCESS FROM HOME To get access to our licensed texts and databases: a. Select CataloguePlus and sign in. b. Sometimes you will be asked to repeat this action anytime you want to use licensed texts or databases, like JSTOR or Google Scholar. You will now be recognized as a licensed user of all the (full-text) databases of the UvA. (For software to get access to the UvA-network in general, see : http://student.uva.nl/en/az/content/uvavpn/download/download-uvavpn-software.html ) SELECTING A SEARCH ENGINE Select one of the search engines on the UBA-homepage: - The CataloguePlus, our all-in-catalogue (books and articles) - The Catalogue, our traditional catalogue which is mainly used for books and paper journals. 1 If the academic language is not (only) English, consult the List Databases Religious Studies at the end of this paper to check which databases are appropriate. If you can t read German/French/Italian, http://www.google.com/translate can help. 2
Note: some important databases like Picarta (our national library system), Google Scholar and some specific subject databases, like the ATLA database on religion, are not included in the Catalogue Plus. SEARCHING: THE BASICS Most databases contain the same basics: a help/tutorial button a simple / basic search-button and an expanded / expert / advanced search button. search options with: all words / free text / title / author / keywords / subject terms/descriptors / indexes/ abstract an option to personalize (e.g. permanently store results) an option for Boolean searching: (Islam AND Judaism, Jewry OR Judaism, Cult* NOT culture) an option to truncate search terms, e.g. religio* (= religion, religious, religions), esoter* (=esoteric, esoticism, esoterics), which enhances the amount of hits. an option to evade different spellings: seculari#ation, or Seculari?ation for secularisation/secularization an option to enhance / refine your results an option searching word pairs by quotation marks : science of religion, history of religion CATALOGUEPLUS (KNOWN ITEM) Hint: put (part of the) title between quotation marks. 3
Not sure of the exact title? Truncate your search terms with *. Too many results? Refine by clicking on heading in left column e.g. author, resource type. The note books means physically available in the UvA. Sometimes books are electronically available. 4
SEARCHING CATALOGUEPLUS (SUBJECT SEARCH) - Sign in in CataloguePlus (to save references and search history) - Analyse your subject, e.g. the discourse about the scientific claims of parapsychology, find related terms - Truncate search terms (*); refine in left colums and/or select relevant title Latest: you could also refine your search by editing the subject area, e.g. Arts and Humanities 5
Save interesting or relevant subject terms for later use. Click on interesting subject terms in title description to see related titles: Some titles also show recommendations or related books: 6
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SEARCHING CATALOGUE (PRINT JOURNAL) Article in paper journal: search on journal title. Ilkka Pyysiäinen: God: A Brief History with a Cognitive Explanation of the Concept, in Temenos 41/1 (2005), pp. 77-128. Search for journal title Temenos. Click on Available copies, Click on Request, Enter your personal data and click on Go. Recommended: to be sure request the title one workday in advance. If you can t find the needed volume in the list of available items, click on Volume not listed etc.: 8
And type year and/or volume and other data Go 9
E-BOOKS If you re looking for article in an e-book, start by looking for the book title in either CataloguePlus or the Catalogue, then click on (Catalogue Plus) or Full text (Catalogue) or UvA-linker (both). Depending on the provider you can: - Download or print the book (some article/chapters). If can only download a part of the book, you have to repeat the action 20 min. later. (RECOMMENDED) Example EBSCO e-books. - Temporarily download/borrow: the text is not available to others and cannot be saved (NOT very social) PICARTA (SUBJECT SEARCH) Open Picarta by entering CataloguePlus and clicking (top right) on databases > P > Picarta. This database is commonly used to get an overview of documents available in the Netherlands (incl. the UvA) or to find articles written in Dutch and other less commonly used academic languages. You also need Picarta for interlibrary loan (ILL). Searching the latest literature about Secularization and Sociology of religion: - truncate search terms - sort by year of publication 10
Want only books? Select show hints ( bottom page), then filter, then books, modify relevance into year of publication to get recent titles. 11
The third title is not available in Amsterdam but you can borrow it from the University Library Groningen. For further details see UBA-instructions ILL. 12
GOOGLE SCHOLAR (SUBJECT SEARCH) At home: preset your library links (select configurations) for direct link to UvA-full text. Optional: preset the bibliographic links (to add titles to you bibliography in Refworks or other reference managers). 13
Search with your keywords (do not truncate) and use a variety of spellings Note the following features: - Cited by : means usually more recent articles about the same or related subjects. Related articles = about same or related subject - Links to (UvA) full text 14
SUBJECT DATABASES If you are doing research on a highly specific subject, you should also consult single databases. Most databases contain the same basics: an option to truncate search terms, e.g. religio* (= religion, religious, religions), esoter* (=esoteric, esoticism, esoterics), which enhances your amount of hits a help/tutorial button a simple / basic search-button and an expanded / expert / advanced search button. an option to view and combine search histories (sometimes hided under the expanded/expert search-button) search options with: all words / free text / title / author / keywords / subject terms/descriptors / indexes/ abstract an option (after logging in) for personal services, e.g. saving results / search history / getting alerts. a help/tutorial button You can find the relevant database by clicking Databases on the top screen of CataloguePlus or at the Homepage or the UB (Databases Religious Studies ). Select discipline Religious studies or combine disciplines and / or types, e.g. Religious Studies, Philosophy and Encyclopedias. 15
For a description of the main databases for religious studies, click. For more reference works like Oxford/Cambridge handbooks online [a.o.] see Catalogue or CataloguePlus. Not all databases are listed. For a general overview of all relevant databases see Appendix 1 16
ATLA Religion Database ATLA is most successful for religious studies and the classic fields of theology. It contains the titles - often with links to full texts - of all articles from the main theological and religious journals and multi-author-works (!) from 1949 till the recent publication year. Recent journal issues are not always covered. Homepage ATLA Note the indexes and special entrances for Bible citations (called Scriptures) Select smart text if you don t get sufficient titles. 17
Try subject/name indexes for a higher relevance. Refine type of publication subject etc in left column. Change sorting order into Date newest to get recent publications on top. 18
Select Choose databases for simultaneous searching other Ebsco-databases like Index Islamicus and Ebsco E-books. 19
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Note the new title from Ebsco s E-book Collection: Ixtheo (Index Theologicus) This is an indexed bibliography of articles from more than 600 periodicals (since 1988), 200 Festschriften (since 1995) and congress publications ( since 1999). 30% of the journal articles have been written in German. Other languages of publication are English, French, Spanish and other West-European languages. Daily update and Open Access. The index is useful, especially for European academic articles on Religion and Theology in Festchriften and congress volumes. URL: http://www.ixtheo.de/. Rambi Rambi is an excellent bibliographic tool for Jewish Studies. However : it provides neither full texts, nor UvA-links. Copy and paste title to Picarta to see whether the title is available in any Dutch library. Index Islamicus Useful for Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, works the same way (same platform) as ATLA Religion Database. Can be used simultaneously with ATLA and others. 21
Interdisciplinary subject databases Apart from Google Scholar the following databases can be useful in subject research. JSTOR, MLA international bibliography, PsycARTICLES, Sociological abstracts, Historical abstracts (1500-present), Iter bibliography on Middle Ages and Renaissance. See List databases Religious Studies in Appendix 1 FINDING REVIEWS General hint : put (short) title and author (last name) in search screen. Want more recent titles on top? Sort on date. CataloguePlus Put (short) title within quotation marks. Refine resource type (left column) on reviews. Want more results? Tick the box Expand beyond direct availability. 22
Google Scholar Same action as above but add review. Note McCutcheon s reply and Forum discussion. 23
ATLA Religion Database Select More - Indexes Name as Subject Tick the box and click on add, then on search. 24
More relevant results about the McCutcheon discussion: Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Rezensionen (IBR) Find database in list databases in CataloguePlus. Open database by selecting Search Database. Find review of Kippenberg, Hans G. Discovering religious history in the modern age, or in German: Die Entdeckung der Religionsgeschichte : Religionswissenschaft und Moderne. 25
Click on More search options Type in search screen title words and you will see seven reviews. 26
Repeating the same action using the German title will result in different hits. Note the differences. 27
Picarta Find review of Kabbalah and modernity (ed. by Boas Huss, Marco Pasi, and Kocku von Stuckrad). Filter on articles. Web of Knowledge To find the most recent literature on a subject, it can be useful to find citations of a key publication in so called Citation indexes. The Web of Knowledge is one of the most used general citation indexes. Note: not all academic journals on religious studies are indexed! Click on Cited Reference Search, type author and cited work as below. Find reviews on Edgar Said, Orientalism. Modify topic into title Refine search results in left colum by ticking the box book reviews. 28
Need more reviews, see the highly specialized journals and websites: like Aries, Review of Biblical Literature (Open Access) and the online journal Religious Studies Review. BIBLIOGRAPHIC TOOLS The last topic you want to worry about when finishing your paper, is your bibliography. So start now and you can avoid a lot of trouble. The main tool for references the University Library suppports is Refworks. With Refworks you can make a bibliography in any international citation style (Chicago, APA, etc), which can be integrated in your text document. The library offers regular courses on Refworks, but can also give courses on demand. RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT (RDM) Anyone who is doing research has to manage his/her research data, even if these research data are simple primary text citations. The management of sustainable storage of and access to research data is a much discussed topic also for the Humanities. Funders of research increasingly demand the storage and availability of research data. If you plan to write a dissertation on your subject, it might be wise to start early: i.e. before starting your research. The Library of the UvA can help you to make your own Research Data Management Plan. For more details see http://rdm.uva.nl/en, for Religious Studies Research Data select Disciplines (English website is under construction). For questions about Research Data Religious Studies, ask the subject librarian Religious Studies. For national information, see http://www.dans.knaw.nl/en/content/data-archive. 29
APPENDIX 1 DATABASES RELIGIOUS STUDIES (these databases are to be found in CataloguePlus; the databases mentioned here are primarily to be used for finding academic articles.) GENERAL Name To be used for: Picarta Cairn Narcis Google Scholar Google Book Search JSTOR OAISTER Persée Project Muse Zeitschriften-datenbank (ZDB) Web of Knowledge Religious Studies in General; all fields of Religious Studies incl. Esoteric studies French bibliography on humanities and social sciences. Main language French. Partly open access. Full text database for research Dutch universities, incl. UvA-Dare (UvA-publications) Partly Open Access Quick browsing, orientation Complementary search; browsing for book titles; sometimes large full texts Religious Studies in general. History, esotericism. Union catalog of millions of records representing open access resources that was built by harvesting from open access collections worldwide. All fields of Religious studies. French bibliography of articles on humanities, partly full text. Main language French. No section religion, though many articles about religion. Religious studies ( incl. Esoteric studies) from interdisciplinary viewpoint Religious Studies in general; all fields of Religious Studies incl. Esoteric studies Religious studies as represented in academic journals, useful for finding citations and reviews. 30
RELIGIOUS STUDIES NAME To be used for: ATLA-ATLAS All classic fields of theology and religious studies Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique. Bibliographie Index Islamicus Index Theologicus (Ixtheo) RAMBI Indexed bibliography to various publications on the subject of the history of Christianity. The main focus is on Latin Western Christianity and for the modern period on the Roman Catholic Church. However, the bibliography does not limit itself to Church history stricto sensu: every theme touching Church history is covered. Islam, Middle Eastern studies (incl Eastern Christianity) All classic fields of Theology, inc. Festchriften/ Jewish studies, incl. Jewish religion RELATED SUBJECTS (See also Databases other disciplines like Middle Ages, Psychology etc.) NAME Byzantinische Bibliographie Historical Abstracts IMB Online Iter Gateway to Middle Ages and Renaissance Iter Italicum MLA international bibliography Oxford bibliographies Medieval studies Oxford bibliographies Renaissance and Reformation Psychinfo Sociological Abstracts Religious aspects of Byzantine History Historical research (History of Christianity) To be used for: Medieval spirituality, philosophy, religion and culture. Highly specialized bibliography, incl. several European languages (Esotericism) Paul Oskar Kristeller's Iter Italicum, the most comprehensive finding list available of previously uncatalogued or incompletely catalogued Renaissance humanistic manuscripts Aspects of religion and language, linguistic aspects of bible studies Partly encyclopedic/bibliographic about European and Mediterranean culture from the 4th-15th century. Handsome for generic overview As above, period:16-17 th c. Psychology of Religion, social aspects of religion Sociology of religion, anthropology of religion Esotericism / Hermitic Studies 31
APPENDIX 2 USEFUL LINKS/NUMBERS/ADRESSES General Homepage University Library of Amsterdam UBA-coach *=(weekdays from 9.30 to 17.00): 020 5252266 Other UBA-services UvA CataloguePlus (Catalogue including articles) UvA Catalogue (books and paper journals) UvA-Websources Humanities (only open access): http://webbronnen-fgw.uba.uva.nl/ Refworks (exporting titles & intergrating them in your text) (http://uba.uva.nl/en/services/searching/demos-and-manuals/refworks.html) Borrowing from other libraries. Zotero (www.zotero.org) : freeware for exporting titles (to the cloud) Research Data Management in General Specific Homepage Library Religious Studies Databases Religious Studies New books UvA websources Religious Studies Research Data Management Religious Studies 32
CONTACT m.m.vanrossem@uva.nl Library Religious Studies: Singel 425, 1025 WP Amsterdam tel. 020 5252024/5258703 33