Research and Online Searching

1. Research and Online Searching Online searching is the acquisition of information from a distant computer through a terminal or PC, involving an interactive dialogue between enquirer and computer. The computer handles a number of databases stored in electronic form, consisting of references to journal articles, conference papers, reports, books etc, which the “host” makes available to interested parties on a commercial basis. The computer matches any input search terms against its files and displays any resulting matches which can then be printed out or downloaded by the searcher.

2. Primary and Secondary Sources Primary Information Sources Contain original creative works or relatively new information about them Books Journal articles Conference papers Pre-prints Theses Internet sources Secondary Information Sources Act as indices to primary sources. which have been selected and rearranged under subject headings, authors etc. Library catalogues Encyclopedias Handbooks and tables Reviews Databases Current awareness sources Internet resources in Literature 2

3. Types of Searching Retrospective information retrieval You need to look for information about previous work when you are starting a new project. This is called a retrospective information search. These are of two types: Background information Extensive information You need comprehensive information when you start research on an extensive project or thesis Searching for Facts The need for factual information often arises during the work process and usually takes the form of a specific information requirement in order to continue working. This type of specific information can be found in dictionaries, factual data banks, etc.. You need a quick and reliable answer to a query. Factual data banks are renewed at frequent intervals, so make sure that you are using the most recent edition Other important sources of factual information are encyclopedias and handbooks 3

4. Types of Searching (cont.) Searching forwards from a known citation (reference) The citation index is an entirely different type of index, which allows you to search forwards in time from a known relevant paper. Researchers cite references to earlier publications related to the work described in their own papers. Through these references (citations) an author expresses subject relationships between the current article and the cited references. A citation index is based on these relationships. It lists publications that have been cited and identifies the sources of these citations. Starting from a known relevant reference, it is possible to trace subsequent articles which refer to the original document, thus leading to more recent literature than the first known item. Citation indexes are designed to facilitate searching forwards in time from a known relevant paper Browsing Browsing is a form of random literature searching for information, in which you select and scan material within a mass of available literature. This unplanned random information searching can serve as a stimulus and can be a very fruitful source of new ideas PG1-7925 4

5. Formulating the search strategy Formulation of the research question and its scope Identification of important concepts within the question Identification of search terms to describe those concepts Consideration of synonyms and variations of those terms Preparation of the search logic 5

6. The Development of the Russian Literary Language Secularization of Church Slavonic mixing of official and colloquial language, and foreign elements influence of Southwestern Rus’, Ukrainian, Polish and Latin role of technical and chancery languages West European influences German: political, military, business terminology Salon Russian and French development of genre Significance of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol Significance of Russian scholarly language Expansion of the literary language newspaper and publicist prose development of literary lexicon Syntax of styles Role of oral tradition and the influence of spoken Russian 6

7. The Search Logic Truncation Wild card Boolean operators Controlled vocabulary Names Subjects Retrieval Roman alphabet Cyrillic alphabet

8. Truncation Truncation is used at the end of a word to find variants of the root word. This is very useful when searching inflected languages. Truncation symbols vary among search engines. The most common symbols are: $ or * “russkogo literaturnogo iazyka” vs russk* literaturn* iazyk* child$ vs children

9. Wild Card A wild card option is used within a word to find variant spellings. The most commonly used symbol is: ? Wom?n will retrieve hits on woman and women

10. Boolean Searching Boolean logic is the term used to describe certain logical operations that are used to combine search terms in many databases. The basic Boolean operators are represented by the words AND, OR and NOT OR The OR operator is useful for the first phases of a search, when you are not exactly sure what information is available on your topic or what words are used to categorize it. When used between two words, the OR operator instructs the search tool to retrieve any record containing either of the words AND If you need to pose a more specific query, use the Boolean operator AND, which limits results to those items that contain both (or all) of the search terms in your query NOT The last of the three most common Boolean operators is the word NOT. The NOT operator is used to eliminate records containing a particular word or combination of words from your search results XOR Search for records that one or the other of your terms, but not both. 7

11. Boolean Searching (cont.) The search result for “blue” AND “yellow” The search result for “blue” OR “yellow” The search result for “blue” NOT “yellow” 8

12. Controlled Vocabulary Authority controlled names (see Searching Cyrillic Names handout) connects variant spellings of a name:Pooshkeen, Alexander English language thesaurus (see Subject Searching handout) allows for English language searching of non-English sources:Russian literature

13. Retrieval– Testing the Search Strategy English Language Search Resources Library catalog(for monographs, periodical titles, etc.) Material is available onsite or ordered through ILL Consortia Search(to extend your search results to other institutions) 9

14. Testing the Search Strategy English Language Search Resources (cont.) Databases the HBLL Websiteallows searches of individual or multiple resources Periodical Indices primary English language indices subscriptions for Russian language and literature are MLA, LLBA, and ABSEES Full –Text Databases primary English language text databases subscriptions for Russian language and literature are JSTOR and Humanities Full-Text Access these resources from the “Subjects A-Z” link under Russian language and literature 10

15. MLA MLA is a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books, book chapters and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association Advanced search allows for narrowing by field, genre, language, publication date, etc. SEARCH(Russian literary language) / russk* literaturn* iazyk* Your search will retrieve a citation to a source, rather than the source itself. Follow the hyperlink to view the full citation, then click on the Locate Item button where the full text is available to you N.B. Locate Item will not search the local catalog at this time. You will need to do that search separately. Also, be wary of what you order through ILL (do not order the abstract). Check for local (national) availability in WorldCat. Dissertations most likely will not be ordered from ProQuest, and abstracts will be of marginal value 11 BA 19

16. LLBA Indexes and abstracts articles from journals in language use and linguistics Applied Linguistics Descriptive Linguistics Discourse Analysis / Text Linguistics History of Linguistics Interpersonal Behavior and Communication Language Classification Language - Pathological and Normal Lexicography / Lexicology Orthography, Writing Systems Philosophy of Language Phonetics Poetics / Literary Theory Psycholinguistics Psychometrics Semantics Semiotics Sociolinguistics Syntax Advance search allows for Boolean logic, and for limiting a search by subject area, publication date, English language, etc. Allows different search to be combined e.g. [Ivan or Terrible or Groznyi]vs[Terrible or Groznyi and Ivan] 12

17. ABSEES ABSEES Onlineis the online version of the American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES). It can be searched by multiple fields, including author, title, publisher, date of publication, and subject heading. There is also full-record keyword searching Period of Coverage:1990-present Scope of Coverage:Journal articles, books, book chapters, book reviews, dissertations, online resources, and selected government publications on East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union published in the United States and Canada Subjects Covered:Anthropology, Ethnology, and Archaeology; Culture and the Arts; Economics and Foreign Trade; Education and Scholarship; Geography and Demography; Government, Law, and Politics; History; International Relations; Language and Linguistics;Literature; Military Affairs; Philosophy, Political Theory, and Ideology; Psychology; Religion; Science and Technology; Sociology; Women's Studies Journals indexed ABSEES is now an EBSCO product, and searches identically to MLA 13

18. JSTOR (full-text) JSTOR is an electronic archive of 794 important scholarly journals Basic search searches all content in all disciplines Browsing feature allows you to review entire volumes by disciple and title Advance search allows search to be narrowed by publication date, journals, etc. “istorii russkogo literaturnogo iazyka” / russk* literaturn* iazyk* Has a moving wall of zero to ten years, depending on title. JSTOR archives many book reviews and can be used to find citations to monographs of interest 14

19. Humanities Full-Text (Wilson Web) Citation link to full-text source Research need: what is the literary relationship or contrast between Gogol and Pushkin? narrow search with example of Dead Souls Gogol == subject Pushkin == subject Dead Souls == title/subject Available through JSTOR BYU Electronic Journals (1905-) 15

20. Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies Indexes and abstracts books, articles, manuscripts and dissertations in Slavic studies and social sciences about materials published in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe Mainly Russian language materials, with few holdings in North America.

21. Other Resources FEB-Web “project instituted in 1995 by the Gorky Institute of World Literature … FEB-web is, first and foremost, a repository of Russian verbal art and the scholarly and other texts vital to understanding it” Bibliographies Language and linguistic studies, Russian literature Reference Assistance local or distance 17