ENGLISH MA:INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS :3

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ENGLISH MAINTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS 3

• Tutorial 3 Searching LION and MLA (for Week 4)

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This Tutorial will aim to help you with some of
these queries...

• Is a free-text search sufficient (ie using your
  own terms)?
• Should I also be browsing terms stored in the
  database?
• What symbol do I use to truncate a term?

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Combining your search terms

• Understand the logical difference between and
  and or (and in relation to, or find also).
• See why it is sometimes necessary to nest (ie
  bracket) two terms connected by or ?
• Ask are my terms too few and broad, or too many
  and too narrow?

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From Subjects click on Arts. Note the general
E-resources here.
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Now open the English Subject pages.
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You can access the Departmental web site here.
Click on E-resources.
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Click on English Databasesor scroll down
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Notice these two invaluable sources for early
books (in all subjects).
You can now open LION
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Search here for known authors or their works
material about them
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But what LION is really good at is combing texts
for key-terms, or searching the critical
literature. Select Texts or Criticism
Reference
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Click here to search within the many primary
texts stored on LION
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You can search all types of text at once, using a
broad Keyword or combining it with a Title word
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You are interested in any texts which have
Warwick in the title
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Your results are divided across types of texts
(including web sites)
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For this keyword, you have restricted the search
to Drama only
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Your term occurs 83 times within 47 texts. The
Keyword is highlighted in context. For full text
click on the Scena link or Main text link
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Here is your keyword with the full text of the
scene
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There might be other variants. Click Select to
check
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Some variant spellings, or adjacent terms, might
also be worth using. Click in the box for the
Keyword you choose
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Now you are ready to submit another search,
knowing this variant will produce results
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Now you can continue as you did with the earlier
spelling of your Keyword
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You are now selecting Poetry looking for a
particular word in a selected poet
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Here are your results. Click on the Title to get
the entire poem. Notice you can also click on a
brief Author Page for bio/biblio information
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Next you are trying the same word in Keats
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Dont panic! Negative information can be useful.
Here is a significant difference between two
Romantic poets
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Click back to return to the Home Page and now
select Criticism Reference
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Prefer Criticism rather than All for most
searching
This default screen allows you to search across
the board (see details below) but the template is
very limited
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This screen searches the entire ABELL database
and has a better template. Notice how you can
limit your search at the bottom of the screen
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The default All records full text gives you
both citations and access to full-text where
available. Fill in your search terms
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Your terms in combination occur 627 times in 217
documents. This may be too many results
Where you see this icon it indicates full text
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Some typical resultsbooks, book chapters,
articles, reviews
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To narrow your search you can confine your
keyword to the title level
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Item 13 is available in full text and in two
formats. Click on title to open it
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You have on screen the citation, an abstract and
the beginning of the text
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If you need the original page image, click here
(note the icon)
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You now see the article exactly as it appeared,
page for page
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You decide to introduce a third term, at the
title level
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This search is very concentrated. Note that some
items are reviews
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If you want to email/print out citations or full
text links, click in the boxes, then above on
Add selected records
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The window acknowledges your items have been
added to the Marked List
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Go back to the Search screen and click on Marked
List
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The records are stored under the type of search.
Click here
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Check the list is correct, and then email or
print out
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Add your e-address and select a format. Its
often worth giving the file a name as well so
you can recognise it!
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LION is confirming that the email has been sent
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You may want to see reviews of a well-known
title. Click in the box. Note how other boxes
enable you to limit your results
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Most of these reviews are not full text but
click on the title for citation details
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Here is the full citation. Note the ABELL
reference which can be a useful confirmation if
applying through Document Supply for a copy
A confirmation helps to guarantee that an item
does really exist! We know you havent made it up
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You want to search for the output of a particular
critic. This will also include any reviews they
have written
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Here you get Hartman reviewing, Hartman reviewed
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Lets open MLA the largest bibliog raphy, but
no full text
But MLA will link you to any full-text sources
available via Warwick
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MLA defaults to Basic Search (often sufficient
for straight-forward needs)
But Advanced Search gives you much more
flexibility lets go to that
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More choice here in how you set up each line of
search
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You can choose between the different logical
operators
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Or you can limit your search to one kind of
document
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Lets try 2 writers in Keywords (NB Author
finds only critics)
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Click on a title of your choice for full details
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The bibliographic record (no full-text
access).You can connect directly to Warwick to
see if we hold the title
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Yes we do! Click Back button to return to MLA
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Lets try a search using a different connecting
operator
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By using or you expand the search to include
all records on either one writer or the other
(not necessarily in relation)
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A good way of sweeping up a lot of records but
you might have overdone it! Lets refine a bit
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You decide to limit your results by going back to
Advanced Search
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You add to the original screen some limiting
dates, and a restriction to journal articles only
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Now you have recent criticism all of one
publication type (repeat the search for books etc)
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You are now doing a two-pronged search with
Keyword
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Lots of results here, but you only want Percy
Bysshe Shelley really
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To refine the search, choose Named Person Phrase
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And now click on the Browse button
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You can now click on the particular Shelley you
want
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This reloads the template, and gives you a more
defined search
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You have found fewer but more relevant results
You open this article
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There is also the possibility of a full-text link
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So why use MLA? It has a wider resource base,
with more sophisticated search possibility
You are now enabled to access the text in LION.
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With a precise Named Person you can now try out
other search terms
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To mark (save) a record, click in the box
Notice the different TYPES of references books,
book articles, journal articles, unpublished
dissertations
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Now you are trying a genre search within a
particular period
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Rather a lot! What is it you REALLY need?
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Many refs will include drama, but if this is an
irrelevant aspect, use not
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These results should focus on more general
aspects of comedy
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You now want to search for a theme in 18C English
Literature
Set up the base of your search by expressing the
18C in date form.As this is a Literature
data-base, English on its own is sufficient
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Having defined the literature the period, you
now add the genre and the theme
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Here are your results. Lets look closer at the
first one
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Notice the variant terms in the title you didnt
use them you didnt need to!
Though only one of your terms occurs in the
title, the Descriptors have picked up the rest
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Youre searching for English Modernism or
Modernists in the Thirties use dates and
truncate on the root of Modern (add an
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Here are some typical results
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You are writing on The Idea of Monarchy in
English Renaissance Tragedy. Its more reliable
to express the period systematically
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Then add the genre and the theme, using Truncation
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Here are your results. Lets scroll down
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Item 7 interests you, and you click to mark it
before clicking on the title for details
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You can see how youve found this item.The system
searches both in Title in the Descriptors
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To retrieve your marked result, click here
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Now click on Email (or if at home you might
prefer Print)
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Fill in the template so that you will recognise
the Email! You might prefer to click on Brief
Records
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Before you come to the classes

• Try some of these searches for yourself live
• Get the feel of using the sources for real
• Try out some searches of your own
• Prepare the most useful terms before you start
• Anything you cant follow in the Tutorial?
• Contact peter.larkin_at_warwick.ac.uk or
  h.gough_at_warwick.ac.uk

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