ANTH 106 - 08/09 - Ancient People and Places 

Poster

Know the assignment requirements on size and format (bi-fold or tri-fold, poster margins or font sizes, image requirements, etc)

Know the assignment requirements for content (Must there be particular sections, e.g. introduction, methodology, conclusions.  Is a map required?  What are the requirements/restrictions for information sources and how and in what style should your citations be listed?)

Prioritize the tasks based on the rubric to maximize your grade (e.g. one more visual would be nice, but you'll get a zero if you flub the citations)

Become familiar with general best practices for visual presentation (Don't overuse or overmix emphasizers, for example, use increased font or bold for headers but don't also italicize and underline.  Keep section level format consistent - always use the same mix of font size and emphasizers throughout the poster.  Keep visuals consistent - consistent font colors and/or background images)

The research process involves four steps:

1.  Topic Analysis

• development of a research question which matches the scope of the project (may include background research)
  
• consideration of information needed relative to the scope of the project (minimum expectations may be set by the professor)
  
• brainstorming of initial vocabulary for searching including synonyms, related terms and variant terms
  • Class examples:
    
    • Vocabulary strictly defined (usually proper names): Pompeii
    • vocabulary will be limited (highly standardized terms): Mortuary Practices in Mesopotamia
    • vocabulary will be quite varied (topic with many synonyms, generic labels, or related ideas): Roman Diet

2.  Resource Types/Selection of an appropriate search tool

• consideration of what types of information are needed and what format they might take.  For example:
  • Books
  • Articles from Specialized Encyclopedias
  • Articles from Periodicals
    
    • Newspaper
    • Magazine
    • Scholarly Journal
  • Book or media Reviews
  • Opinion pieces such as editorials
    
• determination of which search tool will locate the desired information

3.  Searching a database

• Understanding of Databases/Records/Fields/Data
• Understanding of how the search terms you enter are manipulated to match the data and generate results
  
• Skill set of search techniqes such as Boolean operaters and connectors (AND/OR/NOT), adjacency operators (W/#), phrase searching (" "), wildcard/truncation characters (*)
• Understanding of how the results lists are presented (by relevancy, date, alphabetical...)
• Ability to manipulate the results list (limiting by date, language, journal source, etc)

4.  Physically/Electronically obtaining items

• For articles, use of ArticleLinker
• For books or articles only available in paper, knowledge of the Library of Congress Call number system
• For items not immediately available, understanding the Interlibrary Loan system

A Periodical is anything that is published regularly and includes newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, as well as some less well-known categories.  You will be required by faculty to use articles from peer-reviewed journals in your academic work.  What does that mean?  Take a look at this chart from Austin Community College for brief comparison.

How do you know that what you are finding is acceptable?

• name of the periodical (journal, bulletin, quarterly, review...)
• more pages in the article
  
• abstract present in the article (not just the database record)
  
• author affiliation given
• complicated graphics (charts, graphs, tables)
• presence of a bibliography or references

And how do you find them in the first place?  The best way is to use a database designed to locate scholarly articles in your field of interest.  Check out the subject pages linked off of the library home page to determine which databases are best for which disciplines.

1. Try a title or keyword search
2. Some databases have a list of suggested subject words on the initial results page.  Look at them and copy the useful ones.  If there is no list, then look at a number of potentially useful records and copy down words and phrases from the “subject” or "descriptor" area of single records.  Some databases provide a thesaurus of terms which can lead to broader, related, or narrower terms you may not have thought of.
3. Go back to the search screen and search BY SUBJECT/DESCRIPTOR using the words you learned about as a result of your first search. 
4. Be sure to connect search terms correctly using the following techniques:

• Boolean connectors
  • AND connects different concepts and narrows a search: Fish AND chips
    
  • OR, with parentheses, combines synonyms/related terms and broadens a search: Fish AND (chips OR fries)
    
• Use quotation marks for phrases: Fish AND (chips OR "french fries")
• Use the asterisk as a wildcard character to retrieve variations on a common stem: educat* retrieves educate, education, educating, educated, etc.  Very useful for capturing plurals
  

BEARCAT – the Libraries’ Catalog (access from http://www.potsdam.edu/library)

• Reference books and specialized encyclopedias
• Library of Congress Call Number System
• Searching databases in general – databases, records, fields, data
• Reading a record
• Understanding ALL FIELDS  and WORDS IN SUBJECT searches
• Library of Congress Subject Headings
• The three things you need to know to get your hands on the book are:

1. Is it available or is it already checked out?
2. What is its general location (Crumb stacks, Crumb reference, Crane stacks...)
3. What is its call number
   

Locating Books in Crumb Library

• Reference books are located on the main floor and are “Library Use Only”
• Circulating collections are in the basement (call letters A-C), and 2^nd floor (call letters D-Z)

Using other Resources

• Searching ODYsseus - St. Lawrence University’s Catalog
• Searching WorldCat
• Interlibrary Loan
• Electronic Books (especially the Gale Virtual Reference Library)

General Search Databases:

If your research topic is likely to be covered in "popular" level periodicals (e.g. magazines and newspapers rather than - or in addition to - scholarly periodicals) then you will want to search in a broad, general database such as:

• Academic Search Premier - An academic multi-disciplinary database with full text for nearly 4,650 periodicals, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed titles.  This will provide access to magazines and some newspapers.
• Wilson Omnifile Select - Full-text of nearly 1200 journals, with coverage as far back as Jan. 1994. Access is limited to a relatively small number of simultaneous users. All entries are in full-text.

Scholarly Level Databases:

If your subject is more "academic" than general interest, you might choose to use a discipline specific database.  Use one of the subject libguides linked off of the library home page to locate subject specific article databases (most of them have a "finding articles" tab with specific databases for that subject listed there).  There are also databases that cover scholarly periodicals across a number of disciplines such as:

• JSTOR - digital "storage" of periodical titles from volume one up to not-quite recent issues (usually and intentionally 3-7 years out of date)
  
• Project Muse - full-text of various humanities periodicals
  

Many images are available off of the free web through services such as Google Images.  You must pay attention to any copyright restrictions posted about their use. One way to make sure that you may safely use images is to search with the term "creative commons".  You may also use for your academic work the images which show up through the library services, such as Academic Search Premier or ArtSTOR.