PRELIMINARIES: Read carefully through the profile of Polycat on Dr. Schwartz's Guide to Kennedy Library Research Tools.  Be sure you are clear about what it is, what it contains, when (and why) to use it, its strengths and its limitations.

NOTE 1:  While you can access this page of instructions and the Kennedy Library website directly using any web browser, it may be most efficient to do so from within your course page in Blackboard, where you will be submitting your Research Progress Reports to the class Research Archive (click on "Discussion Board") and where you can access this assignment page, via the External Links section, from both our class home page and the Calendar of Assignments.  Within Blackboard, Polycat is found under the "Library Resources" tab, both on the main page of the Kennedy Library website and on the alphabetical list of "Article Databases." 

To access Blackboard, log in at MyCalpoly, go to "Blackboard Access" and select this class. If you're not a Blackboard fan, you can also access Polycat by clicking on the links on this page of instructions, through the main Kennedy Library website, or through the "Library Services" tab on your Cal Poly portal. In that case, you can write up your Research Report using the word-processor of your choice and cut and paste it into the message screen which opens when you click on "Add New Thread" in your Research Report Archive.

NOTE 2: If no report screen appears when you click on "Add New Thread" in your Research Report Archive (within the Discussion Board section of Blackboard), your computer may be set up to block "active content" (e.g. script and ActiveX controls necessary for the Discussion Board to function properly).  Check to see if a security warning about "active content" has appeared on your web browser screen (e.g. "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer.  Click here for options. . .").  Click on the provided link and select "Allow blocked content"; at the next prompt ("Allowing active content such as script and ActiveX controls can be useful, but active content might also harm your computer.  Are you sure you want to let this file run active content?"), click on "YES."  When you reenter your archive and click on "Add New Thread," a report screen with editing and formatting tabs should appear. 

NOTE 3:  if your "Add new thread" report screen does not include editing and formatting functions (bold, underlining, etc.), you may have have to change web browsers. These functions are acessible from Internet Explorer, but not e.g. in Mozilla Firefox.

 The first stop in any research project should be the Kennedy Library.  Yes, even in the electronic age, you should go there IN PERSON!  Once in the library, follow these steps to identify useful secondary sources -- studies ABOUT your author, topic or work.  Keep careful notes on the specific searches you try and their specific results (the type of search, the search terms used, the number of records generated, and their degree of usefulness).  You will compile this information for your first report to the class Research Archive.

1) First, determine where books on your author are found in the stacks by doing an "author" search on your author (e.g. Chaucer) and by doing "title" searches for the specific work(s) you are researching (note that it may be necessary to search for more than one title, e.g. "Canterbury Tales" AND the title of a specific tale within the collection, e.g. "General Prologue" or "Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale"). Keep careful notes about every search you attempt: include the SPECIFIC type of search, the SPECIFIC search terms used, and the number and sorts of results you obtain for each search combination (are there no hits? are hits useful? off topic? too many to sift through?), as you will need to include these details in your first report to the class Research Archive. Note that most hits generated by an author search will be primary sources -- books that are by your author (e.g. by Chaucer), i.e. editions or translations of your work -- rather than secondary sources -- studies ABOUT the author or work you are researching. 

So . . .  since your task is to find useful secondary sources on your topic, why bother?  Because secondary sources ON a given topic are typically shelved next to editions and translations of the primary works they discuss.  One of the best ways to begin your research is to figure out where primary sources by your author are shelved (note the call numbers) and go BROWSE THE STACKS!  See what looks interesting, and select a few items to check out. (Hint:  smart researchers let the critics they find in the stacks work for them:  you can consult THEIR bibliographies and look for / order any items that sound promising!)

2a) Go back to Polycat and try some "keyword" AND "subject" searches on both your author AND your title (try both with and without quotation marks if it is more than one word) and/or on your author plus key words from your title or from specific topics you are interested in (e.g. a character name, a specific theme, or the genre of the work: "Wife of Bath," "marriage," "fabliau," etc.)..  Again, note the SPECIFIC type of search, the SPECIFIC search terms, and the number and sorts of results you obtain for each search combination (are the hits useful? off topic? too many to sift through?), as you will need to include these details in your report to the Research Archive. 

Once you have identified a promising secondary source on your topic, PRINT OUT THE POLYCAT ITEM ENTRY with the call number and bibliographic information on the item in question. You must submit a hard-copy print-out of this screen for your group to get credit for this assignment.  Use the item's Call Number to retrieve the work from the stacks.  HINT: if possible, try to locate a single-author book that is relevant to your topic rather than an an edited collection with essays by different authors.  For this exercise, I would like you to practice writing a correct bibliographic citation for a single-author book; you will have the chance to practice writing a citation for an essay from an edited collection later this quarter.

2b) Next, go back into the item's record and check the subject headings it is catalogued under.  Click on those links to determine what other works share the same subject headings; they are fertile grounds in which to look for good resources on your topic.  Take notes of what you find by following the subject heading links (how many other works, if any? would they appear to be useful for your topic? do they include any other subject links that may be useful?) for your report to the class Research Archive.

NOTE: Oddly, it is not always fruitful to begin your research by doing a subject search, since the precise subject headings under which an item is listed are not always easy to guess.  For instance, suppose you are planning to write a research paper on Shakespeare's Rosalind in As You Like It.  There are 503 (!) subject headings in Polycat that contain the word "Shakespeare"; unless you feel like scrolling through all of them, it can take some time to discover that secondary sources on your topic are catalogued under the subjects " Shakespeare William 1564 1616 Criticism And Interpretation" (288 records, many of which won't be useful); "Shakespeare William 1564 1616 Criticism Textual" (40 records, many of which will not be useful); "Shakespeare William 1564 1616 Comedies" (51 records, only some of which will prove useful"; "Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. As you like it" (5 records, two of which look promising); "Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. As you like it -- Criticism, Textual" (1 record which is clearly a secondary source but may or may not have information on Rosalind).  A subject search on "Shakespeare's heroines" yields nothing; a word search yields one volume containing an essay that may or not be relevant, while a word search on "Shakespeare heroine" yields a DIFFERENT volume contatining a DIFFERENT essay which may or may not be relevant, etc.  Finally, a word search on the phrase "As you like it" including the quotation marks yields 35 records, some of which are irrelevant but several of which are promising resources which I hadn't come across in any of the other searches.

3) Assuming that you have found your primary source (if it is in the library's collections) and some useful secondary sources on your topic, try this trick:  use the call numbers of items found by following the instructions above to help track down useful works which were not there when you browsed in the stacks (e.g. because they are in transit, misshelved, checked out by another patron, or on reserve).  Go back to Polycat (from the library or remotely) and use the "search by call number" function to browse the collection by call number beginning with the call numbers which you noted in the first parts of this exercise (for both primary sources and useful secondary sources).  You will in effect be browsing the stacks electronically, finding the Polycat listings for items which would be shelved near your author or text if they were not checked out, missing, on reserve, etc. Note that: 

• Should you come across an item that you are interested which is checked out to another patron, you may place a hold on that item (recall it) online (use the "place a hold" tab in the Polycat entry and type in your name and barcode at the prompts).  But, in a course with a common area of inquiry, it's good manners to ask your classmates / professor if they have the book checked out and would be willing to share it before placing a hold.  You can do so verbally in class, by checking reports of "Kennedy Library Results" in the research archive, or by querying the class email alias ("Does anybody have . . . ? Would you mind if I had a look at it?").
• If an item is not checked out (and not on reserve) but you can't find it in the stacks, proceed to the front Circulation Desk and fill out a Search card; library staff will initiate a search for the item and email you when it is located.  Of, if it's officially declared lost, they will authorize you to order it from off campus (which you cannot normally do for items within our collections).

Click on "Add New Thread" to create your report in the message screen provided. (If you don't get a message screen after clicking on "Add New Thread," follow the instructions under NOTE 3, above.) Note that you can type (or cut and paste) your report directly into the message screen, but you cannot submit it as an attachment. TIPS:

• If you wish to create your report in a separate document prior to pasting it into the message screen, please note that formatting created using a word processing program (i.e. M.S. Word) will NOT transfer to the archive; you will need to use the formatting tools provided in the message screen itself.  
• If your message screen does not include editing and formatting functions (such as bold, underlining, etc.), you will have to change web browsers. (These functions are acessible from Internet Explorer, but not e.g. in Mozilla Firefox.)   
• Be sure to click on "submit" when you are finished (or to save a report you are working on).  You can edit or add to a report after submission by clicking on it and then on the "modify" tab; again, be sure to click on "submit" to save your work when you are done.
• Start a separate "thread" for each report.  (Any replies to a given report will be part of the same "thread"; for subsequent reports, you will start a separate "thread.") 

Be sure to specify the specific types of searches you tried, using what specific search terms, and report how many results each of these searches generated; comment on how many of these results were actually useful secondary sources on your topic.  Be sure to report fully on the results of the searches described under # 1, 2a, 2b and 3, above. With the exception of the item which you will retrieve from the stacks, in this report you do not need to list specific titles -- just the number of "hits" your searches generated and whether or not the results were useful secondary sources on your topic.   The subject line of this report should read "Searching Polycat."

Report Two: "Kennedy Library Results."  Provide a complete citation in correct MLA bibliographic format for the secondary source on your topic that you will check out and bring with you to class. At the end of the complete bibliographic citation in correct MLA format provide the item's call number in parentheses.  The subject line of this report should read "Kennedy Library results."  Check out the book in question and bring it with you to class, along with the print-out of the item's Polycat entry which you made as part of step 2a, above, stapled to a TYPED or VERY legibly written bibliographic citation for the item.  Write the names of ALL group members on this paperwork, and bring it to me along with the actual checked out book during an office hour or at a class meeting.  I must have the Polycat item print-out AND the bibliographic citation along with the BOOK ITSELF for your group to get credit for completing this assignment.

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2008

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