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INSTRUCTIONS:

PART I:  Using the MLA Bibliography to search for materials on your research topic.

Don't forget. . . for your report to the hypermail archive, you need to keep notes on the searches you do and the number of "hits" each search yields!

After printing out and reading through these instructions COMPLETELY, go to the MLA Bibliography and do KEYWORD and SUBJECT searches on the title of the work and/or the author you are researching.  Remember to search under both the modern English translation and the original title, if applicable (for instance, both "Knight of the Cart" and "Chevalier de la Charrette").  If the work has more than one title, you will need to search under both titles--e.g. "Chevalier de la Charrette" AND "Knight of the Cart" AND "Lancelot Chretien de Troyes" (by adding "Chretien de Troyes" to the search word "Lancelot," you limit your search to items about Chretien's Lancelot romance, eliminating the many, many items which deal with Lancelot in other literary works).  For your report to the hypermail archive, keep notes on the searches you do and the number of "hits" each search yields.

Don't be surprised if the number of "hits" you derive is too big to be useful.  If this is the case, LIMIT your search using one of three posible criteria: language, date or type.  Begin by clicking on "Limit Search" and then on "Limit your results by language phrase"; then click on English and hit "search" again. Record the number of "hits" you have for your report to the hypermail archive.  If this number seems manageable, you can browse through them directly.  But it is frequently helpful to sort them into "types"--journal articles, books, "book articles" (the MLA Bibliography term for essays in edited collections).

So, to further refine your search, limit it by "Document type phrase."  Note how many English language sources you find in each of the following categories: 1) books;  2) journal articles; and 3) essays in collections (called "book articles" in the MLA bibliography).   (Don't bother with dissertations or dissertation abstracts.) Keep notes of your search results for your report to the hypermail archive. Now scroll through each list of itms, marking any titles which sound promising by clicking on the "mark" box. (It's best to be fairly inclusive at this point.)

Now, go to the First Search "results" box at left and click on "marked records" to generate a list of ONLY those titles you have marked.  Click on "detailed records" to convert from the "brief records" in the original list to the full records you will need to find the item in question.  You can now print out the entire list, or email it to yourself, using the buttons at the top of the screen

You should identify a large number of potentially interesting criticism to ensure that you find enough relevant and interesting secondary sources for your analytic bibliography/class presentation and for your research paper.

NOTE: you can usually turn up additional useful sources by doing a title search using the same search terms you tried for the keyword search.

PART II: Applying what you've found (or: what do I do with these references once I've found them?)

Your analytic bibliography (and the list of Works Cited on your final research paper) should include at least one single-author book, at least one essay in an edited collecion, at least one journal article, and at least one source accessed electronically.  Additionally, your analytic bibliography (and the List of Works Cited on the paper) should include:

1. at least one item (book, essay in collection or journal article) which IS available in the Cal Poly library collections;
2. at least one book or essay in a collection which is NOT available at Cal Poly and which you can order through LINK+; and
3. at least one journal article (or a book NOT available through CSUlink) which you can order using Electronic Interlibrary Loan.

Print a copy of your list of items (either from the MLA bibliography screen or from your e-mail account) and search for these items in Polycat, Cal Poly's on-line library catalogue.  For books (or essays in collections), search by author (or the editor of a collection) and/or title.  For journals, you will need to check two things:  whether Cal Poly has the journal at all and whether our holdings include the specific volume and year in which the item is found.  Keep checking items in Polycat until you find ONE that is available at Cal Poly and TWO that are not:  a journal article (which you will order through  Electronic Interlibrary Loan) AND a book or "book article" (essay in a collection) which is available through LINK+.  TIP: You can search LINK+ from the Polycat search screen by clicking on "Search LINK+" at the top of the screen.  Follow directions to order item.  NOTE:  LINK+ is the quickest way of getting a book that is owned by any of the participating libraries; it cannot be used for journal articles. EIL is slower but provides free copies of journal articles; you can also use it for books not available through LINK+. Keep a record of exactly what you have ordered, the date you placed the order, and where you have ordered it (LINK+ or E.I.L.), as you will need to submit this information to the class Hypermail Archive (see below).

PART III: Reporting your results to the Class Hypermail Archive.  (Read or review "About Hypermail" before completing this part of assignment!)

Don't forget to send activity reports, as well as records of any items you have ordered, to the class Hypermail Archive.  Once you have decided which items to order, go back to the MLA database and mark ONLY the items you have ordered, sorted by type.  Select "detailed record" and "marked records" and email this to yourself (so you'll have a copy for your own records).  From within your own e-mail account, you will forward a copy of each message to the class Hypermail Archive, changing the "subject" line as described below.

What to put on the SUBJECT LINE for research reports posted to the CLASS HYPERMAIL ARCHIVE:

For the archive to be useful, we must be able to search it by subject to find all items on a given topic.  For this reason, begin the subject line for all postings with a key word from the title of the work you have researched, or the name of the author if it is not ambiguous what work you are dealing with (e.g. Malory or Wolfram, but not Chretien).  You will use this same key word as the first word on the subject line for all postings about it to the Hypermail Archive.

Following this abbreviated title, indicate the specific content of the report (e.g. "MLA report" for the report of your search results using the MLA bibliography; "Link+ orders" for the list of items ordered through CSUlink; "EIL" for items ordered through Electronic Interlibrary Loan).  For example, the subject line "Malory EIL orders" would indicate items about Malory's Morte d'Arthur which you have ordered through Electronic Interlibrary Loan; "SGGK Link+ orders" indicates items about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which you have ordered through Link+; "Yvain MLA report" indicates a report summarizing what you found when doing various searches on Chretien's Yvain inthe MLA bibliography; etc.

For all postings to the Hypermail Archive, be sure to enter your own e-mail address on the "Cc:" line of the of the e-mail message so that you will receive a copy of your report (a good way to verify that your message was successfully sent, and insurance in case you need to make corrections or resend your report to the archive or to Dr. Schwartz--you will have a copy of your work and will not need to do the whole assignment again). This safeguard also ensures that you can get credit for an assignment if you forget are not listed on the "From" line as the sender of the message (see below).

HOW TO POST TO THE CLASS HYPERMAIL ARCHIVE

To post to the archive, send mail to engl459-01@hypermail.calpoly.edu or click on the link at left:
To access the archive, point your Web browser to http://hypermail.calpoly.edu/engl/459-01/ or click on the link at left.

In order for this archive to be useful, be sure that you ALWAYS complete the following steps.

1. IMPORTANT:  if you are working in a computer lab or on someone else's computer, you will need to enter your name and e-mail address in the "Mail Preferences" menu in order to be identified as the sender of the e-mail. To do so: find the Preferences menu. On my old PC, it was located at the top of the Netscape screen in a pull-down menu called "Options." Select "Mail and News Preferences" and fill in your name and e-mail address where indicated. On my new PC, it is located at the top of the Netscape screen in a pull-down menu called "edit." Select "preferences" and then "mail and newgroup" and then "identity" to get the relevant screen where you fill in your name and e-mail address. IMPORTANT: after you've sent in your reports, go back to the Preferences menu and remove your name and e-mail address so the next person to use the computer you are on can't send messages under your name!
2. Once you have entered your name and e-mail address on the relevant Preferences menu, you may click on this link to send an e-mail report to the class Hypermail Archive. Don't forget that the e-mail subject line begins with a keyword or abbreviation designating the topic you have researched (the first word on the subject line for all postings to the Hypermail Archive) followed by the source you are reporting on (see above).
3. Be sure to enter your own e-mail address on the "Cc:" line so that you will receive a copy of your report (see above).
4. IMPORTANT: After you have sent in your report, be sure to go back to the Preferences menu and remove your name and e-mail address so the next person to use the computer won't be able to send messages under your name!  (You could get into serious trouble if someone sent hate mail or illegal commercial solicitations using your return address.)

Check the Hypermail Archive to see if your messages have posted successfully.

TIP:  always send reports to the Archive from your own e-mail account, not that of a friend.  If you aren't the sender, your response will not show up when I check completion of assignments by sorting the Archive by sender.

CONCLUDING REMARKS:

The MLA bibliography is a VERY useful research tool, but it is only as intelligent as the the specific queries you put to it.  Keep in mind that you may have to do multiple searches to get the information that you are looking for. Also, remember that it is NOT infallible--there are always items that for one reason or another don't make it into the index.

Keep in mind that Polycat is simply a catalogue of library holdings, NOT a research index.  You will NOT get good results by doing a subject search on your topic in Polycat.  Use a research index like the MLA Bibliography (or journal databases like the Humanities Index and the Extended Academic Index) to determine what items you want to look at.  Use Polycat ONLY to determine whether we've got a given item here; if not, you can order it through Interlibrary Loan or CSUlink.  Finally, remember that while Interlibrary Loan and CSUlink are wonderful resources, you must place your orders early in the quarter or the materials you need won't get to you in time to use them!

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