ENGL 512
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz
English Department, California Polytechnic State University

 Dr. Schwartz's Guide to Literary Research, Step 2: 
Broadening Your Search Using Link+


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


PRACTICUM: Using LINK+ to identify and order secondary sources not in Cal Poly's collections

Use LINK+ to do subject, keyword and title searches on your research topic.  Perform these searches using the following search terms:  1) the title of the work you are researching (try separate searches on the original title, English translation, and alternate titles if applicable); 2) the author's name if known; and 3) more general topics that seem applicable (e.g. genre, formal characteristics, themes, etc.) If these terms do not yield satisfactory results, try a word search using the same search terms. HINT: if you come across a promising work on your topic, click on the subject listings (found within the catalogue entry for that work) to look for other works indexed under the same categories.

Use LINK+ to order at least one secondary source which is NOT available at Kennedy Library (check in Polycat or on the list of LINK+ libraries which have the item and do NOT order items available at Cal Poly).  REMEMBER: a secondary sourceis a study ABOUT your author, topic or work, NOT an edition or translation of your work.  You will place other Link+ orders once you start using the MLA Bibliography; for the time being, you are primarily interested in seeing "what's out there" and learning how to place a LINK+ order.
 


Now, it's time to submit your RESEARCH REPORTS to the class research archive.  The research archive is located in a Blackboard "Discussion Board."  To access Blackboard, log in at MyCalpoly, go to "Blackboard Access" and select "ENGL 512" from the classes you are taking; then click on "Discussion Board" and enter the "forum" for the topic you researching.  (I will create a "forum" for each author/text.) You can type your report directly into Blackboard, or save it as a Word file and submit it to the archive as an attachment.  

The FIRST report should be an account of what specific searches you tried, using what specific search terms, the number of results each search generated and how many of these results actually seem to be useful secondary sources on your topic (you do not need to list specific titles).  The subject line of this report should read "Link+ search results."  

Compile and submit to the class research archive a second REPORT listing ALL items ordered from LINK+, including complete "List of Works Cited" entries in CORRECT MLA BIBLIOGRAPHIC FORMAT.    Subject line of report should read "Link+ Orders 1" (subsequent Link+ orders will be listed as "Link+ Orders 2," "Link+ Orders 3," etc.).

NOTE: LINK+ can be used only to order BOOKS; it can't provide journal articles.  You can also use it to locate what the MLA Bibliography calls a "book article,"  an essay published in a BOOK containing an edited collection of essays.
 

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2005

Click here for Dr. Schwartz's Guide to Research Tools

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