1. Library Research in
Aboriginal Studies
Jennifer Thiessen
Liaison Librarian, Education, Aboriginal Studies
James A. Gibson Library
November 2013

2. WELCOME
Our agenda:
• Library website overview
• Finding books
• Finding journal articles
• Search tips
• Where to find out more/get
help
giulia.forsythe

4. GETTING STARTED
• Pull out the main concepts/terms from your
topic
• Example topic: Native literature in Canada
• Key concepts: Native peoples, literature, Canada
• Synonyms:
• native* or first nations or aboriginal or
indigenous, etc.
• literature or writing, etc.
• Canada? North America? Ontario?

5. SUPERSEARCH

6. TRY IT OUT…
• Go to the Library website
• Look for the SuperSearch box
• Do a keyword search for First Nations. Now do a keyword
search for “First Nations”
• Is there a difference in results? Why?

7. MORE SEARCHING…
• How do you find books in SuperSearch?
• How about journal articles?
• What’s the difference?

8. BOOKS VS. ARTICLES
Books
Journal Articles
• Broad overview
• Longer
• Books take longer to
write/publish
• More historical info
• Focused on specific topic
• Shorter
• More current?

9. FINDING JOURNAL
ARTICLES
• WHY ARTICLES?
• Original research
• Supplement information
found first in books
• More up-to-date
• One perspective
• Use library databases

10. SEARCH TIPS
Tips:
• Limit to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals
• OR limit to newspapers/magazines
• Use a few tricks:
• Phrase searching: “first nations”
• canad*

11. MORE SEARCH TIPS…
Look for subject
headings/descriptors
“Get it” button looks for the full
text throughout all of the
Library’s databases

12. EFFECTIVE SEARCHING
• Keywords
• Pull out the main concepts/terms from your topic
• Synonyms e.g. native* or first nations or aboriginal or
indigenous, etc.
• Too many results?
• Use limits (peer-reviewed, date, language, etc.)
• Add additional keywords
• Too few results?
• Remove one or more keywords; go broader (e.g. search
Canada instead of Ontario)

13. TRY IT OUT…
• Find the Aboriginal Studies databases
• Go to Academic Search Complete
• Search for: first nations education
• How are the results arranged?
• How can you make your search more specific or more
meaningful?

14. FOR MORE HELP…
Visit the Aboriginal Studies Research Guide
Visit the resource page in your Sakai
See the Help pages
Contact the Library Help Desk
• 905-688-5550 x. 3233 or use email form
Contact your liaison librarian:
• Jennifer Thiessen (phone, chat, email)
jthiessen@brocku.ca
905-688-5550 x. 3573