Area studies and comparative politics

Think of these handouts as lecture notes for what Bruce Pencek said (tried to say... meant to say... should have said... ) in class or a research consultation. 

Be a goal-directed, situationally aware searcher

Bruce Pencek's system of search techniques to discover and acquire relevant research sources efficiently -- so you can manage your time and effort. These tips will be incrementally updated as the VT Libraries' discovery system and catalog, Discovery Search (aka Primo), is refined.

Handouts

I. When to search "the literature"... for the feasibility of the research plan, for primary and secondary sources relevant to the research question, and for making sure you've covered all bases on your answer to your question when you write your paper.

II. Situationally aware (re)searching. We suffer from too much information.  So identifying your goal, planning ahead, and then applying what you learn in each stage are vital to research success.  This handout offers prompts and a sequence of stages -- and the appropriate tools for each -- to keep your research on target.

• Generative artificial intelligence (ChatGPT, Copilot, Genesis...) is only as effective as the prompts you give it: write a mushy question or give a vague instruction, and the AI will give you a vague, mushy (and sometimes bogus) answer. The same habits of mind and tools that enable sound manual searching also help you think about how to direct AIs precisely to the information you need.

III. Operationalize and organize. A one-page grid framework for laying our your search as part of your research design, aligned with social science concerns for identifying concepts/variables, relationships, explanations, and evidence.

IV. Get tactical. Tips to give you better search results in less time.

• What's the use of Discovery Search?  Pencek's take on the uses and disadvantages of the big, unlabeled search system on the VT Libraries' homepage, but applicable to similar systems used in other libraries.
• What kind of "article" am I looking at?  Some pointers for when you encounter things that look like articles so you can decide if they are appropriate for your project.  Compares characteristics, content, and information timelines for sorting out popular, trade, and academic publications.
• Bibliographic speed dating. Illustrates use of overlooked search history (aka recent searches) functions in many subject databases to speed you through finding sources relevant to  your  research question. 
• Search better using power words. Accelerate finding relevant books by apply this list of "inside libraries" keywords in VT Discovery Search, other library catalogs, and even many article databases.
• You can't search NEAR enough: "proximity" searching.  Reduce noisy results in full-text databases (and Google) by using the precise NEAR command (and its relatives) instead of the clumsy Boolean AND. Includes table of proximity syntax for several database and publisher platforms.

Fine print:  Pencek's handouts are published in this guide under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. So you can adapt, slice, and dice the files for reuse, provided that you give me appropriate credit, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests that Bruce Pencek endorses you or your (re)use of his content.

Odyssey, our "learning object repository," offers a growing list of how-to videos and handouts, about the mechanics of using Virginia Tech Libraries' digital and physical resources, including

• Discovery Search 
  • Overview
  • Basic searching
• Finding and checking out printed books in Newman Library
• ILLiad interlibrary loan for getting your hands on books and articles
  • Registering for ILLiad (Blacksburg users) (Extended campus users)
  • Requesting and using ILL materials (Blacksburg users) (Extended campus users)
• Database basics
  • Using different databases successfully (common features and functions behind different interfaces
  • Keyword basics
  • What's in a results list.

Citing books, articles, and government publications

Citing maps and data

Your responsibility to cite your sources isn't limited to books and articles.

Underneath good citations are good practices to manage your notes and evidence (qualitative and quantitative alike).

Data management plans, long required by most major funders in STEM research grants, are increasingly expected for empirical social science and interdisciplinary humanities funded research as well.

Scholars working in those domains will find are some good tips in  Data management plans for historians: How to document and protect your research by Susan L. Collins, a librarian at Carnegie Mellon University. (Perspectives on History, October 2017).

Virginia Tech upholds the principles of academic and professional integrity through several honor systems. Expectations, procedures and penalties depend on the affiliation of the student.

• Undergraduate Academic Integrity and Honor Code Policy and Manual.
• Graduate Honor System and Graduate Honor System Constitution.
• Corps of Cadets Honor Manual
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Professional Code of Conduct Handbook
• VTC School of Medicine Conduct and Professionalism or Teacher/Learner Compact and Honor Code.

Outside the realm of academic integrity, the university’s Student Code of Conduct sets standards of behavior for students at all levels and lays out procedures for dealing with violations.