Next challenge time!!!
(this means you have one week to complete the last challenge, if you haven't yet, let's see those annotated bibliographies!)
This challenge is to obtain/read/get/digest 5 new to you sources. As always, the subject is up to you. The challenge here is to find NEW sources, even if you think you've read/looked at/found all there is to find. OR, see this challenge as a way to start looking in a new direction!
As before, you need to share your spiffy new findings publicly, so that our collective knowledge is advanced (I prefer the annotated bibliography format, but just a plain bibliography is also fine). Once you complete the challenge, leave me a note (and preferably a link!), and you'll go on the list to receive a shiny something at some unspecified time :)
Here are some hints that I use a lot (if you have another preferred method, go for it).
1. Follow a bibliography "backwards". You are reading a book about...wooden boxes. There is a mention of a book on nails. You check the bibliography...GO ORDER THAT SOURCE. Now, continue this thread. The book on nails refers to a paper on the way nails were made..go order that! (a note on how to get stuff comes later)
2. Use Google Scholar (this link is the center bookmark on my browser, grin). http://scholar.google.com/
The results here give you scholarly publications, books, dissertations, and thesis. Note a few very useful tips: if you go to the advanced search, you can set a date of publication range. You can search by author. You can search by subject, or publication. When you get the results, look for links to full PDFs on the right hand side. Many articles, even if you don't get full access, will let you read the abstract (technical summary), and often the bibliography. Also note that under each result are several blue links: cited by, related articles, cached, and versions. All of these can be highly useful. Clicking on "cited by" takes you to every single scholarly work which has cited this paper. It is like going backwards in bibliography-land. Related articles takes you to all the articles that Google thinks are on the same subject. Cached is for old copies (sometimes free!), and versions also sometimes has links to free copies of these articles.
My BIGGEST hint for using Google Scholar is to KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PATH. Write notes of the search terms you used. Bookmark intermediate sites/articles/paths. Open interesting looking links in a new tab so you don't loose your first "find".
3. World Cat (and simultaneous use of Google Books). So, as you are backtracking through a bibliography, you see a reference to a book...but how to GET IT??? First, try WorldCat. This shows worldwide library holdings. Next, try Google Books, see if it is actually a book you need (many books have excerpts on Google Books, if the whole thing isn't there). Then I search Amazon, and Abe books, to see if it is really cheap. If it is expensive, I go to the local library with ALL THE INFORMATION on the book written down and interlibrary loan it. Many libraries can also do this for articles.
4. Interlibrary loan is your friend, your ally, your best way to get stuff. Get to know the librarian. Return your books on time.
5. Networking!!! (and use of the internets). ASK AROUND. ASK THE EXPERTS. Post to facebook. Also, USE THE INTERNET. Search for what you are looking for. Follow other people's bibliography backwards. Try to find the museum, and write to them about it. If you know one, ask a "finder". A "finder" is a person who has some magical connection with search engines. Sometimes they speak another language, sometimes they know how to work a specific database, but a lot of the time they just have practiced and know where to look. If you get stuck, see if there is a "finder" in your area of expertise. You'll know them because they post freaking amazing things that you've never even heard of before, on a pretty regular basis :)
As usual, you have about a month to do the challenge, or until I remember and declare it is done (and time for the next one, grin).
This challenge is to obtain/read/get/digest 5 new to you sources. As always, the subject is up to you. The challenge here is to find NEW sources, even if you think you've read/looked at/found all there is to find. OR, see this challenge as a way to start looking in a new direction!
As before, you need to share your spiffy new findings publicly, so that our collective knowledge is advanced (I prefer the annotated bibliography format, but just a plain bibliography is also fine). Once you complete the challenge, leave me a note (and preferably a link!), and you'll go on the list to receive a shiny something at some unspecified time :)
Here are some hints that I use a lot (if you have another preferred method, go for it).
1. Follow a bibliography "backwards". You are reading a book about...wooden boxes. There is a mention of a book on nails. You check the bibliography...GO ORDER THAT SOURCE. Now, continue this thread. The book on nails refers to a paper on the way nails were made..go order that! (a note on how to get stuff comes later)
2. Use Google Scholar (this link is the center bookmark on my browser, grin). http://scholar.google.com/
The results here give you scholarly publications, books, dissertations, and thesis. Note a few very useful tips: if you go to the advanced search, you can set a date of publication range. You can search by author. You can search by subject, or publication. When you get the results, look for links to full PDFs on the right hand side. Many articles, even if you don't get full access, will let you read the abstract (technical summary), and often the bibliography. Also note that under each result are several blue links: cited by, related articles, cached, and versions. All of these can be highly useful. Clicking on "cited by" takes you to every single scholarly work which has cited this paper. It is like going backwards in bibliography-land. Related articles takes you to all the articles that Google thinks are on the same subject. Cached is for old copies (sometimes free!), and versions also sometimes has links to free copies of these articles.
My BIGGEST hint for using Google Scholar is to KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PATH. Write notes of the search terms you used. Bookmark intermediate sites/articles/paths. Open interesting looking links in a new tab so you don't loose your first "find".
3. World Cat (and simultaneous use of Google Books). So, as you are backtracking through a bibliography, you see a reference to a book...but how to GET IT??? First, try WorldCat. This shows worldwide library holdings. Next, try Google Books, see if it is actually a book you need (many books have excerpts on Google Books, if the whole thing isn't there). Then I search Amazon, and Abe books, to see if it is really cheap. If it is expensive, I go to the local library with ALL THE INFORMATION on the book written down and interlibrary loan it. Many libraries can also do this for articles.
4. Interlibrary loan is your friend, your ally, your best way to get stuff. Get to know the librarian. Return your books on time.
5. Networking!!! (and use of the internets). ASK AROUND. ASK THE EXPERTS. Post to facebook. Also, USE THE INTERNET. Search for what you are looking for. Follow other people's bibliography backwards. Try to find the museum, and write to them about it. If you know one, ask a "finder". A "finder" is a person who has some magical connection with search engines. Sometimes they speak another language, sometimes they know how to work a specific database, but a lot of the time they just have practiced and know where to look. If you get stuck, see if there is a "finder" in your area of expertise. You'll know them because they post freaking amazing things that you've never even heard of before, on a pretty regular basis :)
As usual, you have about a month to do the challenge, or until I remember and declare it is done (and time for the next one, grin).