AFRI 3001 - Globalization and Popular Culture in Africa

Pick a research topic:

• Read your syllabus carefully (assignment instructions).
• Pick a topic that interests you and meets the assignment instructions.
• Narrow or broaden the scope of your topic so that it is "doable."
  • What's scope? Scope refers to the "people, places and things" or "who, what, when and where" that you are studying. For example, Nigeria or another country? Children or adults? Literature or globalization?

Identify key concepts and keywords to search:

Reference materials are a valuable resource when doing research.

Use dictionaries to help with terminology. Encyclopedias provide background information, an overview of topics and issues and often lead you to further readings.

• Africa an encyclopedia of culture and society
• Dictionary of globalization
• New encyclopedia of Africa
• Music Online: Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
• Oxford Music Online

Online resources like Google and Wikipedia, while not always accurate, are a great way to orient yourself in a topic, since they usually give a basic overview with a brief history and any key points. Reminder: you cannot use Wikipedia as a source in your bibliography!

Step 1: Write your topic out in sentence or question form

• How is African slavery portrayed in African writing?

Step 2: Break your topic sentence up into main ideas or keywords

• Africa, slavery, writing

Step 3: Think of synonyms or alternate words to describe each concept

• writing - literature

Tip: Use dictionaries, encyclopedias, or a thesaurus to find alternate words.

Step 4: Add "Boolean operators" (AND, OR) to make a complete search statement

• Use AND to limit or narrow your search to results that mention all of your keywords.
• Use OR to broaden your search to include synonyms.
• Africa AND slavery AND writing
• Africa AND slavery AND (writing OR literature) - Note: you can use as many synonyms for each keyword but OR terms must be bracketed for each term.

Step 5: Add wildcards to search for all possible word endings

A wildcard is usually represented by a *. This is also called truncation.

Your final search string will look like this:

• (writ* OR literature) AND Africa* AND slave*

Step 6: Consider Key Phrase searching

Some databases search each word separately. To ensure that your words are evaluated as a key phrase, enclose them in double quotation marks.

• "human rights"

Step 7: Evaluate your results

If you are finding too many or too few results, try these tricks:

To broaden your search (find more):

• Find synonym for each keyword.
• Search for a broader concept ('Africa' instead of 'Kenya').
• Use wildcards/truncation.

To narrow your search (find fewer):

• Add another concept or idea to your search with AND
• Use more specific words ('Kenya' instead of 'Africa').

The library's search tool OMNI is on the library homepage and lets you do just one search to find books, newspaper articles, journal articles, and other types of resources.

Use the Step-by-Step guide above to create your search string.

SEARCH TIPS:

• Use keywords only, do not search using a full sentence. OMNI is not like Google. You cannot type in a question or sentence and get results.
• Use an online thesaurus to help find synonyms for your keywords.
• Use the Step-by-Step Guide to Building your Search above to create your search string.

After doing your search limit or narrow by:

• Books or Peer-Reviewed Journals
• Other Resource Types
• Publication Date
• Subject
• Language
• Location

More information available here.

Omni Searching on the library homepage

How do I get material the Library does not own?

You can order journal articles and print material directly from OMNI now. This service is free and has a very quick turnaround.

You must be logged in to your Library Account to use this service.

Journal articles will be emailed to you and can be available within a few hours.

Print material will be available at the Library Services Desk and you will be notified by email. You can even have your material sent to another university for pick up. For example, if you live downtown, you may want to have your material sent to the University of Ottawa Library.

Watch this video to see how it is done!

If you need assistance with this, contact the Library Services Desk:

• Library.Services@carleton.ca
• 613-520-2600 ext. 2734

Also of note: eBooks: Black Women Writers: Black Women Writers is a searchable online database containing the writings of black women from North America, Africa, the Caribbean, and the rest of the African Diaspora.

Use the same Search Tips as found above in Find Books or see the Step-by-Step Guide to Building your Search. The databases are not like Google. You cannot search an entire question or sentence.

Tip: Most databases provide a way to restrict the results of a search to peer-reviewed or academic articles. This may be done differently from database to database.

• Literature:
  • Gale Literature
  • MLA International Bibliography
  • Literary Resource Center
  • Black Women Writers (Books and writings)
• Art & Architecture
  • Art Full Text
  • Artbibliographies Modern
• Music
  • Music Index Online
  • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
• Politics and Globalization
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • International Political Science Abstracts
  • PAIS Index
  • Africa Confidential (News)
• Religion
  • ATLA Religion Database
• Society
  • Sociological Abstracts
  • Sociology Database
  • Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts
• Multidisciplinary
  • Project MUSE
  • Google Scholar
  • JSTOR
  • Oxford Journals Online
  • Scholars Portal Journals

DO NOT LIMIT yourself to these databases alone. If you are doing a topic that is economic in nature, check the databases listed under Economics, or if your paper has a feminist slant you will want to look at the databases listed under Women's and Gender Studies. Here is a complete list of Databases by Subject.

Research Skills Tips:

• Start broad, then dive into the specifics. Get a good overview of your topic (see information above in Getting Started...). Then start narrowing down to more specific ideas.
• Learn how to recognize a quality source. Not every source is reliable, so it’s crucial that you recognize good sources. To determine a reliable source, use your analytical skills and critical thinking. Ask yourself the following questions:
  • Does this source agree with other sources I have found?
  • Is the author an expert in the field?
  • Does the author’s point of view have a conflict of interest regarding this topic?
• Verify information from several sources. The internet is a big place, and, for the most part, anyone can say whatever they want online—many websites don’t evaluate their content for factual accuracy. Use the CRAAP test to help determine the accuracy of online information.
• Stay organized
• Use the Library!

Reading Academic (Peer-Reviewed) Articles

Reading your academic articles is great but you must comprehend them as well! Peer-reviewed articles are full of academic language that can sometimes be difficult to understand. While reading:

• Use a dictionary to identify words, terminology and ideas you do not understand
• Use a highlighter to identity quotes and sections to paraphrase when you go to start writing
• Make notes in the margins
• Read the article at least twice!

Get more help comprehending your academic/peer-reviewed articles HERE.

Writing Tips:

Search OMNI on the library homepage for Academic Writing.

Help is available on campus at the Writing Services.

You may find the following writing resources helpful as well:

• Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Student research and report writing : from topic selection to the complete paper
• ​Grammar and style

Citation ~ Avoid Plagiarism

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to plagiarize is "to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own [or] use (another's production) without crediting the source".

5 tips to avoid plagiarism:

1. TAKE NOTES: writing down page numbers and references throughout your research is a good way to save time when you need to quote and cite sources.
2. NEVER copy and paste material unless you cite it properly.
3. At the end of each paper/report you must CITE ALL SOURCES you have used, whether you quote them directly or paraphrase the ideas.
4. LEARN AND USE citation style guides: Citing Your Sources
5. When in doubt, ask for help!

Other Citation resources

• This is an excellent video on paraphrasing which can be a little tricky.
• Paraphrasing (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
• OWL (Purdue Online Writing Lab) MLA
• Academic Integrity @ Carleton University

Please contact me for individualized assistance. I am more than happy to help!

• African Studies Subject Guide
• A - Z listing of numerous library topics such as Off-Campus Login Help and Choosing an Essay Topic.
• Visit the Research Help Page.
• Ask a librarian online or by text

If you are interested in figuring out library research on you own, try the Choose your Own Research Adventure pages.