Content last reviewed:
We [I] would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg people.
* NEW * Videos and resources produced by Ryan Tucci, First Year Experience Teaching and Learning Technician at MacOdrum Library.
Use reference materials for background information for your topic, or to find good keywords to use when searching databases. These are dictionaries, encyclopedias, guides, bibliographies, indexes and abstracts.
To find reference materials in the new search tool, perform a KEYWORD search
for example: Islam AND politics AND encyclop*
Examples:
- Oxford Reference (Online) Gateway to dictionaries and encyclopedias in Religion and Philosophy.
- SAGE Knowledge Encyclopedias
- Encyclopaedia Iranica / Ehsan Yarshater (1996-)
- Encyclopaedia Judaica / Fred Skolnik; Michael Berenbaum (2007)
- Encyclopaedia of Islam / H.A.R. Gibb et. al. (1960-) DS37.E523 (vols. 1-11)
- Encyclopedia of Religion / Lindsay Jones (2005)
- The Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion / Robert Wuthnow (1998)
- Encyclopaedia of the Qur'¯an / Jane Dammen McAuliffe (2001) BP133.E53 2001 (vols. 1-6)
- The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion / Stephan Schuhmacher, et. al. (1989) BL1005.L4813
- Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America / Rosemary Skinner Keller, et. al. (2006) BL458.E527 2006 (vols. 1-3)
- Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals and Festivals / Frank A. Salamone (2004) BL31.E525 2004
- Eastern Definitions : a Short Encyclopedia of Religions of the Orient / Edward Rice (1978) BL31.R52 (Online at Internet Archive)
- A Dictionary of Comparative Religion / S.G. F. Brandon (1970) BL31.D54 1970
- Oxford Scholarship Online
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is intellectual honesty and responsibility for academic work that you submit or work on with others. It involves commitment to the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.
Examples of actions that violate Academic Integrity
- Plagiarism
- presenting, whether intentional or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one’s own
- Collaboration without permission
- sharing work with other students or getting too much help from tutors or editors
- Cheating
- doing something that gives you an unfair advantage over others such as looking up answers during an exam
- Fabrication /Falsification of research
- making up research or altering results for an assignment
Cite Your Sources
- Use the style the professor says to use - it may be different for different classes
- Look for a tip sheet for the required style
- Use guides from the library's collection or respected universities
Get Help!
- Writing Services (CSAS)
- Library - Research Help - in person or online chat
- Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
- Test your knowledge with the Academic Integrity Quiz.
For more Information
- Academic Integrity at Carleton
- Copyrigh at Carleton
References
- Academic Integrity (University of Waterloo)
- Academic integrity (University Of Victoria)
Guides to literature reviews from universities:
- Conducting a Literature Review (Carleton University)
- The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It (University of Toronto)
- Academic writing: What is a literature review? (Simon Fraser University)
- Literature Review (Deakin University Library)
- Learn to Write a Review of Literature (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
- Guidelines for Writing a Literature Review (University of Minnesota, Duluth)
What is an Annotated Bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is an alphabetic list of research resources that includes an annotation (a description and/or brief critique) for each item. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the substance, relevance and quality of each source. Annotations appear after each item in the bibliography.
Annotations do not affect the citation style. Therefore, use APA, MLA, Chicago, or another citation style of your choice in the same way you would when preparing a normal bibliography.
What should each annotation include?
An annotation is a paragraph which may contain the following points:
- information about the author, his/her qualifications
- main arguments and purpose of the work
- intended audience and level of difficulty
- the work's main recommendations or conclusions
- your critique/assessment of the work (describing biases, integrity, and usefulness of the work for your essay)
- your instructor may also request that specific information be included/excluded, so check with him/her or your TA if you are unsure
Example:
McNab, David T. "Who is on Trial? Teme-Augama Anishnabai Land Rights and George Ironside, Junior: Re-Considering Oral Tradition." Canadian Journal of Native Studies [Canada] 18.1 (1998): pp. 117-33.
This research note is an examination of significant documents that were presented during the litigation of the Temagami court case concerning land rights, the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850 and annuities. McNab argues that the oral tradition of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai is accurate, showing that they never participated in the treaty. He provides a good narrative about aboriginal oral history tradition which is intended to generate historical debate on this issue. The endnotes and list of references are both informative and especially useful for further research.
Useful Web Guides
Writing an Annotated Bibliography (University of Toronto)
How to Write an Annotated Bibliography (Simon Fraser University)
How to Write Annotated Bibliographies (Memorial University)
Useful video: Writing an Annotated Bibliography
Book borrowing Information:
- Undergraduate students may borrow an item for 120 days (with unlimited renewals subject to recall when another student places a hold)
- You can also borrow books from the University of Ottawa
- If a book you want is checked out, you can use the Hold/Request button to request it
- To renew your books, place requests, connect to e-books, journals, & databases from off-campus you only need your MyCarletonOne login and password
Search Tool
The library has Omni, a search tool that lets you do just one search to find books, newspaper articles, journal articles, etc. You can use our various journal article databases to find journal articles, but this search tool gives you another option that lets you do both at the same time.
1. Click on Advanced Search and key in your search statement.
2. When you get your results, use the filters on the left side of the screen to further refine your results. Find relevant books, eBooks and chapters within books in our library, or journal articles, etc.
If something is available in paper copy in the library, this search interface will give you the floor location and the call number (which you need in order to find the item on the shelf). If something is available online, click on the "Full-text online" link.
Search Tips
Only the titles of journals are included in the search tool: use the databases to search for individual article titles.
- If you know the title of the item you seek, perform a TITLE search.
- If you know the author, perform an AUTHOR search. Enter the author's name with the surname first.
- Otherwise, try a KEYWORD/SUBJECT TERM search:
- Use keywords only, do not search using a full sentence.
- Combine keywords for different ideas with AND
Example: buddh* AND mysticism
- Combine synonyms or similar words for an idea with OR
Example: religion AND film* OR "motion pictures" - Use the truncation symbol * when you want to allow for several spellings or variations on a word
Example: (women OR feminis*) AND islam
Keyword Searching
When keyword searching, if a keyword exists in the subject heading or in the title, the resource is much more likely to be about that topic. You can construct sophisticated searches by specifying that your search terms must exist in particular fields of the record.
When you find a relevant title, scroll down to see the subject headings.
Example: Mysticism -- Buddhism
Other subject headings
- Religion and literature
- Religion and culture
- Religion and science
- Atheism
- Death - Religious Aspects
- Rites and ceremonies
- Mysticism
A few book titles:
- American Christianity : the Continuing Revolution / Stephen Cox (2014) (online) (online)
- An Introduction to the World's Major Religions : a College Textbook / David W. Atkinson (1987) BL80.2.A845
- Handbook of Denominations in the United States / Frank Spencer Mead, et. a. (1965) (Online at Internet Archive) ; (2005: print)
To find documentaries, try a keyword search but restrict the Material Type to Video/Film, or Resource Type to Videos.
For more information on searching, check this page, Omni Search Tips.
eBooks
eBooks can be found by author, title, keyword/subject terms searching.
Do a search and then limit your search to retrieve only eBooks by Content type.
Other Search Tools:
Academic Journals vs. Popular Magazines and Newspapers - do you know the difference? Check in Ulrichsweb to be sure!
Why use journals?
- They are more up-to-date than most books.
- They are “peer reviewed” by other scholars in the field who check for academic integrity.
- They are concise and focused on a specific aspect of a topic.
- Every article will contain cited references that appear as footnotes and/or bibliographies.
- Most are now in online and accessible anytime and from off campus.
For best results do a search using keywords or phrases in a subject database to find references to scholarly articles.
When a database gives you an option, always limit to scholarly (or academic or peer reviewed) journals.
Use the suggested databases below to find scholarly journal articles. For interdisciplinary topics in religion, consult the library's subject guides for additional databases and key resources.
A few tips:
1. Look at all writings by a relevant author and co-authors.
2. Explore the bibliography of a relevant article for more articles.
3. Discover if the articles have been cited since publication. Scroll further down to Citation Searching for information and examples.
- ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
- Arts & Humanities Database
- Old Testament Abstracts
- New Testament Abstracts
- Index Islamicus
- Index to Jewish Periodicals
- Lexis Advance Quicklaw
- Sociological Abstracts
- America History and Life
- Historical Abstracts
- Philosopher's Index
- Gale Literature
- International bibliography of the history of religions (1952-1973) STF BL31 .BIBL .I53
- Catholic periodical index STF BX801 BIBL .C299 ; Bar Ilan's Judaic Library (2007) BM495.B36 2007
Databases
Canadian sources
- CPI.Q - limit to option Peer Reviewed Journals
- Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database - limit to option Peer Reviewed
- America: History and Life includes N. and S. America
Also consult multidisciplinary databases such as:
Good to know:
- Within a database, limit your search to scholarly articles when it is appropriate to disregard other resources.
- Never limit to full-text only as we may subscribe to the journal you find from another vendor. Use the Get it! icon to search for the full text when it is not immediately available.
- Use available options to search more than one database at a time.
- Look for the option to set up an RSS feed or to Create an Alert. You are then notified when a new entry is added to the database that meets your search criteria.
- Use the Interlibrary Loans RACER form to request items not held at Carleton’s library.
Citation Searching
Citation searching will help you identify important journals and articles.
Use Journal Citation Reports to evaluate and compare the impact of scholarly journals. While arts journals are not included in the JCR, data on key social science titles is available. The impact factor (IF) measures the average number of citations to articles published in a journal.
Use Citation Indexes to find if a particular author and/or paper has been cited by other authors.
Web of Science
Select Cited Reference Search from above the search box.
You have the article
"The cultural kindling of spiritual experiences" in Current Anthropology Volume 55, 1 December 2014, Pages S333-S343
Enter the author in cited author box
Cassaniti J* (use surname, first initial and truncation symbol)
Enter year of publication.
From the list, select the article and click on Finish Search at the top of the list.
Results show the article has been cited 22 times - the most recent in 2019.
Note the option Create Alert to be notified of any future citations of this article.
Scopus
Select Author Search from menu bar.
Enter author's name and affiliation if known.
cassaniti J*
Select displayed result. On right hand side all published articles by the author will be listed.Click on article for citing references.
Remember to see if an citing article has itself been cited.
