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Theatre & New Dance - Library Resources

Mind Mapping

The qualities of Leonardo da Vinci stemming from four main branches: whole-brain, experience, self-education, and application

  • Determine your search terms (Think about terms, synonyms, ideas you can simplify into strings of terms that a computer or search engine can understand)
  • Think about synonyms to your terms, write them down or map them out
  • For each term think of some broader and narrower terms to help guide your results
     
  • Boolean Operators link concepts and are used to broaden or narrow your search. Briefly, here's how they work:
    • AND - finds results with your all search terms.  AND narrows your search.
    • OR - finds results with any of your search terms.  OR broadens your search.
    • NOT - finds results with only one of your search terms.  NOT narrows your search.
       
  • Structure a search query using OR, NOT, AND, (), “”
    • Example:
      (modern OR contemporary) AND "costume design"
      Celtic NOT Irish
  • Wildcards & Truncation:
    • ?—enter a question mark to perform a single character wildcard search. For example, type wom?n to search for records that contain the strings woman, women, and so forth.
    • *—enter an asterisk to perform a multiple character wildcard search. For example, type cultur* to search for records that contain strings, such as culture, cultural, and culturally

Finding Relevant Resources

The CRAAP Test can help in determining whether or not a resource is relevant to your research.

  • Currency: timeliness of the information

    • When was it published? Has it been revised or updated? 

  • Relevance: how it relates to the topic 

    • Is it speaking to your intended topic? Is it too complex or not complex enough?

  • Authority: what is the intention and who is the audience?

    • Is it meant to be factual? An opinion piece? Purposefully confusing/convincing? Does it appear to be objective or impartial?

  • Accuracy: is it reliable information

    • Peer Reviewed? Who is the author? What are their credentials? Who is the publisher? Does the author cite other sources? Is it well researched and is their evidence to substantiate claims?

  • Purpose: is it meant to sell, entertain or educate? 

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

"Primary sources originate in the time period that historians are studying.  They vary a great deal. They may include personal memoirs, government documents, transcripts of legal proceedings, oral histories and traditions, archaeological and biological evidence, and visual sources like paintings and photographs."

Storey, William Kelleher.  Writing History: A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18)

"Secondary works reflect on earlier times. Typically, they are books and articles by writers who are interpreting the events and primary sources that you are studying. Secondary works vary a great deal, from books by professional scholars to journalistic accounts.  Evaluate each secondary work on its own merits, particularly on how well it uses primary sources as evidence."

(Storey, William Kelleher. Writing History: A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18-19).