REM 100 Term Paper R esearch

1. REM 100Term Paper Research Paul MacDonell: pmac@sfu.ca Ask a Librarian: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/askus

2. 7 Steps of Library Research • Identify your research question • Define your information needs • Brainstorm terminology • Select search tools • Apply power searching techniques • Evaluate search results • Track your citations Then… write / re-start / write… REM 100 – Winter 2010

3. “Louisiana coastal land loss is dramatically depicted by these various views [of a ] USGS benchmark set in concrete in 1932 on dry land near the Elliot home on Bayou Couba, which is approximately 13 miles southwest of New Orleans…The benchmark now sits in approximately 2 feet of water, about 15 feet from the shoreline of Couba Island.”Historical and projected coastal Louisiana land changes: 1978-2050: USGS Open File Report 03-334, (Revised January 2004). REM 100 – Winter 2010

4. Katrina and Wetland Protection “Louisiana’s unique wetlands provide our state with a buffer zone from natural disasters such as hurricanes. But our wetlands have been eroding…the federal government must join with the people of Louisiana to preserve America’s wetlands.” Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, quoted on the Times-Picayune Newspaper blog 8/29/2005 and retrieved from http://www.historycommons.org Decades of wetland loss has brought the Gulf Coast many kilometers closer to the below sea level city of New Orleans: http://www.lca.gov/images/landloss11x17.pdfhttp://www.lca.gov/images/landloss8x11.pdf Wikipedia Page on the Wetlands of Louisiana REM 100 – Winter 2010

5. Identify Your Research Question • Environmental problems caused by human institutions, attitudes, behaviors • Analyze issue from a social sciences / social theory perspective REM 100 – Winter 2010

6. Define Your Information Needs • Analyze the parameters of your topic: • WHAT (main topic, what about that topic) • WHY (significance) • WHEN (currency) • WHERE (geographic) • HOW (perspectives, type of information) • WHO (significant people, organizations) • Develop an outline – refine as you research REM 100 – Winter 2010

7. Brainstorm Terminology • Keywords • Synonyms / broader / narrower / related • Names of people, organizations as search terms • TERMINOLOGY EXERCISE REM 100 – Winter 2010

8. Power Searching Techniques • “Phrase searching” • Truncat* • Logical operators: AND, OR • Keywords => subject headings • TRY IT! REM 100 – Winter 2010

9. Scholarly Journal Articles • How do you recognize a scholarly or research journal article? REM 100 – Winter 2010

10. Potential sources? You judge! • Perin, Monica. (2003, July 11). Houston oil giant backs research project on Louisiana wetlands. Houston Business Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2010 from http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2003/07/14/story7.html • van Heerden, Ivor. (2007). The failure of the New Orleans levee system following Hurricane Katrina and the pathway forward. Public Administration Review, 67(suppl.), 24-35. • Frank, Christine. Hurricane Katrina: a disaster in the making for decades.Socialist Action. Retrieved February 23, 2010 from http://www.socialistaction.org/frank3.htm REM 100 – Winter 2010

11. Last Steps • Organize your information and write your paper • Help? Student Learning Commons • Cite your sources, e.g. APA • Additional questions? AskUs REM 100 – Winter 2010

12. Final Step • How do you know when you’ve done enough research? • Ask a Librarian: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/askus REM 100 – Winter 2010

13. A stand of cypress trees near Indian Bayou in the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana Good luck with your research! REM 100 – Winter 2010