help button Ask For Help
Skip Navigation Bar

Library Blogs

Library Resources

Skip News Bar

Department Blog

H/SS & Gov Info Services

this is the modern world…

August 28th, 2009 by David Michalski

The Oxford encyclopedia of the modern world : [1750 to the present]
Peter N. Stearns, editor in chief.

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008.

8 Volumes

Call no.
Shields Library Humanities/Social Sciences Reference D205 .O94 2008 Lib Use Only

Contents
Aborigines-business — Cairo-dust — Earth Day-heart disease — Hebrew language and literature-luxury — Macau-Oxfam — Pachinko-skyscrapers — Slave rebellions, American-white slavery — Wildlife-Zulu War ; index.

History, Modern — Encyclopedias.
Civilization, Modern — Encyclopedias.

From publisher’s web site…”
The breadth of knowledge offered within this multivolume set is astounding, with features spanning articles on countries, regions, and ethnic groups; themes involving social history, demography, family life, politics, economics, religion, thought, education, science and technology, and culture; events such as major wars; and extensive coverage of the United States. Detailed articles cover not only the major facts but the interpretations as well and are written for readers who are not specialists in the particular area. Enriched with over 800 halftones and 50 maps, this reference work is essential for any scholar, general reader, collector or curator interested in this rich and varied time in history…”

Posted in American Studies, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, History, Political Science, Sociology | No Comments Yet »

Anthropology 152: Human Evolution

August 6th, 2009 by Michael Winter

6 August 2009
Shields Library Instruction Room
ANT152 Human Evolution

Part 1. Locating known item. Periodical article.

  • McHenry, H.M. (1994). Behavioral Ecological Implication of early hominid body size. Journal of Human Evolution 27, 77-87.
  • Begossi, Alpina. (1992). The use of optimal foraging theory in the understanding of fishing strategies: A case from Sepetiba Bay (Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil). Human Ecology 20, 4: 463-475.

Sidebar: see “Anatomy of a Citation.”
http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/instruc/files/citation.pdf

Step 1: Choose Database/Subject Guides

  • Anthropology Plus
  • Biosis Previews
  • scholar.google.com

Step 2: Dealing with a zero posting (i.e. failure)–typos and other errors are common. Question:
What’s wrong with this picture (i.e. where’s the error in the cite?)

Step 3: try truncation/wildcard strategy: search root or stem of a word with # or *

Part 2. Locating known item: book. S.L. Washburn, ed. (1961). Social Life of Early Man. Chicago:
Aldine Publishing Company.

Step 1: Harvest Library Catalog for items held at UCD

Note: Catalogs contain records for items like books, maps, videos, etc–but not for articles, chapters, etc. I.e. for items added as wholes, not their constituent parts.

Melvyl: for items held at any of the 10 UC campuses

WorldCat for national and international coverage

Part 3. Topic search (or, alternatively put, search for item not yet known)

Step 1. Sidebar: Your interests? Review course materials. talk to instructor, browse an encyclopedia, a periodical index, consult a reference librarian.

http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/instruc/files/topic.pdf

Step 2. Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT)

Sample Biosis Previews search with limits

Optimal foraging theory 65
–anthropology 13
–Behavioral 20
–Article (document type) 15

Step 3. Paper A identified, “Use of OFT in fishing.” Skim abstract. Stay in Biosis Previews, click on title field.

Step 4. Skim paper——UC e-Links to go to Paper A.

Part 4. The Citation Trail.

Step 1. Need 3 refs cited by Paper A. (I.e. in Paper A’s bibliography)

Step 2. Locate the 3 cited papers. Back to UC e-Links

Step 3. Now find 3 papers citing/that cite Paper A

Sidebar: Reversing time’s arrow: “cited by” vs. “citing.”

When we look for the papers that cite Paper A, we start with Paper A’s date of publication, and we look forward in time—since the papers that eventually cite Paper A are still unwritten/unpublished when Paper A was published.

Citation Status of paper Direction of time’s arrow

  • Cited papers Back to past
  • Citing papers Forward to future

Michael Winter
Humanities & Social Sciences Librarian
288 Shields Library
100 NW Quad
UC Davis
mfwinter@ucdavis.edu/530-752-3058

Tags:
Posted in Anthropology | 2 Comments »

Paper-Aid: Calling all term paper authors, we can help.

May 12th, 2009 by David Michalski

Did you know the Humanities and Social Science Librarians offer research assistance to undergraduates working on term papers? If your professors require a term paper based on peer-reviewed research, we can help. We will show you how to engage the pressing questions, review the literature, evaluate sources, and assembly the evidence you need for term paper success.

Contact us by email, or come by the Humanities Social Sciences and Government Information Reference desk on the 2nd Floor of the Peter J. Shields Library and schedule an appointment with a librarian who knows your field. Appointments for one-on-one meetings usually last about 30 minutes, but can prepare you for a career of self-directed and critical information research. Past practice shows that Paper-Aid sessions improve grades.  Take advantage of this unique service by making an appointment your subject specialist librarian.

Posted in African and African American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Asian American Studies, Business / Economics, Chicano/a Studies, Comunications, East Asian Languages and Literature, East Asian Studies, Education, Film Studies, German Language and Literatures, Literatures in English, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Women and Gender Studies | No Comments Yet »