Writing Analytically, 6th Edition - Rosenwasser, David & Stephen, Jill [185]
Start with Indexes, Specialized Dictionaries, Abstracts, and Bibliographies
These reference sources can rapidly provide you with both a broad perspective on your subject and a summary of what particular sources contain. An index offers a list of titles directing you to scholarly journals; often this list is sufficient to give you a clearer idea of the kinds of topics about which writers in the field are conversing. Compilations of abstracts and annotated bibliographies provide more information—anywhere from a few sentences to a few pages that summarize each source. (See the section at the end of this chapter on abstracts and how to write them.)
Here are a few of the most commonly used indexes, bibliographies, and abstracts:
Art Abstracts
Business Source Elite
ERIC (Education)
MLA (Modern Language Association)
PubMed
SocAbs
Specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias are sometimes extraordinarily useful in sketching the general terrain for a subject, and they often include bibliographical leads as well. Here are some titles, ranging from the expected to the eccentric:
Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Encyclopedia of American History
Encyclopedia of Bioethics
Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice
Encyclopedia of Economics
Encyclopedia of Native American Religions
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Encyclopedia of Psychology
Encyclopedia of Unbelief
Encyclopedia of World Art
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Computers
Encyclopedia of Medical History
McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Oxford English Dictionary
Most of the resources just listed also include book reviews. In addition, the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature locates reviews as well as articles in popular— general audience—publications such as Time and Newsweek. For a broader range of titles, you might also consult Book Review Index, Book Review Digest, and Subject Guide to Books in Print.
Indexes of Scholarly Journals
Nearly every discipline has its own major index, one most consulted by scholars. Here are just a few: MLA (literary criticism), ERIC (education), PsycInfo (psychology), Historical Abstracts (non-U.S. history), Sociological Abstracts (sociology), and PubMed (medicine).
When professors refer to bibliographic research, they probably mean research done with indexes. Again, these indexes are specific to particular subject areas. Their coverage is not broad, but deep and scholarly. These are the indexes to consult when seeking the most scholarly information in your area of study. Although the full text is often not included, the indexing provides information sufficient to track down the complete article.
These indexes are a great aid in evaluating the scholarly merit of a publication, as they usually eliminate any reference that isn’t considered scholarly by the academy. For example, MLA only indexes literary criticism that appears in peer-reviewed journals and academically affiliated books. So, consider the publications that appear in these indexes to have the academic “seal of approval.”
For more information on this crucial aspect of research, see the headings later in this chapter entitled “Subscriber-Only Databases” and “Four Steps Toward Productive Research Across the Disciplines.”
Finding Your Sources: Articles and Books
The resources above will not only provide you with an excellent overview of your topic, but also direct you to authoritative books and journal articles. The next step is to find out how to access the full text of those books and articles online or in print form. Your library’s online catalog will direct you to books in your local library. You may wish to take advantage of this time in the catalog to run a keyword search on your topic. Watch the subject headings that appear at the bottom