4 Taking stock of what is known: The use of library
Biswajit Ghosh
Contents
1. Objective
2. Introduction
3. Learning Outcome
4. Searching Relevant Literature
5. Using the Library
Self Check Exercise 1:
6. Sources of Literature
6.1. Reference Books
6.2. Journals
6.3. Encyclopaedia and Dictionaries
6.4. Official Document
6.5. Mass Media Output
6.6. Doctoral Disertation
6.7.Indexes, Abstracts and Reviews in Social Sciences
6.8. Electronic Database
6 9. Avoid Plagiarism
Self-check Exercise 2:
7. Issues Concerning Use of Secondary Literature
Self-check Exercise 3:
8. Referencing the Work of Others
10. Summary
11. Bibliography
1. Objective
In this module you will learn about the uses of library and other sources of literature required for conducting any sociological research. As review of existing literature is a vital aspect of building one’s own argument about the need and objective of research, you will be introduced to different printed, documentary and electronic resources for taking stock of what is already known on a particular research topic.
2. Introduction
· All research begins with a review of existing literature.
· Such review suggests not only the need for current research but guides the contours of such research.
As the term ‘research’ literally signifies searching for new insights or take note of new developments in the field of enquiry, the essential task for any researcher is to take stock of what is already known. Research is not ‘reproduction’ of opinions of other scholars, it is rather use of such literature to develop an argument or to develop a distinctive position on the subject. The basic objective of any research endeavour is to a) reject an established explanation/theory, b) modify them, and/or c) strengthen them. A social research must also have relevance, a depth of concern for social issues. How would one prove the relevance of any research or the uniqueness of its objectives? It is mainly done by relating the research questions with the broad body of existing literature in the field. Hence, any research automatically involves a review of existing literature to find out what is known about the topic. It then becomes possible to critically examine the published and unpublished materials and raise significant questions about any gap in research. The researcher in question may then proceed to find answers to new queries. A review of existing literature is also helpful to clarify concepts and their measurements. It also frames the orientation of the scholar and removes the possibility of any unnecessary ‘duplication of efforts’ (Goode and Hatt 1981: 103). Such review, therefore, suggests not only the need and significance of current research but guides the contours of that research by raising relevant questions. Form such a point of view, the literature review is not only a ‘vehicle’ for learning to increase knowledge and understanding, it is also a ‘facilitator’ for identification of topic, support a methodology, provide a context or change research direction (Bruce 1994: 223)
· Literature review involves skills and deep thinking, and it is ongoing.
Literature review involves a great deal of time and energy at the early stage of research. Hence, it is expected that the scholar use maximum use of her/his ability to read actively and critically (Bryman 2008:
82). In order to do so, she/he should do the following:
● Take notes including the details of what is being read as these references are also to be listed in Bibliography.
● As any review is more than just summary of the material, use of critical reading skills will be helpful to move beyond mere description and identify the significance and contribution of the work. In other words, the literature is to be used to develop and sustain an argument.
● The scholar should be careful to relate the findings of a literature with his/her research queries. It would then be possible to locate his/her particular research questions within the tradition of research.
● The scholar should bear in mind that she/he will have to return to the points raised in the literature review while examining his/her own findings. If the arguments of any literature are finally found to be not connected to these findings, then one might argue that this literature is irreverent for this research.
● The review must assist the scholar to develop arguments. Hence, he/she should not review any irrelevant material.
● The review should continue till the end of research as the initial review might have to be revised in view of some new findings. This would also be helpful to allow a full and exhaustive coverage of the literature from published and unpublished sources in the report.
3. Learning Outcome
This module would acquaint you with the types of resources available and the sources of such resources to carry out a literature survey before carrying out any research. It will also introduce the ethical aspect of research by inducing the researcher to avoid the crime of plagiarism through proper citation.
4. Searching Relevant Literature
Before beginning any search for existing literature, the researcher should make sure what she/he should look for. There might be a huge body of literature on any particular theme of social research on say tribes in India. The question is whether all those materials are ‘relevant’ for any particular research or not. Frankly speaking, any and every literature on ‘tribes in India’ may not be relevant for a research on say ‘tribal development in India’. In other words, the particular focus of any research decides the relevancy of any literary material. Hence, the researcher must keep the central question(s) guiding her/his research in mind before searching for the literature. It should be kept in mind that all research is a time bound exercise and a researcher is not expected to read each and everything under the Sun to carry out a particular work.
Searching for ‘relevant literature’ would then require the students to decide about the goal and objectives of the research so that irrelevant literature may be avoided. It begins with a list of some recommended text by the supervisor(s) and other academics in the field. Using the bibliographies of these texts, other resources may be located. Search for articles in journals is also very easy these days given the use of Internet. Trend reports of research published by agencies like the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) also become very handy for searching relevant documents. It must be kept in mind that the inter-disciplinary context of any literature is also considered for justifying whether a literature is relevant or not. These justifications would help the student to save time, energy and money.
The purpose of exploring the existing literature, argues Bryman (2008: 81), should be to identify the following issues:
● What is already known about this area?
● What concepts and theories are relevant to this area?
● What research methods and research strategies have been employed in studying this area?
● Are there significant controversies?
● Are there any inconsistencies in finding relating to this area?
● Are there any unanswered research questions in this area?
Identification of these issues in the process of reviewing the literature would allow the researcher to revise and refine his/her research questions and develop hypothesis. A hypothesis tries to explain relation between two or more variables.
5. Using the Library
As research usually involves use of the books, journals, records and other documents kept in libraries, it is important to learn how to make best use of resources available in libraries. It is true that due to digitalization of library resources these days and availability of many of such resources on line, one may download materials on the electronic device sitting down at home and use them. Yet, modern libraries also offer these facilities to their students and scholars at a faster speed with larger coverage to access materials that are normally not available to individuals on the net. Ability to do library research begins with some understanding of the way libraries organize their resources. Interestingly, all libraries follow the same system for organizing their collections. Hence, they all have a system of subject classification, a card catalogue and certain reference and bibliographic materials. The search for relevant literature may begin with books listed under a particular subject say caste or tribe. Such search becomes easier if a library is digitalised and resources are displayed through computers. In such a case, a student interested in literature on a particular topic, should start the search by typing the subject on the computer and the screen will display the list of books available on the theme. If the student is aware of a particular reference book, the search shifts from subject to author or title of the book.
The use of resources like periodicals in a library may take much time if the student is not aware of the aims of objectives of journals publishing articles. All journals have specific aims and objectives and they publish articles related to that theme only. Hence, knowledge about social science journals (see the list later) may become handy for any Sociology students looking for materials on the subject or a theme. The task however becomes easy if a journal is available on line. The contents of all digitalized journals may be seen in the net to locate an issue in which a particular article is published.
Libraries also contain valuable documents like Census reports, official records, doctoral thesis and all libraries preserve these in particular sections. Many a time, a scholar has to sit down in a library to read and take note of these resources as a thesis cannot be photo copied. But, it is equally true that there are limits to photo copy pages of even a book or journal under the copyright law without permission of the author or publisher. It is illegal to reproduce any article or part of it without prior permission. There are also rules regarding citing a reference from which the idea is taken to give credit to the original author. A student using secondary sources of data must be aware of these rules and ethics.
Self Check Exercise 1:
1. Why does research begins with review of literature?
All research begins with the task of review of literature because such reviews allow the student to develop an argument or to develop a distinctive position on the subject. The relevance of any particular research or its uniqueness is mainly done by relating the research questions with the broad body of existing literature in the field.
2. Why is literature review ongoing?
The review is an ongoing process as the initial review might have to be revised in view of some new findings. This also makes the review exhaustive from different published and unpublished sources and their inclusion in the final report.
3. How would one decide whether any material is relevant or not?
A literature is relevant if it comes close to the goal and objectives of the research in question. The particular focus of any research decides the relevancy of any literary material. Hence, the researcher must keep the central question(s) guiding her/his research in mind before searching for the literature.
6. Sources of Literature
The sources of literature for any research in sociology in contemporary times are extremely varied and numerous. Even twenty years ago, students of sociology did not enjoy the opportunity to use materials published from different parts of the country, not to speak of international publications. Research was then confined to only literature available at a particular library or a set of libraries at a city or a town. But today, with the onset of ICT enabled learning and publication, both the volume and intensity of publication has gone up many times. One reason for this is the international audience for any published document. Modern electronic technology has also made the task of publication a global endeavour. It is very easy these days to open and maintain an online website or link for the purpose of publication. As a result of these changes, searching for literature often appears to be just a mouse click on the computer screen. But, at the same time, it is also a big challenge to the researcher to review a huge number of relevant literature from multiple sources. From ethical point of view also, use of documents and their proper citation is a matter of public scrutiny. Keeping these challenges in mind, the following major sources of literature may be identified:
6.1. Reference Books:
Libraries normally differentiate between text and reference books. Though such difference is also always clear, basic books prescribed for a particular course are called ‘text’ books and those prescribed for additional reading are called ‘reference’ books. Though a researcher might need to consult a text book like Emile Durkheim’s The Division of Labour in Society, reference books published on a particular issue or subject matter on say ‘violence against women’ or ‘rural development in India’ would be of much use to those working on these issues. Consequently, reviewing reference books is seen as a primary task for any literature reviewer. Interestingly a list of subject wise classified reference books published by major international and Indian publishing houses are available on line. A student has to just type the name of the publishing house and seek a list of Sociology books published by it. Another source for reference books is online catalogue of libraries. These catalogues are also arranged subject and theme wise so that a student of sociology may find a book of her/his choice very easily. But, it often becomes difficult to learn about the content and coverage of a book by reading its title only. Hence, a better source of reference books is book reviews published by most of social science journals. These reviews not only tell us about the major arguments of the book, but also identify the major achievements and limitations of a published document. Apart from book reviews, subject bibliographies and book of abstracts like sociological abstracts from many online sources are available to guide scholars.
6.2. Journals:
Articles published in periodicals tries to inform their readers about recent development in any field. Some peer reviewed social science journals have specific aims and objectives to publish on particular subjects. For instance, journals like Contribution to Indian Sociology or Sociological Bulletin, published from India, mainly give importance to sociological issues. As compared to that Economic and Political Weekly is an interdisciplinary journal. As the coverage of these interdisciplinary journals is very large, they often publish special numbers to stress on issues like gender, industry or politics. Scholars looking for a particular variety of articles may also search these special volumes. One very useful source of social science journals in Social Sciences Citation Index and different web pages from different sources do display such list(s) in Google. Many other reliable sources like Scopus (www.scopus.com/scopus/home.url), Google Scholar (scholar.google.co.in) do provide information about published documents. In these sources, one may search articles by topic or by author. On the whole, journals publish a whole range of valuable articles from time to time and also display the content of any issue in its website. Hence, it is very easy now to search journal articles online and also look for references cited in them. A student may also use computer programme (place control f) to know whether any PDF document has used the key word s/he is searching. The following list shows the alphabetically arranged names of reputed international and national periodicals in the social science fields:
1. Action Research
2. Ageing and Society
3. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal
4. American Sociological Review
5. Annual Review of Sociology
6. Artha Vijnana
7. Asian Studies
8. Body & Society
9. British Journal of Sociology
10. Canadian Journal of Sociology
11. Contemporary Sociology
12. Contemporary Sociology-A Journal Of Reviews
13. Continuity and Change
14. Contributions to Indian Sociology
15. Crime Media Culture
16. Critical Social Policy
17. Critical Sociology
18. Cross-Cultural Research
19. Cultural Anthropology
20. Cultural Studies
21. Current Sociology
22. Development and Change
23. Discourse & Society
24. Eastern Anthropologists
25. Economy and Society
26. Economic and Political Weekly
27. Economic Development and Cultural Change
28. Educational Research
29. Ethnic and Racial Studies
30. Ethnography
31. European Journal of Social Theory
32. European Journal of Sociology
33. European Sociological Review
34. Gender and Development
35. Gender & Society
36. Gender, Technology & Development
37. ICSSR Journal Of Abstracts & Review: Sociology
38. Indian Economic and Social History Review
39. Indian Journal of Gender Studies
40. Indian Journal of Gerontology
41. Indian Journal of Human Development
42. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations
43. Indian Journal of Labour Economic
44. Indian Journal of Social Development
45. Indian Labour Journal
46. International Journal of Comparative Sociology
47. International Journal of Human Rights
48. International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society
49. International Journal of Sociology
50. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
51. International Review for the Sociology of Sport
52. International Sociology
53. Journal of Consumer Culture
54. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
55. Journal of Developing Societies
56. Journal of Development Studies
57. Journal of Family Issues
58. Journal of Family Violence
59. Journal of Interpersonal Violence
60. Journal of Law and Society
61. Journal of Marriage and Family
62. Journal of Politics & Society
63. Journal of Population Research
64. Journal of Rural Development
65. Journal of Social and Economic Development
66. Journal of Social Issue
67. Journal of Social Work
68. Journal of Sociology
69. Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology
70. Journal of South Asia Women Studies
71. Journal of Sport & Social Issues
72. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
73. Law & Society Review
74. Man and Development
75. Man in India
76. Media Culture & Society
77. Men And Masculinities
78. Nonprofit And Voluntary Sector Quarterly
79. Politics & Society
80. Population and Development Review
81. Population and Environment
82. Qualitative Research
83. Qualitative Sociology
84. Quantitative Sociology
85. Race & Class
86. Rationality And Society
87. Rural Sociology
88. Science and Society
89. Seminar
90. Sexualities
91. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
92. Social Action
93. Social & Legal Studies
94. Social Currents
95. Social Networks
96. Social Problems
97. Social Research
98. Social Science Research
99. Social Scientists
100. Society
101. Sociological Forum
102. Sociological Methodology
103. Sociological Methods and Research
104. Sociology-The Journal Of The British Sociological Association
105. Sociology
106. Sociological Bulletin
107. Sociological Perspectives
108. Sociological Theory
109. Sociology of Education
110. Sociology of Health & Illness
111. Sociology of Religion
112. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society
113. Space And Culture
114. The Indian Journal of Social Work
115. The Journal of Asian Studies
116. The Journal of Development Studies
117. Urban Policy and Research Work And Occupations
118. Urban Studies
119. Work, Employment & Society
120. Youth & Society
6.3. Encyclopaedia and Dictionaries:
Encyclopaedias define a field’s key concepts and provide information on the major leaders in that field. Encyclopaedia Britannica, for instance, publishes a whole range of articles on themes of general interests though subject-wise themes are also discussed. It has the reputation of summarising knowledge and its publication runs into several volumes and editions. There are many other types of Encyclopaedias like Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences and Encyclopaedia of Sociology publishing subject oriented article. In several of their volumes, these encyclopaedias contain long articles, written by specialists, which can be useful for quick orientation to a subject and for specific items of information. More importantly, they contain, good bibliographies of source materials, and PDF version of many of these are now available on line. Along with these resources, there are several types of Dictionary of Sociology publishing concise information about important concepts, themes, events and sociologists. Some of the well known dictionaries are: Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Collins Dictionary of Sociology, The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology, Sage Dictionary of Sociology, and The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. PDF version of these dictionaries is available on line. Information available on these dictionaries may particularly be useful to understand concepts and terms.
6.4. Official Documents:
The most obvious source for quantitative data is the government. All researchers need some basic statistical data on say rates of literacy, employment, crime, demography, rates of urbanization and the like. These and many other statistical data are available with the official agencies. Most of government offices or departments in India today like agriculture, education, finance, industry, labour, health, rural development or social welfare publish annual report and put them on their website. Even state governments maintain such link for dissemination of information. Hence, anyone looking for a particular set of data on, for example, Labour in West Bengal 2014 should directly download the report from the website. Considering the enormous character of official data, it is not possible to provide any exhaustive list. But, some of the prominent government publications providing large scale data are: Census, Statistical Year Book India, National Family Health Survey, District Level Household and facility Survey (DLHS), NSS Survey Report, Economic Survey, Indian Labour Year Book, and Crime in India. Along with these, the state is the source of a great deal of textual material of potential interests, such as Acts passed in the Parliament. Also special reports prepared by state agencies like 2nd Labour Commission Report, Readership Survey of Newspaper Apart from government reports, international agencies like UNO, UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank, ILO and UNICEF provide comparative data through World development Report, Human Development Report, The State of the World’s Children, and the like. Again, special organization like Population Reference Bureau collects demographic data across countries and world regions and these are very useful for any comparative analysis.
Apart from official reports, there are many independent reports published by credible agencies. Under this category, we may list resources like Manorama Year book, The Hindu Survey of Indian Industry, The Hindu Survey of Indian Agriculture, The Hindu Survey of the Environment, Indian Readership Survey, Panchayati Raj Update (Institute of Social Sciences), NCAER: Reports, Staying Alive – Lawyer’s Collective. This list is far from exhaustive as there are uncountable number of reports/datasets published by NGOs, established organizations and research agencies in India on different aspects of our society, culture, economy and polity. The task of finding information on a particular aspect of social life, therefore, becomes an easy task for any researcher.
But, at the same time, the task of judging the credibility of various sources furnishing contrasting claims becomes very crucial and critical. The researcher needs to apply Sociological Imagination and methodological acumen to arrive at any reasonable judgement. One way to do so is to match a given dataset with field reality for developing logical arguments. The other way is to give importance to large scale data source like Census which is based on house-to-house enumerated data than sample based selective data.
6.5. Mass Media Output:
Newspaper, magazines, television programmes, films and other mass media also provide valuable data for social science research. Newspaper reports on social issues may be used to substantiate an argument. English magazines like Frontline, India Today, Outlook, Tehelka, and The Week also publish social issues of public interests. There are however uncountable number of vernacular magazines publishing local issues. Similarly, the contents of any visual media programme or even print media may be fruitfully analysed to deduce findings. For instance, newspaper advertisements under matrimonial column offer useful data on whether caste is still a barrier for marriage in India.
Often, media houses challenge official data on say estimate of poverty in India and begin a debate on the issue by involving scholars. These debates and discussions are very useful to make the scholar aware about the possible challenges. Also films and television programmes may try to provide insight into social aspects of living. One disadvantage of mass media output is authenticity of the news/report published or programme/film shown. It is often believed that all mass media houses in India have political leanings. Hence, what is published in a particular newspaper or shown in a television programme may vary from the reality. Films also might deviate from the reality in their pursuit to gain popularity. Another additional issue is the authorship of articles published in newspapers often remains unclear (for example, Editorials). Despite these challenges, research in contemporary times cannot ignore mass media output.
6.6. Doctoral Dissertation:
Doctoral dissertations are very often the result of original research. Hence, they are an important resource for research in any discipline. It is advantageous from many points of view to look at a Ph. D thesis. First, the methodology of research – the particular way the research was conducted including the troubles encountered – is usually discussed in some detail. Such discussion is rarely discussed in any reference book or article. The thesis also offers a brief idea about how to write a thesis or organize its chapters to any scholar. The bibliography part of the thesis provides detail information about types of resources available for research on a particular topic. Interestingly, keeping pace with advances in the electronic world, many reputed universities across the globe have allowed awarded doctoral thesis to be read and used by other researcher as “unpublished manuscripts”. In India too, in recent times, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has come up with twin projects called Shodhganga and ShodhGangotri. Shodhganga INFLIBNET Centre (shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in) provides a platform for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses and make it available to the entire scholarly community as open access resource. The repository has the ability to capture, index, store, disseminate and preserve Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) submitted by the researchers. Under this project, 164 universities have already joined together to make more that 15,000 theses available on line. Ph. D dissertations of many reputed universities of the country are available subject wise, title/keyword wise, and researcher/guidewise.
On the other hand, ShodhGangotri (shodhgangotri.inflibnet.ac.in) is a repository of Indian research in progress (synopses/research proposals for PhD programme). Scholars may find out whether someone else is also working on his/her topic and may benefit by going through the synopsis.
6.7. Indexes, Abstracts and Reviews in Social Sciences:
Indexes of social science articles and books published globally are available on several websites. For instance, The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is an essential online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research. IBSS includes over two million bibliographic references on journal articles, books, reviews and selected chapters dating back from 1951. CSA Sociological abstracts also provides abstract and indexes of articles, books and literature published in sociology and related disciplines in social and behavioural sciences since 1952. The abstracts of journal articles, books, dissertations, and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,800 serials publications are useful resources.
Use of citation indexes like Social science Citation Index (SSCI) allow students to look for published research in an area including references to previously published papers. By locating an early article in the field, one would also be able to identify later articles that cite that source. SSCI contains four divisions: the Citation index, the Source index, the Corporate index and the Permuterm subject index. These divisions are helpful to both beginners and those with definite knowledge about the sources of knowledge.
Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) has also published a trend reports on research in sociology entitled ICSSR Research Surveys and Explorations: Indian Sociology (2013). Published in three volumes (Oxford University Press) under the editorship of eminent sociologist Prof. Yogendra Singh, the report deals with most of the relevant and dominant streams of researches conducted in sociology and social anthropology during the last decade. A reading of this (and many other reports of sister disciplines) is extremely helpful for researcher to identify gaps in research and suggests new emerging fields that deserve more attention.
6.8. Electronic Database:
Doing research without Internet is unthinkable today. While more and more students are relying on the net for easy and quick downloading of classified information, articles, dissertations, reference books, reports, news, bibliographical database and the like, it is to be kept in mind that Net is very different from traditional library research, and the differences can cause problems. The net is a tremendous resource, but it must be used carefully and critically.
Thus, whenever search query is entered on the Internet, countless websites would appear on the screen. The scholar interested on a particular issue may get distracted by abundance of material typically available. The issue of authenticity and reliability of data would also become pertinent to him. Unrecognised bias and difficulties in identifying the credentials of the writer are some of the major weaknesses of electronic database. As there is no review or screening process of the materials posted on the net, there are no standard ways to identify the subjects and verify the claims. Websites continuously change and often new website appear in place of old one (Bryman 2008: 629). It is to be noted that popular information on the net is not always most correct or representative of the breadth of knowledge and opinion on a topic. Hence, one has to pay close attention to the following criteria for doing research on-line:
● Who is the author?
● Who is sponsoring the website?
● Is that piece of article or dataset required for the research in question?
● Is the website current?
● Can the information be verified in print sources?
● Is the source of the information clearly stated?
These queries would certainly put question marks for judging the quality of information provided on the net. It is normally advised that before logging on, the scholar should narrow down his/her topic of research for making the search direct and limited. Interestingly, there are several high quality peer-reviewed and indexed journals (a list is provided in unit 6.2) publishing articles and reviews. Even though full-text of an article in electronic format may not be downloaded free, the abstract, available on line, is useful to learn about the main argument and its consequent usefulness for the research purpose. A scholar looking for forthcoming articles in these journals might also fix e-mail alert for quick access to the abstract of any published document.
Searching and downloading books (pdf version) on line has become very easy due to free services provided by sites like Library Genesis: Scientific Articles (libgen.org/scimag), Libgen (libgen.info). JSTOR (www.jstor.org) is another popular website for librarian and researcher. It is a digital library of more than 1500 academic journals, books and primary sources. Limited free reading online facility to individual reader is available in this site, but you shall have to register for a free MyJSTOR account.
Interestingly, there are also reliable websites like ResearchGate (www.researchgate.net), academia.edu (www.academia.edu), knimbus (www.knimbus.com) that contains published resources of scholars from different disciplines. These websites allow free access for registration and download or post any document without any cost. Apart from these, there are a great many solid academic resources available on the Net, including hundreds of on-line journals and sites set up by universities and scholarly or scientific organizations. You are already introduced to Shodhganga and ShodhGangotri projects which allow free access to Ph. D research materials. While downloading or taking notes of published documents from an online source, the scholars have to do the following:
· Keep a detailed record including date of access of sites you use,
· Keep a detail record of documents including the URL/hyperlink from which you download the matter,
· Double-check all URLs that you put in your paper.
· Cite the documents in the text and in bibliography as and when these are used to avoid plagiarism.
Self-check Exercise- 2
4. How should resources on a research theme be searched?
There are different sources of information on published and unpublished documents. Till recently, it was a normal practice for students to look for books, journals and documents in libraries. But, today, many of these resources are available on line and hence internet has become the easiest and quick source of information. Online libraries, websites, portals have made it easy to search for a document and interestingly access to some of these resources is free. Even unpublished Ph. D synopsis and dissertations of different universities from India and abroad are also available on line. Students looking for resources on a particular theme should type the exact topic or related theme/keywords on say Google or other search engines and select useful and available resources. Even if an article is not available free of charges, students may get to know about the details of a publication along with its abstract. These are useful information for wider search for specific document(s), say an issue number of a journal, in libraries.
5. What should a student do before using the Internet?
It is normally advised that before logging on, the scholar should narrow down his/her topic of research for making the search direct and limited. This is because, whenever search query is entered on the Internet, countless websites appears on the screen. The scholar interested on a particular issue may get distracted by abundance of material typically available. If you retrieve too many documents on the webpage(s), you can narrow your search to a particular area say domestic violence in India or in Delhi. The reverse is equally true if you do not retrieve enough articles (expand the search by writing only domestic violence or violence against women).
6. What precautions should be taken for using information from the Internet?
Information available on the net might not be reliable and authentic. Anyone could set up website and post any object. Hence, students have to look for the author of a document, the website posting it, check whether the website is updated or not, check whether the source of the information is clearly stated and verify the information in print sources. In other words, a student has to be patient and apply critical judgement to arrive at any solution.
7. Issues Concerning Use of Secondary Literature
Students using secondary literature should be aware of the following issues concerning the use of secondary literature:
a) Authors writing their documents may follow a distinct theoretical model to analyse their findings. A Marxist literature, for instance, may differ in interpreting events/ developments from those using a non-Marxist framework. There also remains the fear of misinterpreting the findings of a research (Plat 1984). Students should be aware of the theoretical framework used to arrive at any conclusion and should mention this while citing the findings.
b) The methodological tool used to collect data might also generate a particular variety of responses. Quantitative and qualitative researches very often stress on different aspects of reality. The data source and type should be clearly mentioned while stating the findings of a research.
c) The time-frame of field data used and analysed in any document may become outdated. For instance, a field research done on consumer behaviour in India in the 1980s would be least appropriate in the current context. As a corollary, while citing the chronology of events on say rate of literacy in India since independence, the time-frame of Census data should also be stated.
d) There is also literature that expresses the personal opinion or interpretation of the author(s) instead of any broad based findings. This should be clearly stated.
e) The usefulness of any document for any particular research should also be determined before using it. For instance, a research done on domestic violence laws in Britain may not be very useful to relate them in the Indian context. Hence, the utility and contextuality of data cited should be carefully examined and explained.
These issues again bring back three major issues of social science research, namely validity, reliability and replicability (discussed in module entitled Types of Research and Designing them). It appears that anything and everything found in the library or Internet do not constitute the subject matter of review for any research. Students should look for literature that is appropriate, contextual, and timely to make their arguments reliable and valid. If data from any old document or research findings from a different context are used, the time-frame as well as the context of the cited data should be clearly stated. Similar precautions should be taken for reviewing literature based on a particular theoretical or methodological model.
8. Referencing the Works of Others
As literature review involves the use of works of other scholars, the task of referencing these works is very vital. As Bryman (2008: 101) argues, “Referencing the work of others is an important academic convention because it emphasizes that you are aware of the historical development of your subject … and you recognize that your own research builds on the works of others”. From the beginning of searching for appropriate literature, the students should become aware of this essential responsibility. This means that she/he should first develop skill to write down details of a reference before taking stock of what is known and strictly follow a pattern. These references would finally constitute his/her reference or bibliography. While the term ‘reference’ is used to refer only to the list of cited literature in the text, ‘bibliography’ includes literature that informed the researcher though not cited in the text. The task of writing the reference/bibliography, therefore, starts from the first day.
There are two major methods of writing citation in the text and at the bottom of each page or at the end of a chapter called ‘references’. These are as follows:
● Harvard or Author-date: The most common referencing style is this (also used in this write up). Under this system, whenever you use the ideas or arguments of any author(s) in your writing, you immediately put the surname of the author and the year of publication within a bracket, for example (Bryman 2008). If you are quoting the author, you put quotation marks around the quotation and add page numbers to the citation put within bracket, for example, (Bryman 2008: 101). If the document has no specific author (say editorial of a news paper), then the name of the newspaper/journal or the URL of a website should be given in place of the author. If the source is cited more than once in the same paragraph or in subsequent paragraph, Ibid. (same paragraph), or Op.cit. (different paragraph) should be used along with page numbers, if required. All types of documents cited in the text are then given in a list of references at the end of your work in alphabetical order.
● Footnote or numeric: This approach involves the use of superscript numbers in the text that refer to a note at the foot of the page or the end of the text, where the reference is stated in full along with the page number, if it is a direct quotation. If a source is cited more than once, an abbreviated version of the reference is stated in subsequent citation. This system of referencing does not require a bibliography, which is often required for assessing any dissertation of a student.
It should be noted that bibliographic software tools are available in modern computers and they enable students to directly export references from the database. This saves time and energy and reduces possibility of error. Yet, it is better for students to learn the method of citation and referencing in details as it involves some tricky details and students are required to follow a definite style throughout the document. A good bibliography is one that integrates the references in the text systematically and gives the reader a comprehensive view about the literature being searched.
9. Avoid Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and there are instances of academic institutions punishing their teachers, scholars and students severely for doing the crime. The act is condemned widely because original works are always praised for their high value and creativity. Plagiarism normally results when a writer/researcher paraphrase or copy information, ideas or words from a text/document while writing his own without acknowledging the source of the original work. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary of current English, plagiarism refers to “take and use another person’s ideas, words, etc as if they were one’s own”. Bryman (2008: 107) considers it as “a form of academic cheating” that is morally and ethically damned.
As a type of academic dishonesty or fraud, plagiarism is however not a new in the academic circle. But, it is believed that use of easily available Internet resources has intensified the trend of ‘copy and paste’ without giving due credit to the original author. It is equally true that Internet has made it possible to trace cases of plagiarism as visibility of academic writings including those in Ph. D thesis has increased many folds due to increasing use of information technology now. Moreover, it is possible to detect cases of plagiarism very easily with detection software like Plagiarism Checker (smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker) or iThenticate and Turnitin.
There is, therefore, no doubt about the fact that plagiarism should be avoided by all concerned. In order to do so, the following suggestions should be followed:
- If ideas or words of other authors (even unpublished document) are used to explain a point, cite the work appropriately in your work.
- Do not forget to list the reference in the bibliography.
- Do not hesitate to give credit to an author whose work has influenced your writing in one way or other.
- If you are quoting a portion of a work of other author, put them under quotation and make the quotation authentic by citing page numbers. The other way to do so is to indent the quoted portion with required information (say author surname, year, and page numbers or footnote number) so that the quote appears different from the main text.
- Use your own language to explain a theme/concept. You, however, need not have to cite reference for your own experiences, insights, creations, evidences or even common sense observations and well known historical events.
Self-check Exercise- 3
- 7. Why is it important to cite reference?
Whenever and wherever any literature of other author is used to explain, analyse or substantiate a point of view, you should cite that reference appropriately because it is not your own work and if you don’t do so, you are committing the crime of plagiarism.
- What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism refers to using, paraphrasing or copying information, ideas or words from a text/document while writing your own without acknowledging the source of the original work. It is a form of academic cheating and is condemned widely.
- Summary
This module tries to introduce a learner to the uses of library and other sources of literature for taking stock of what has already been done on a particular research topic. A review of existing literature or research done on a particular topic is very essential not only to take stock of what is already being known, but also to prepare research questions or hypothesis for giving direction to any research. It then becomes possible to raise significant questions about any gap in research. The researcher in question may then proceed to find answers to new queries. As the sources of literature are different and divergent in contemporary times, it is essential for a researcher to identify types of resources available and the sources of such resources to carry out a literature survey before carrying out any research. This module has tried to facilitate such an understanding along with the basic need to make him/her aware of standard citation rules.
- Bibliography
- Baker, Therese, L. Doing Social Research (2nd edition). New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994.
- Bruce. “Research students’ Early Experiences of the Dissertation Literature Review”. Studies in Higher Education, 19, no. 2 (1994): 217-29.
- Bryman, Alan. Social Research Methods (3rd edition). Oxford University Press, 2008.
- IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, www.proquest.com/products-services/ibss-set-c.html
- Goode, W and Hatt, P.K. Methods in Social Research. Auckland: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981.
- MacDonald, W. Brock. ND. Research Using the Internet. www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/…researching/research-using-internet, accessed on 27th March 2014.
- Plat, J. The Affluent Worker Revisited. In Social Researching: Politics, Problems, Practice, edited by
- Bell and H. Roberts, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984.