Research fundamentals


This is a brief guide to doing (online) research, what access to literature you have as a student, how to search the web and the SUB (library catalogue), and some useful journals and reference books.

If you have any questions, check the SUB website, or talk to a librarian.


Access to literature

Log in through the university

If you are logged into a university computer, or are using a laptop over the university system, you will automatically have access to many articles directly over the internet (e.g. through google scholar). However, as many of these are accessible through the databanks, but not directly over google scholar etc, it is generally a good idea to log in through the library system.

Log in through the SUB system here, or directly access the EZB – an electronic journals library and the DBIS (Datenbank Info-System).

Note: EZB also shows the content of journals, even if you do not have access to the full-texts, whereas the DBIS only shows databases to which we have access.

The SUB also provides a number of specific, subject related databases that may be useful.

From outside the university system

Log into the University system (and therefore have the access you would have on campus) here.

You will need to enter your library number and password. If you don’t have a library password, go to the SUB and collect one there (it is a white piece of paper with barcode and password).

Having trouble? There is help and a video guide (available in German) as well as other useful video guides, some of which are in English.


Research approaches: Starting a new research project

Getting an overview of a topic

There are a number of possible ways, including:

+ Start with an article, book chapter or introduction, and go from there, search out from that using the references (and picking out the keywords), and by going then from one text to another. This has limitations, as you may only find the same sort of texts, or ignore other critical perspectives, or miss out important works in the field. This is called snowball research.

+ Literature lists/bibliographies (course reading lists from your lecturers, recommendations from lecturers, online searches such as the introduction to caste studies. Be careful, these lists may be very focused, one-sided or limited in other ways.

+ Tips from lecturers, classmates, others who know the subject well.

+ Readers, introductory books, and special journal issues on a subject/theory.

+ Keyword searches: searching the internet, libraries (OPAC) & databases (outlined below).

+ Subject keyword searches. Most subjects, but unfortunately not all, have extensive keyword information available. See above.

To achieve balance, a mixed approach is probably best.


Keyword searches: Getting started

After we have some sort of overview, it can be useful to brainstorm around your topic and interests before starting to search.

To guide you, it may be helpful to write a sentence or question, which will help us guide the direction by offering us some good starting key words:

e.g. I’m interested in looking at caste today in Tamil Nadu from an anthropological perspective .

From that, I have a starting point to look:

+ Key words: caste, tamil nadu, agency
+ discipline: anthropology
+ time period: today

Now this topic is very broad, but at least by looking at these different keywords, I have something to start with, and to start seeing what is out there.

At the very start, Wikipedia can helpful in getting an overview of a subject, but never rely use it as a final reference.


Common places for a topic search

Google scholar
Offers a wide variety of literary references, some are available in full-text, others are not. If you find a citation of interest but cannot access it, look up the citation in the respective catalogue systems noted above (EZB, DBIS or GUK). Check the SUB website for a guide of using google scholar well.

Academia
A social network for academics, academia is another excellent source of articles. As academics can upload their articles, you may be able to find articles here that have not been published elsewhere, or that you do not have access to elsewhere. This can be a good place to look if you know an academic has published an article but you do not have access to it, as many publish very similar articles here.

Outlined in further detail below:

OPAC – the library catalogue
+ EZB – an electronic journals library
+ DBIS – Datenbank Info-System

Crossasia


Using the university library catalogue

The catalogues of all the libraries (on Göttingen campus) can be searched simultaneously on OPAC.

Several libraries hold books relevant to CeMIS. These are normally the most important:

1. KWZ (BBK). There is a good section where you can simply browse books about India, most of which have been put there by CeMIS. For more information, go to India and South Asia on the list or download the flyer on finding relevant books and periodicals

2. SUB. Have to order nearly all books. Books are normally ready to pick up the following day.

3. OEC (Economics & Social Sciences Divisional Library – Platz der Göttinger Sieben 3). This is a reference collection, which means that you cannot normally take books out, except for the weekend – from Friday afternoon till Monday morning.

4. The anthropology library may also has a number of books related to India. It is open Monday to Friday.

In all of these libraries, facilities are available to photocopy or to scan pages onto a USB stick.

More info about the libraries

Search options

OPAC does not work like google scholar. In OPAC, full sentence searches will not generally work. To start, you need to focus on keywords, authors, or exact titles.

You need to think about how you search, and broaden or refine your searches as you necessary, which you can do here

There are numerous different search options available.

Bib1

To refine your search, you have the following options.

1. On different search types (2), these options change. The default setting is AND, but you can also select OR, and a number of other things.
2. This is the main tool for selecting which type of search. To look for keywords, an “all words” search is recommended (see example and explanation below).
3. Note the default is year. You can change this to relevance, and so on.
4. Default is all libraries.
5. Advanced search. Much more options. You also select types of documents to search.

To find out how you are searching, and how to improve your searches, use help.

Some tips to improving your searches

1. Restrict: Select AND search method on the result.
2. Enlarge: Select OR search method on the result.
3. Restrict: Use the NOT search method on the result.

Another way to get an overview

OPAC also has subject keyword databases, which can be very helpful, especially when getting trying to get an overview of a topic, and seeing what is available: https://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/en/sub-a-z/keywords/tags/subjects/ e.g. the history of the Indian subcontinent, social sciences

Keyword search – Step-by-step

As you see in this example, it is usually a good idea to use an “all words” rather than an “all topics” search e.g. “caste india”, sorted by relevance:

Bib2

What does it all mean?
1. Type of file (in this case, a book)
2. Number of hits with this search: caste AND india.
a. So I can click here and see all 875 items on “caste”.
3. Search history records all your searches for this session, so if you want to go back, you can just click here.
4. Analyse set shows what type of records they are: books, articles etc.

Tips

+ Write most of the word and add a ’?’ at the end. This will give you more results. For example, ‘economy’ gives you less results than ‘econom?’, because ‘econom?’ also includes ‘economic, economical, economics…

+ Remember, this is a catalogue, and (unlike a search engine) really only offers exact matches to the search query.

Bib3

1. Underlined are keywords that you could also search. This information can help you search for similar books in the catalogue.
2. Author. Can see their other books/articles available here.
3. Subject headings. More possibly relevant search items.
4. Broader subject.
5. Classification numbers will show very very similar books. Like browsing at the other books beside it on the shelf.
6. Table of contents can give you more specific info about book, so you can see if the book is actually relevant (Table of contents were scanned for books were added to the SUB until 2015).
7. Göttinger Online Classification (GOK). The GOK puts books in a specific “class” of books – here, Indian history – Mughal period. If you follow the link, you will find other books put into the same “class” or “tagged” similarly. This classification is one of the things on which the order of books on the shelfs in the BBK is based.
8. Location, access, availability.

Accessing journals

Entire journals can be accessed through the Electronic Journals Library (EZB). Access it through the SUB (as shown below) or directly.

Bib4

Still can’t find an article you need

+ Maybe you can find a place that has it: http://zdb-opac.de or http://zdb-katalog.de/index.xhtml

+ Try other article sites, pdfs, academia, or so-called “working papers”

+ Also, often you will find similar a series of very similar articles from an author, so that you if cannot find a specific one, see what else you can find from them.

Databanks

Crossasia

Crossasia is an extremely valuable database with excellent resources for modern Indian studies students and scholars. This is a specialized databank for all things Asia. Register to get an account (this can take some time) here.

Other databanks

You also have access to other useful search tools and databanks through the SUB.

DBIS: DBIS is only a search tool for various databases, you need to find a database in the search slot first, then access that database. The the Bibliography of Asian studies may be especially useful.

Ordering books & distance loans (Inter-library loans)

If you want a certain book, but cannot find it in Göttingen, you may be able to order it from elsewhere. This can be good if you are looking for a certain title or there is not much to find about your topic in Göttingen. These can take a bit of time.

+ GVK

+ For articles, you can also consult GVK Plus

+ This is a catalogue of what numerous libraries have. If you find a relevant book here, you need to use the GVK

+ If you still cannot find a specific book over this system, you can try Subito, which also arranges for documents to be delivered as pdfs for a fee.

If you need a specific book, but cannot find it, then talk to a librarian. There is also the book acquisition programme, where you can make a request for a book to be ordered. If your book order is approved, it will usually be there within four weeks.

Find out more about the university libraries, and the courses they offer here.

Tired. What’s for lunch?


Some commonly useful journals

Asia
+ The Journal of Asian Studies
+ The Journal of Asian History
+ Orientalische Literaturzeitung
+ Modern Asian Studies

South Asia
+ South Asia. Journal of South Asian studies

India
+ Journal of Indian History
+ The Indian Historical Review
+ Indian Economic & Social History Review
+ Economic and Political Weekly

Changes? Corrections? Additions? Clarifications? Other suggestions? Please contact me at matthew.fennessy@cemis.uni-goettingen.de.