Family Studies 132: Intro to Family Studies

Welcome to the Library Research Guide for Family Studies 132: Intro to Family Studies! It includes information and resources designed to aid you in locating research and managing sources for your assignments this semester.

For research questions:

• Email me at schaez1@stolaf.edu or schedule a research consultation if you have any questions!

For writing help:

• Make an appointment with the Writing Desk for assistance with organizing ideas and improving your writing style.

Slide 1: Family Studies 132: Introduction to Family Studies

Slide 2: Goals

• Find background information in reference sources
• Develop keywords and narrow your topic
• Find scholarly journal articles in library databases

Slide 3: Find Reference Sources

Slide 4: Find Background Information

Explore the resources on the Find Reference Sources tab of the Course Research Guide to find background information about your topic. 

It can be especially useful to browse the e-books on this tab if you are not sure of what topic you want to research.

[Image: the Find Background Info tab of the Course Research Guide with arrows pointing at three reference sources.]

Slide 5: Find Background Information

Credo Reference is a multi-disciplinary source that includes reference articles from thousands of online encyclopedias.

Keep in mind that you may not find an encyclopedia entry about a very narrow, specific topic, so be sure to search for larger concepts, major events, related ideas, or key people if you are having trouble finding background info.

[Image: the Credo Reference webpage for Maternal Employment.]

Slide 6: Find Background Information

Another useful resource for finding background information is Wikipedia. This is especially true if you are researching a current topic or one that has been historically understudied.

Gather important facts and be on the lookout for potential topics or concepts to research further in library resources. 

Keep in mind that anyone can edit a Wikipedia entry, so be sure verify all information in other sources.

[Image: the Wikipedia page for Motherhood Penalty.]

Slide 7: Generate Keywords

As you read background sources, take note of important keywords, scientific terms, and related topics. Your goal should be to generate a list of terms that you can use to search for scholarly articles related to your topic. 

Here is a list of one potential keyword brainstorm for the topic of “working mothers influence on children."

Possible keywords:

• working mother
• motherhood
• Employment, employed = employ*
• "Feminist theory"
• Daycare
• "Maternal employment"
• Child development

Slide 8: Find Scholarly Sources

Slide 9:

Now we turn to finding academic journal articles. These are sources written by scholars— people whose job it is to create new knowledge. 
Scholars demonstrate their connection to the knowledge created by other scholars by citing their sources. Look for citations and/or a bibliography of sources to help you determine whether a source is scholarly. 

Here is an example of a scholarly article from The Journal of Child and Family Studies.

Gordon, M.S. (2017). Community disadvantage and academic achievement among hispanic adolescents: The role of familism. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(12), 3303–3311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0845-y

[Images: The first page of the scholarly article titled: Community disadvantage and academic achievement among hispanic adolescents: The role of familism.

The cover of Journal of Child and Family Studies.

The first few entries in the References listed in Community disadvantage and academic achievement among hispanic adolescents: The role of familism.]

Slide 10: Find Scholarly Journal Articles

Scholarly, or academic, journals are periodicals (published on a regular cycle like monthly or bimonthly) designed to share new research by scholars. 

Many scholarly journals are peer reviewed, meaning the articles are reviewed by other scholars before they are published in the journal. 

Browse scholarly journals in our library database called Browzine.

We’ll learn how to search across scholarly journals next.

[Image: covers of Family Studies journals indexed in Browzine.]

Slide 11: Search for Articles

On the Find Articles tab of the Course Research Guide, you’ll find a box with recommended library databases to search for scholarly journal articles. 

Read the descriptions of these databases to determine which will be the best option for your research topic.

Keep in mind that a single scholarly research article will be narrow and specific— think of these as the building blocks that establish what we know about a topic. 

[Image: the Find Articles box on the Find Scholarly Articles tab of the Course Research Guide.]

Slide 12: Advanced Search Tips

When searching in library databases, try some of these advanced search techniques:

Use OR to expand your search
“alternative energy” OR “solar power”

Use an asterisk to search multiple endings of a word
environ* = environment, environmental, etc.
immigra* = immigrant, immigration, etc.

[Image: a search box with these keywords entered: cellphone OR "cellular phone" OR "mobile phone".]

Slide 13: 

Here is an example search in the Social Science Premium Collection database. This database contains articles published in scholarly journals from a variety of social science disciplines.

Take note of the keywords I used for my search.

[Image: the Advanced Search page in the Social Science Premium Collection database with the keywords maternal employment AND child* entered.]

Slide 14: Filter Your Results

The filters on the left side of the results page allow you to filter by Source Type, Publication Title, and more. 

Choose “Scholarly Journals” and limit the publication date to find recently published scholarly journal articles.

[Images: an arrow pointing to the Publication title, Source type, and Publication date filters in Social Science Premium Collection.]

Slide 15: Save the Source

Use the toolbar in the upper right corner to save a citation for your source. 

It’s usually also a good idea to save the permalink (in All Options).

[Image: an arrow pointing to the article toolbar in Social Science Premium Collection.]

Slide 16: Find Full Text

Some articles will have full text available right in the database.

Others will have only a Find It! button. Click that to see if the full text is available in another library database.

[Images: two scholarly article pages in Social Science Premium Collection with arrows pointing at two different options that may appear. One reads Full text - PDF and the other reads Find It!]

Slide 17: Request Full Text

If no online access is available, request the article via Resource Sharing. 

Most articles are available electronically within about 24 hours.

[Image: an arrow pointing at the "Get It" option for an article entry in Catalyst.]

Slide 18: Search Catalyst for Articles

After you have searched in a few library databases for scholarly articles, try searching in Catalyst. 

This search box on the Course Research Guide will search only articles (and not books, DVDs, or other types of sources).

Because Catalyst searches across a number of databases, you may find millions of results. Be sure to use specific keywords and filter the results to find the most relevant articles.

[Image: the Catalyst Articles Search box on the Find Scholarly Articles tab of the Course Research Guide.]

Slide 19: Questions? We’re here to help!

For additional help:

• Submit a question through our ticketing service: libraryhelp.stolaf.edu
• Schedule a research consultation with a librarian: go.stolaf.edu/appointment