Collaborative Bibliography Project: Simplified Assignment Details

Steps

1. Contribute 3 bibliographic entries to the Padlet page.

2. Choose one or more topics for your research:

   • Indigenous narrative sovereignty

   • Indigenous documentary filmmakers

   • Indigenous Futurism and/or Futurity

   • Survivance (especially related to media or cultural productions)

   • Rhetoric and/or Indigenous rhetoric

   • Theories of self-representation

   • Art and protest

   • Images and art connected to Land Back

   • The discourse of reconciliation

Submission
Include an image and a source, each cited in APA format, related to one of the topics above or another approved by the Instructor.

Example
Here is an example I created in Google Docs, which would need to be added to the Padlet.

• Example Assignments

Padlet Links: Assignment Submission

• GNED 1404 - Feb 3, 2025

Conducting Academic Research With LibrarySearch 

(Image source: Image by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels)

LibrarySearch is MRU Library's one-stop search interface/catalogue that brings together resources across format, time, and subject. 

Key Tips:

• Sign in to save searches and request items.

• Use the pin icon to save books and articles for later.

• Use filters like Availability, Resource Type, and Date to narrow your search.

• Request unavailable items through interlibrary loan.

• Access items by scrolling to the Get it or Access options sections.

Helpful Search Operators to Use in LibrarySearch

You can use what are called search operators to search in a way to combine or omit different terms by telling the search engine exactly what you want and this can help you save some time (and frustration!)

• " " for phrases: eg. "Indigenous futurism"

• AND to combine: eg. "Land Back" AND art

• OR to broaden: eg. "Indigenous futurism" OR "futurity"

• Wildcard (*): eg. democra* finds democracy or democratic

Google Scholar

(Image by Firmbee from Pixabay)

scholar.google.com

Quick Tips for Using Google Scholar:

• Access MRU Library Links:
  Go to the Settings icon, select Library links, search for "Mount Royal," and save. If you're logged into the MRU library, links should appear automatically when using Google Scholar.

• Find More Resources:

  • Cited by: Shows other scholarly materials that cite the article you’re viewing.
  • Related articles: Links to similar articles with matching metadata or keywords.

Helpful Search Tips:

• Keep phrases together: Use quotation marks for specific phrases (e.g., "Land Back").
• Combine similar terms: Use OR to include multiple terms (e.g., "Indigenous futurism" OR "Indigenous futurity").
• Use wildcards: Add an asterisk (*) for variations of a word (e.g., ethic* for ethics, ethical, or ethically).

Advanced Search:
Click the menu icon in the top left to access Advanced Search and create custom searches.

Evaluating Information

Figure 1: Peter Steiner's Famous 1993 New Yorker Cartoon Illustrating an Issue Central to Information Evaluation

(Note. From "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" [Cartoon], by P. Steiner, 1993, Wikimedia (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Internet_dog.jpg))

It is good to find lots of search results, but, in order to use information skilfully, you need to know how to evaluate that information to determine whether a specific resource is appropriate to use in a specific use case (i.e. for a specific assignment).

The phrase "evaluating information" actually stands in for a wide range of judgments that we make about information in many different contexts, whether those judgments are about relevance, timeliness, quality, etc.

RADAR stands for

We can ask the following questions to help us assess each criterion:

Relevance:

• Does this source fit my topic?

• What is this source's intended audience?

  • Is that intended audience appropriate for my use case in this assignment?

Authority:

• Is/are the creator(s) of this source clearly identified or known to us?

• How important is it in this use case to trust the source's creator(s)?

  • If it is important, why should we trust the source's creator(s)?

  • Is the source's creator credentialed or an expert in their field?

Date:

• Is the creation or publication date of this source identified or known to us?

• Is this source too old?

Accuracy:

• Do this source's facts "check out"?

• Does the source have references of its own?

Reason for Creation (take your best guess at this question using judgments from earlier criteria):

• Why was this source made?

• Was this source made to sell a product or service, to inform/educate, to entertain, etc?

(Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. (n.d.). RADAR: Evaluating sources. SAIT Library. https://libguides.sait.ca/RADAR)

Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

(Source: Image by Ken Shelton from Pixabay)

A scholarly publication contains articles written by experts in a particular field. The primary audience of these articles is other experts.

Many of these publications are also referred to as "peer-reviewed," academic, or "refereed." They all mean essentially the same thing and refer to the editorial and publication process in which scholars in the same field review the research and findings before the article is published.

Some Helpful Questions for Identifying a Scholarly/Academic Article

1. What are the author’s credentials? Was it written by an expert?

2. Was it published in a journal (is there a DOI?)? (If you are not sure if a source is a journal article, you can enter the title of the publication into Ulrichs Web to check.)

3. Does it use academic or more technical language?

4. Does it includes a reference list of sources that it is citing?

5. How long is it? (Scholarly articles are typically longer than popular or news articles.)

6. Does it have a "Received" and "Accepted" date on it?

7. Is it an actual article? (Sometimes other types of content are included in scholarly publications, such as editorials/opinion pieces and book reviews. Make sure you are looking at an article.)

 Add / Reorder 

Activity: Is It Scholarly?

To make sure we are all on the same page, let's put our knowledge to the test.

Skim the following resources available through the links keeping in mind the characteristics we have discussed in class (for example: what is this information and where did it come from? Was it written by an expert? Where is this source published?).

Vote whether you think this source is Scholarly or Not Scholarly.

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Image Sources

Photos

• Image Collection: Contains images from Archive Photos, Canadian Press, Motion Picture & Television Archive, and MapQuest as well as a variety of images from the public domain.
• ARTstor: ARTstor is a digital library of nearly 1,000,000 images with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.
• Oxford Art Online: Provides access to more than 23,000 subject entries, 21,000 biographies, 40,000 image links and 5,000 images.
• Bridgeman Art Library Archive: Founded in 1972, the Bridgeman Art Library works with museums art galleries and artists to make the best art available for reproduction. It represents a large part of the complete collection chosen for its suitability for web use.
• LIFE Photo Archive: Search photographs from the LIFE Photo Archive.

Images on the Web

• Flickr Creative Commons
• Wikimedia Commons
• Pexels
• Tineye: Searches for images that match an uploaded file or another image on the web - great for tracing original creators of images, rights holders, or just finding more information.
• Google Images Search: Great for finding high-profile images.

Archival Collections

• Glenbow Western Research Centre: Search the photographs collection in the Archives.
• Alberta on Record: Search for digital material in the Archives Society of Alberta’s online portal.
• Library & Archives Canada Image Search: Search for photographs, drawings, maps and art.

For more information on finding images you can use in your work, consult the Copyright Guide's Copyright friendly image resources section.

Citation Help

• Use the "cite" feature in most search tools to get you started with most resources (you will need to review and correct the citation).

• Cite Sources: Learn the correct way to cite sources by using these guides, tutorials, and videos.

  • MRU APA Guide

• Academic Success Workshops: Academic Success Workshops are 75 minutes long and are offered both in-person and online. Registration is required.

• Appointments: Personalized online or in-person 30-minute appointments with a Learning Strategist at Student Learning Services located on the 2nd floor of the Riddell Library & Learning Centre.

• Use the Service Desk on the 1st floor of the RLLC for assistance as well as the library chat feature on the library website for quick citation questions.

Developing Research Keywords

Brainstorming keywords is an essential step in academic research. The right keywords can help you access a wide range of relevant sources quickly. When generating keywords, it’s important to think beyond your initial terms and consider variations or related concepts that could broaden your search results.

Here are four general questions to help with brainstorming:

1. What specific events or movements are related to your topic?
2. Are there any influential figures or organizations connected to your research?
3. What regions or communities are most relevant to your topic?
4. Are there particular themes or issues that interest you within this area of research?