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NTST 0130 - Winter 2025 Library Session

Final Report (20%)

Your report will be due on March 27th, 2025.


Here are possible topics to choose from, followed by the rubric:

  • Chief Crowfoot (Treaty 7);

  • the late Murray Sinclair;

  • the Sixties Scoop;

  • Michelle O’Bonsawin, Canada’s first Indigenous supreme court justice;

  • Buffalo Treaty;

  • Canadian Animal Task Force;

  • Shannen Koostachin;

  • Autumn Peltier;

  • Jordan’s Principle;

  • Boil water advisory alerts in Indian country;

  • Bear Clan Patrol;

  • Jay Soule, an Indigenous artist;

  • any Indigenous scientist in Canada;

  • any Indigenous athlete;

  • greenhouses;

  • Senator Kim Pate;

  • residential schools or day schools;

  • Indian hospitals;

  • Pope Francis’s historic visit to Canada;

  • Jumpstart program;

  • Northern Lights;

  • Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce;

  • Tom Longboat;

  • Rita Joe;

  • Adrian Sutherland;

  • Emily Carr;

  • Archie Belaney (aka Grey Owl);

  • and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Please note, if you decide to write about Dr. Peter Bryce, Emily Carr, or Archie Belaney (aka Grey Owl), just make sure that you tie it back to Indigenous people they interacted with.


Please feel free to visit the library to get other ideas as well. Let me know beforehand if you
decide to use another topic.

Instructions:

  • Please provide a biography of this person or event, etc. (125-200 words).

  • What did you learn after reading about this person or event or program? (A shorter paragraph is fine).

  • In your opinion, has this person, event, or program, made a contribution to improving lives for the next seven generations? If “no,” then why not? (50-100 words).

Rubric:

  • Use three primary sources for your report. Two primary sources must be from an article. The other one can be from a documentary or a guest speaker, as a few examples. If you decide to use four primary sources, that is ok, too.

  • Please write in complete sentences.

  • I will be checking for fact checks.

  • Is report length sufficient?

  • I also will be checking for grammar, punctuation, spelling error(s): If any, I will deduct. It could be 0.5%, usually is 1%.

  • I also want to see a title page, report title, APA 7 citations, and Reference page as well.

  • A picture is not necessary. It will not be in the rubric. If you do include one, please cite it and reference it as well.

Background Research Starting Places

  • Wikipedia

    • Yes ... Wikipedia! Don't reference Wikipedia, but you can check the "References" and "Further Reading" sections of articles for more resources.

  • The Canadian Encyclopedia

    • This has some pretty good overview articles on many Indigenous figures and topics.

  • I-Portal: Indigenous Studies Portal

    • The University of Saskatchewan Library maintains the I-Portal, which is a curated database of resources on Indigenous topics. You can browse the portal using the turtle shell's "scutes" or you can search the portal.

  • Yellowhead Institute

    • Indigenous think tank associated with Toronto Metropolitan University. Check out their Special Reports, Briefs, and Red Papers (all under "Research" in the top menu).

  • National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health

    • The NCCIH is "a national Indigenous organization established in 2005 by the Government of Canada and funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis public health renewal and health equity through knowledge translation and exchange. The NCCIH is hosted by the University of Northern BC (UNBC) on the traditional territory of the Lheildli T’enneh in Prince George, BC." Check out their publications (under "NCCIH Publications" in the top menu).

Conducting Academic Research With LibrarySearch 

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

We have millions of e-resources and 221,000 physical resources in our collection, and LibrarySearch searches across those.

Things to remember when using LibrarySearch:

  1. Sign in to save searches, items, and to request materials.

  2. Use the pin icon to save books and articles to your Favorites for future reference.

  3. Use the filters on the right. You will use Availability, Resource Type, and Date filters most often. Filter settings can be "locked in" so that you don't have to reapply them to every search that you make.

  4. Some items may not be available, however, you can request unavailable items using what is called interlibrary loan.

  5. When viewing an item record, scroll down to the Get it (for hardcopy/physical items) or Access options (for electronic items) section to get access to the item.


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!)

  • Use quotation marks to keep specific phrases together:

    • "Jordan's Principle"

    • "Buffalo Treaty"

  • Use AND to combine search terms (LibrarySearch automatically creates an AND when you write terms one after another, but it can be good practice to use an AND to help you understand the searches that you build) (AND narrows your search):

    • "Shannen Koostachin" AND "Shannen’s Dream"

  • Use OR to connect two or more similar terms (OR broadens your search):

    • "Archie Belaney" OR "Grey Owl"

    • "Indian Day Schools" OR "Indian Residential Schools"

  • Use wild cards to substitute a letter or suffix with a symbol:

    • Canad* (in this example, the search Canad* will search for records that contain strings such as Canada and Canadian)

Conducting Academic Research With Google Scholar

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is another great way to find high quality resources.

Besides providing links to resources in MRU databases, Google Scholar links to online repositories that contain articles the author has been allowed to upload.  Academia.edu and ResearchGate are among the repositories searched by Google Scholar.

By clicking on the Settings icon, you can select library links to show library access for up to 5 libraries (type in Mount Royal and click on save).  If you are logged into MRU library, links should automatically populate if you are running a Google search in another window. 

Google Scholar has a nifty citation chaining function. The Cited by function will forward you to indexed scholarly material that has cited a resource that you may be interested in. The Related articles link will direct you to similar articles that may have the same metadata or keywords. 


Helpful Search Operators to Use in Google Scholar

Google Scholar's Advanced Search is found by clicking the menu icon in the top left.

You can also add search operators to Google Scholar searches to build your own custom advanced searches in similar ways to LibrarySearch:

  • Use quotation marks to keep specific phrases together:

    • "residential schools"

    • "Bear Clan Patrol"

  • Avoid using AND to combine search terms with Google Scholar, as the search engine automatically creates ANDs between concepts and sometimes adding an additional AND can confuse the search syntax.

  • Use OR to connect two or more similar terms:

    • "boil water advisory" OR "water insecurity"

  • Use wild cards to substitute a letter or suffix with a symbol:

    • Indigen* (in this example, the search Indigen* will search for records that contain strings such as Indigeneity and Indigenous)

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.

  • 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.

Librarian

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Joel Blechinger
he/him/his
Contact:
Email: jblechinger@mtroyal.ca
Phone: 403.440.8624
Office: EL4423E
Website