Doing research

1. The fastest way to find an item in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue is if you know the title

• Type the title of the book into the Catalogue search box
• Choose Title
• Enter a title
• Click on Search

For example:

You are looking for Doktor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. From the main page, type doctor zhivago into the Catalogue search box, choose title, and click on Search.

2. How to find resources in a particular field

• Go to the main page of UTL Catalogue
• Hold cursor on Research and find Research Help
• Click on Research Guides by Topic and find many research guides in different disciplines
• Click on the needed one

For example:

You are looking for resources in Slavic and East European Studies. Hold cursor on Research and find Research Help and find Research Help. Then click on Research Guides by Topic and click on “S”. You will find five resource guides available in the field namely Countries and Regions, Eastern Christianity, History of East Central Europe, Slavic and East European Collections, and Slavic and East European Resources.

3. Browse encyclopedias, directories, and dictionaries

Browsing encyclopedias and directories can be extremely helpful when you are starting your research. This can provide you not only with a general understanding of your topic, but also provide you with keywords and names, which you can then use while searching the catalogue. In addition, many encyclopedic entries have bibliographies which can often direct you to useful sources.

Many encyclopedias, directories, and dictionaries in the Slavic and East European field can be found at the Petro Jacyk Resource Centre, located on the 3rd floor in the Robarts Library.

You can use the library catalogue to find encyclopedias and other reference books on your topic.

• Go to the main page of UTL Catalogue
• Type your search term followed by and encyclopedia or directory or dictionary
• Click on Search

For example:
You are looking for an encyclopedia on Ukraine. Type ukraine and encyclopedia, click on Search, and retrieve over 61 items on the topic including one item available online.

Please note that the system search for singular and plural form of the words so if you enter encyclopedias or encyclopedia you will receive the same results.

If you are looking for encyclopedias or dictionaries available ON-LINE.

• Go to the main page of UTL Catalogue
• Click on E-Resources
• Enter your search term
• Click on Search

For example:
You are looking for Encyclopedia of Diasporas. Click on E-resources and enter encyclopedia of diasporas. Then click on Search.

Note: Note: many encyclopedias and directories are not available ON-LINE from the catalogue.

4. Find theses and dissertations

If you are looking for theses or dissertations from American, Canadian or selected international graduate schools:

• Go to the main page of UTL Catalogue
• Click on E-Resources
• Type ProQuest Digital
• Click on Search

This is a highly recommended database is ProQuest Dissertations and Theses-Full Text
http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTNiMGYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=12520

If you are looking for a dissertation written by a graduate student of the University of Toronto:

• Go to the main page of UTL Catalogue
• Type in the author of a dissertation
• Click on Search

For example:
You are looking for dissertation by Halyna Hryn. On the main page choose Author from the drop down menu and type hryn, halyna. Click on Go and find her dissertation Literaturnyi iarmarok: Ukrainian modernism's defining moment in all available formats (in print, on-line, and in microfilm).

Note: For U of T students, staff and faculty, theses/dissertations can also be obtained through our Interlibrary Loan Service.

5. Transliteration

Transliteration is a rendering from one system of writing to another. When doing research in Slavic and East European studies, transliteration is very important because it allows a user to use an English computer keyboard to search for resources in languages that use Cyrillic alphabets. Transliteration from some Slavic languages to English therefore means that Cyrillic characters are represented by Roman characters. The Library of Congress romanization schemes have been adopted as a standard for transliteration from Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian languages, as well as Church Slavic and non-Slavic languages that may use the Cyrillic script, such as Azerbaijani, Tajik, Tatar, etc.. The system works on a letter-to-letter basis, which means that each letter has a corresponding letter or letters in English or Roman characters.

When searching for publications in Cyrillic in the library catalogue use only these characters.
The ALA-LC Romanization Tables for Slavic languages are provided by the Library of Congress can be found at:
Belarusian http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/beloruss.pdf
Bulgarian http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/bulgaria.pdf
Russianhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/russian.pdf
Serbian and Macedonian http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/serbian.pdf
Ukrainian http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/ukrainia.pdf

For example:
Russian: Александр Пушкин is transliterated as Aleksandr Pushkin.
Ukrainian: Марко Кропивницький is transliterated as Marko Kropyvnyts’kyi.
Serbian: Никола Тесла becomes Nikola Tesla.

6. Citing Sources

In an academic paper you to have to demonstrate your own way of thinking while showing your familiarity with your field of study. It is your responsibility to document every source you are using in your paper. All borrowing from books, articles, and Web sites must be cited. Even if you simply paraphrase or summarize an author’s ideas you must cite your sources in order to avoid plagiarism

From the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters:
It shall be an offence for a student knowingly:
(d) to represent as one's own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e. to commit plagiarism.

More information on proper Citations could be found here:
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/document.html

Humanities

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed. (2003)
The Chicago Manual of Style 15th ed. (2003)

Social Sciences

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association 5th ed. (2001)

7. How to create a bibliography using software (RefWorks)

RefWorks is a Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal database by importing references such as citations to journal articles or books, from text files or online databases. You can use these references in writing papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds. The Library Catalogue and the Library's Article databases provide links to allow citations to be easily added to RefWorks.
RefWorks is freely available to the all University of Toronto students, staff, and faculty.

After completing a search, click on "Details" to add any item in the Library Catalogue to your personal my. library.
More information on how to use RefWorks can be found here:
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/gerstein/subjectguides/refworks.html