UNIV 2003 Big Ideas: PostPandemic World (SJ) Guide Ask Us

How do I find background information and learn more about a topic?

To get started, it can be helpful to learn more information about a topic before jumping right into searching for journal articles. Doing some background research and reading can save you time and help you find ways to narrow your topic down. Background research can be done through quick Google searches and reading credible websites, looking at e-book chapters, or encyclopedia entries. 

 It's important to evaluate the background sources you consult.

Consider who published or authored the information, what the purpose of it is, and how old is the information. Wikipedia can be useful to get to know more about topics, but should not be cited in academic assignments. Look at the references to follow the information back to the primary sources, and cite those instead.

You search UNB Worldcat to find related e-books on your topic:

1. Schnopfel J. (2010). Towards a Prague definition of grey literature. Presented at: Twelfth International Conference on Grey Literature: Transparency in Grey Literature. Grey Tech Approaches to High Tech Issues.. pp.11-26. http://archivesic.ccsd.cnrs.fr/sic_00581570/document

What are data and statistics?

Data are individual bits of information. When we analyze data, we get facts and statistics. 

Statistics are facts derived from numerical data. They can answer questions about what percentage of a group has or does something, or tell you how many people there are of a certain age group in a particular place. Statistics can be helpful when you want to learn more about something like a place, a group of people, or an industry.

How do I find data and statistics?

Look at the following resources for statistics to help you with your work in this course. Statistics can be taken from primary data, which means the researcher collected the data themselves, or they could be drawn from secondary data, which means someone else has used available data to draw a conclusion. Both kinds of statistics are useful. You may find statistics in databases, on webpages, or published in reports. You may also find available data and analyze it to create your own statistics. 

Statistics databases:

For data/statistics about Saint John:

• Living SJ
• City of Saint John website
• Economic Development Greater Saint John
• Saint John Council Meeting Minutes (2018-present)
• Open Data Saint John

For data/statistics about New Brunswick:

• Human Development Council
• New Brunswick Health Council
• New Brunswick Economic and Social Indicators
• Government of New Brunswick departments (look for words like reports, publications, resources)
• Open Data New Brunswick

Statistics Canada:

• Main Page
• Data
• Census Profile of New Brunswick (2016)
• Census Profile of Saint John (2016)

For international data and statistics:

• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
• World Bank Data
• World Bank Open Knowledge 

For industry or consumer data:

How do I find and read articles for my assignment?

1. Search the databases or individual journals below using keywords related to your topic to find relevant articles (find additional databases here):

Multi-disciplinary:

Health/sciences:

Business:

Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences:

2. Scan through the results, reading the title/abstracts to find potentially relevant articles. Redo your search with different keywords if you're not finding what you want. 

3. Find a few articles that look promising and skim read the introduction/conclusion of the full-text to decide if they're useful for your assignment. 

If a PDF or link to the full-text isn't readily available, click on the  link  to see if we have it in our collection.  

Infographic: How to read scientific papers, written by Natalia Rodriguez for Elsevier.

The standard citation style for UNIV2003 is APA (American Psychological Association):

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association,
  • 7th edition 2020 UNB Libraries holdings
• APA Style: Style and Grammar Guidelines
• Contact the UNB Saint John Writing Centre for assistance

Purdue OWL

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (Purdue OWL) maintains extensive resources and instructional material on APA style and formatting:

• Purdue Online Writing Lab: APA Style

Zotero

• This is a free citation management program. This is useful for saving citations and relevant articles for different searches, and then being able to cite them in whatever citation format you want in Word or export a bibliography.
• Note: Zotero is only as good as the information it pulls from the articles. Always double check the citations to ensure it has cited them correctly and they aren’t missing anything.

UNB Libraries guide to avoiding inadvertent plagiarism

• Guide to Citation and Plagiarism 

This list of resources can help you get familiar with, or re-familiarizing yourself with UNB Libraries and other things research-related (including searching databases)

UNB Libraries Research Toolkit

A self-paced, interactive set of modules for learning the basics of library use and academic research. Housed in D2L Brightspace, the Toolkit provides an introduction to library services and the academic research process at UNB.

Find it in the ‘Free Course Registration’ section in D2L - under 'Libraries' Research Toolkit'.

Specific videos through UNB Libraries

• Nursing & Health Research Guide – Library Help & Tutorials
• Overview of UNB Libraries’ Website
• Information Timeline & Scholarly Communications
• How to use Wikipedia in your Research
• E-books at UNB Libraries
• Introduction to Article Database Searching at UNB Libraries
• How to Find Journal Articles
• Google Scholar – how to get UNB Libraries full-text directly when searching Google Scholar
• Steps in the Research Process
• Keywords, Synonyms, and Phrase Searching
• Boolean Operators
• Subject terms and thesauri

How do I get help if I need it?

The research process and searching for articles can be challenging sometimes. We don't expect you to know everything or "get it" after one presentation from a librarian. Once you start working on your assignment you may realize you need a refresher or some guidance on your specific topic. 

You have a few ways to get in touch with us for help. We're available regular work weeks, Monday-Friday between 9:00am - 4:00pm (AST). 

• Book a time to meet with Alex one-on-one in person or through Teams 
• Email us at alex.goudreau@unb.ca or drross@unb.ca or nicole.slipp@unb.ca 
• Send us a chat message through Teams

You can also reach out anonymously through UNB Libraries' Ask Us chat. This service is staffed daily, including evenings and weekends.