On this page you'll find information about and links to library resources and tools that may help you in this course. Included is information about the Maps, Data & Government Information Centre, Data Analysis & Visualization tools, tips for keyword searching and finding qualitative research, tips for managing your searches and results, and links to library tutorials.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the library: library@trentu.ca
The Maps, Data and Government Information Centre (MaDGIC) is a major resource for all students. The unit serves as the campus centre for geospatial and statistical data, providing all disciplines with data sets from diverse government agencies and commercial publishers. Please visit the MaDGIC website for a list of resources.
For in-person and virtual service hours, please see MaDGIC's Contact webpage. (Appointments are recommended)
For workshops and events, please visit the following web pages:
The Data Visualization Lab provides faculty and students with a range of state-of-art tools, including advanced computers, spatial and statistical software, and 3D and VR analysis and display technologies. Some of these tools include ArcGIS, ArcGIS StoryMaps, Adobe Creative Cloud, NVivo and Tableau (including Tableau Prep). These facilities and the consultation services provided by the Lab, support a community of users drawn from a range of disciplines - from archaeology to conservation biology, environmental science to sociology - that together seek to understand and interpret the spatial patterns found throughout nature and society.
There are several tools available for data analysis and data visualization. Some are open access and some are commercial resources. If you're interested in using tools available at the workstations in the Data Visualization Lab, please contact madgichelp@trentu.ca.
NVivo is a software that provides the ability to store, organize, categorize, analyze, and visualize date all in one platform. It has been designed for data analysis and data visualization in qualitative and mixed-methods research. It accomodates a wide range of research methods, including:
It supports a wide range of data formats, including:
Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop is a software that allows you to import data and apply a number of different transformations to that data, and eventually create a number of different visualizations. Tableau desktop is capable of complex data modeling and a wide variety of visualization outputs including graphs, plots, maps, etc. Furthermore, Tableau can compose multiple visualizations together and add interactive elements like filters, point-and-click functionality, etc.
Tableau Prep
From the company's website - "Tableau Prep changes the way traditional data prep is performed in an organization. By providing a visual and direct way to combine, shape and clean data, Tableau Prep makes it easier for analysts and business users to start their analysis, faster. Tableau Prep is comprised of two products: Tableau Prep Builder for building your data flows, and Tableau Prep Conductor for scheduling, monitoring and managing flows across the organization."
The links below are to helpful guides from other universities for data analysis and visualization.
THE TIPS BELOW WILL HELP YOU GET STARTED.
REMEMBER, THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT WAY TO SEARCH FOR ARTICLES IN A DATABASE.
BE PATIENT. BE CREATIVE.
Keyword searching is an effective method for finding information in any computerized database, whether it's Omni, an online index, or Google. Once you learn the basics, you are capable of searching anywhere, with better results.
Before you begin a keyword search, think about your topic. Do some background reading to become familiar with your topic and the words used to describe it. Decide on some words (terms) to express the most important concepts, words you would expect to find in every item of interest to you.
With a keyword search you look for a word, no matter where that word appears. If you like, you can specify that the word be in a particular field (e.g. the title, abstract, author, author keyowrds or subject headings), but it can be in any position (beginning, middle, or end).
Concept 1: Social isolation - loneliness or social exclusion or social connectedness
Concept 2: Seniors - elderly or older adults or older women or older men or oldest old or aging or ageing
Concept 3: Rural - remote or small town
Concept 4: Canada - Canada or Canadian or Canadian or British Columbia or Alberta or Saskatchewan or Manitoba or Ontario or Quebec or New Brunswick or Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland or Labrador or Nunavut or NWT or Northwest Territories or Yukon or Nunavik or Inuvialuit
Narrowing your results
Check the database for ways to limit your results to:
Check the record where your search terms matched. The best matches for topics are in fields like Subject or Title. Search specific fields if there is an Advanced or Expert search option.
Use Subject Headings or Descriptors if available to increase the relevancy of your results
Add another concept to your search using the Boolean operator “AND”
Getting the Full-Text
Sometimes the database you are searching also provides full text journals. In this case you may see below or next to the citation a 'Full-Text' link to the article.
If you do not see a Full-Text link, this does not always mean we don't have the article. It may be available from another source. In this case, to determine if Trent has the full-text of an article, click on the Omni icon. This icon can be seen near each citation in a database.
Note: If you see the notation below a citation, “ Trent Library does not have this journal”, please ignore as it is not always accurate. Omni will be able to better tell you if we have the journal.
If an article is not available, you can request an InterLibrary Loan (ILL) . Keep in mind articles via ILL are not available overnight, so this service is only useful if you have enough time to receive the article before your project is due. We recommend that you allow 7-10 days. For more information please go to the Interlibrary Loan web page
To narrow your search to Qualitative research articles you need to think about the keywords related to the questions this type of research seeks to answer and the methodologies.
Tracking your searches helps you to avoid unnecessary repetition in your searching and can save you valuable research time. Below are some tips to help you track your searches:
Documentation
Consider logging your searches including information about:
A table or worksheet can be useful way to log your searches. See a brief example in the Word document linked below. This could also be done in an Excel worksheet.
Printing/saving database search strategies
Some databases have options to print or save the text of your search strategy to a Word, Rich Text, or PDF document. If a database doesn't have this option you can try copying and pasting the text or snipping an image of your strategy. To permanently save search strategies so that you can create an alert or run them again at a later date, you normally need to have an account in that database. See the tutorials below about how to to do this in platforms on which many of our databases are provided.
Managing your results