Library Research Notebook: The Meme and

the Human: Digital Literacies (Fall 2022)

I’ve adapted this notebook to students’ comments, recommendations, and experiences to give you a
solid introduction into research basics, skills and mindset. If you do it well, you will gain much.
Expect to spend a solid minimum of three hours on it, and more for maximum benefit. You’re being
given MUCH TIME IN CLASS to work on it (because students have told me that helps them greatly,
and I listen to my students), and YOU ARE REQUIRED/EXPECTED to spend time out-of-class also
doing its steps and research and reflection.

Here’s a synopsis of what this notebook covers and gives you experience with:

● How to reflect on your research passions / what interests you? / you care about what?

● How to generate keywords and why they are crucial

● Keyword tips & tricks / Know Boolean operators!

● How to narrow your research topic

● How to find background information

● How to navigate UC Library Search

● How to find relevant books

● How to do a virtual shelf search or “virtual browse”

● How to find articles

● What’s a peer reviewed article?

● How to explore database searching

● How to locate several relevant academic journal articles

● How to get help from a librarian (several ways)

● How to find a research guide for your topic

SECTION 1

Read the entire Library Research Notebook, follow the instructions, and respond at ***prompts.
You are free to pursue here your self-chosen research topic for either Project 2 (script &
presentation w slidedeck) or Project 3 (final multimodal expository research essay).

***I am researching. . . . about what makes Iron Man human and a hero

***Because I want to find out why / what / how. . . . why many people love Iron Man, and how
he was the purest representation of humanity in the movies. Also why Iron Man was an
inspiration for me as a leader and a career.
***List any important people, places, time periods, concepts, movements, etc. related to your
topic. What key words are beginning to emerge? 

The first time I watched Iron Man, part of me got super excited of how a brilliant mind was able
to turn his whole company around, from creating weapons that could be used anywhere to
creating a protective suit for him to save those around him. The other part of me was amazed at
how he didn’t give up to escape that cave, and how hard he worked to escape. That movie
changed my life forever, the technology, his personality, the Avengers, and what Iron Man did,
everything made me feel so attached to him that the moment he died I cried and suffered. And to
this day I still cry at the fact that he is dead. To me out of all the heroes, he was an amazing
representation of humanity and my dad was a helpful source to show me that. My dad reminded
me of Iron Man, a passionate man doing it’s best for the people, a brilliant engineer mind.

***Explain how doing this research will inspire you and be relevant to your time at Cal and to
your quality of life now and in the future, how it will contribute to the Common Good, and/or
how your research in R4B can benefit you in your future career. In other words, are you
passionate about this topic? Is it relevant to you? If so, why? If not, what meaningful, relevant-
to-you research topic might you pick that you can invest yourself in wholeheartedly and benefit
from both now and later? 

This research is relevant because I am currently trying to get a Mechanical Engineering degree
here at Cal. And Iron Man was an engineer, however he was a brilliant mind with an interesting
back story. Not just that but he had such a character development, he knew his worth and value,
was a sarcastic man, but he also became a leader. Sacrificing himself and helping others in the
Avengers to save the entire universe. I am in Air Force ROTC and plan to serve in the United
States Air Force, this research will help me understand how the duty to save people falls onto a
human, how Iron Man took in this duty and wasn’t perfect, he had fears, he had doubts, but he
was still a great leader. I want to learn this to become a better person myself, to overcome my
fears and challenges to serve this nation. I want to become my own version of Iron Man. Doing
this I will not only gain more knowledge on the tasks engineers do but also building my
leadership skills and style in life.

SECTION 2
Generate Keywords

We've just done some background research that helped us generate keywords. It's good to have a
long list of search terms that you can use when looking for books and articles about your topic.
This is because everyone thinks differently, and resource discovery tools think differently than
people - you may use the word "red" to describe Elmo, but your professor may call Elmo
"crimson," and the database may call Elmo "scarlet." To mediate the effects of this, it is useful to
think about synonyms and alternate phrases ahead of time.

Keyword 1 – 2 – 3

***Condense your research question or thesis statement into a brief statement of 6-8 words:

How was Iron Man a human superhero?

What made Iron Man a human representation?

How did Iron Man represent humanity?

***Identify some core concepts in your statement and any related concepts that come to mind
(topics, issues, ideas, people, places, time periods, films, tv shows, news, media, things, objects,
etc.): 

What does it mean to be human?

What makes you a super hero? Is it a super power you have? A connection? A relationship to an
enemy? Is it your duty to protect citizens? Or can you become a villain.

Iron Man being a human, with no alterations whatsoever or special training (Hawkeye and Black
Widow were both trained), what made him be so loved by fans? Was it the idea that with just his
brilliant mind to create a suit he was able to change the world and save people? The fact that he
had a traumatic past but still kept fighting? Or the fact that he had fears and issues like we all do
in our daily lives, but he still wanted to serve people

MCU Movies related to Iron Man

Keyword Tips and Tricks

Search like a pro using these smooth operators

Research Hacks Using Simple Words and Punctuation as "Commands"

SECTION 3
Finding Background Information
Before taking a deep dive into scholarly research, you should first find out some background
information about your topic. That's a best practice, a necessity. Here's how:
● Consult encyclopedias, introductory guides, and other reference tools that can provide
you with a high level overview of your topic.
● Look for key information (names, dates, movements, important works, etc.), themes, and
keywords that will help you search for books and articles.
● Look at encyclopedia entries that will often include bibliographies to give you a head
start on important scholarship.

Start Here: https://search-credoreference-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/

Search your broad topic, concept, time period, movement, author, etc. Scan a relevant,
substantive entry, and jot down important keywords, facts, dates, and scholarly book references.

Keeping good notes, either in a research notebook, whether analog: such as spiralbound paper or
digital, such as PowerNotes (https://powernotes.com/) or Zotero or others
(https://www.relevance.com/six-tools-to-run-and-organize-your-content-research/) is essential.
Many options have free basic services that can help you beast R4B.

Using Credo Reference, insert your proposed research topic, and read a few of the amazing
sources that come up. Pick one that is especially useful. (Also note that you can elect to "Save"
the ones you find useful and want to come back to.)

***What is one thing you learned about your topic from this entry you selected? 

One thing that I learned about my topic was more of the “meaning of life”, in my research paper
I want to investigate more about the meaning of life, what it means to be human to then define
what made Iron Man a good representation of humanity. Then I want to look deeper into the
definition of superhero and what it means to be one, which will then relate it back to Iron Man.
And at the end I want to explain how all of this made him a very lovable character. Based on my
reading I learned that people want to engage in projects to achieve certain ideals through them,
which could be used in how Iron Man wanted to use the suit to save lifes since his weapons
originally caused pain and chaos.

***What terms from the entry could you use as keywords when you search other databases? 
Some keywords that I found helpful are Marvel, Iron Man Superhero, Marvel Comics, Iron Man,
Tony Stark, Meaning of Life, Purpose of Life, Humanity, Superhero

***Look at the bibliography in the source you just chose. Write down the title of one book that
might further propel your project. *Seriously. Write title and author down in your notebook -
you're going to want to remember this. If you don't see a bibliography for your entry, try clicking
on another source. 

I want to look further into “The Meaning of Life” by Terry Eagleton (link)

SECTION 4
Look at you go!

Remember that excellent research happens because you care about your topic, are excited to find
out more, work on it weekly several hours, are unafraid to hit a dead end, back up, and try
another path, and keep going.

***Stop to look at this cool view of UC Library Search, and in 1 sentence explain what you can
access through UC Library Search (see https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=383822&p=2601778) for help:

Through the UC Library Search I can access books, articles, media and more sources from UC
Berkeley, other UC libraries and in WorldCat I can do Advanced search for specific needs.

***What resources does UC Berkeley Library offer you here?–explain in 1 sentence. See
https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=383822&p=2666393

The UC Berkeley Library offers guides, manuals, handbooks, articles, books and other research
resources to get credible information for the research project.
***What is a scholarly (also called “refereed”) journal article?–explain in 1 sentence. See
https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=83917&p=3747680

A scholarly journal article is a more well made source because we have experts (scientists,
faculty, etc.) as authors, they include a well developed abstract, results, and conclusions, and
include citations for readers to explore more on the topic.

Pause–I mean Paws–a Moment

Remember that you matter.
Just because you exist.

I’m grateful for you!

You can do this.
Honor your voice.

Your friend,
Carmen (& Tao)
 SECTION 5
Find a Book

Let's take the keywords we've generated and put them to use! UC Library Search launched in
July 2021, and it replaces Oskicat and Melvyl as the Berkeley library catalog for books. UC
Library Search is the University of California’s new unified discovery and borrowing system that
streamlines your search for UC Library collections.

UC LIBRARY SEARCH INCLUDES:

● Scholarly and peer-reviewed journals and articles

● Scholarly Books and eBooks | Other Books and eBooks

● Course Reserves

● Special formats (media, maps, newspapers, dissertations, etc.)

● Government documents and datasets

● Primary resources, archives, and special collections

UC Library Search does not include everything UC Berkeley offers (ex: UC Berkeley Law
Library collections at https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/). For a full list of what is not included, see our
FAQ here: https://ucberkeley.libanswers.com/faq/349506. More information can be found in our
UC Library Search User Guide here: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/uclibrarysearch/.

Why find a book?

● Books are good places to start because they provide breadth and depth on your topic.
Remember that books tend to have a two-year delay on publication, which means their
contain information that is a bit older once published.
● By contrast, journal articles have “fresher data,” but may often be too narrow at the early
stages of the research process.
● You can use one relevant book to find other relevant books.

● A good book's footnotes and Bibliography (Works Cited) are like source treasure chests!

Start here: https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/search?vid=01UCS_BER:UCB

A Book Is as Cool as a Light Saber. Word.

***Briefly explain how a (scholarly or other) book differs from a (scholarly/refereed or other)
journal article (see above).

A book differs from a journal article in depth and time of information, a book takes around 2
years before is published to be revised but it does contain an entire story of the topic while an
article will be the most recently published but it won’t have a lot of details or depth of the topic.

***Briefly explain how a scholarly work (book or journal/refereed article) differs from a popular
one; see again: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=83917&p=3747680

A scholarly work differs from a popular one in authors since a popular one doesn’t necessarily
have experts, or the citation may not be formal plus the editing doesn’t necessarily needs to be
done for a popular, plus the popular has more of an entertainment and news purpose compare to
a scholarly work who has more professional information.

***Find a Book. Remember how I asked you to find a book in the encyclopedia bibliography
before? Well we're coming back to that now! Try to find that book in UC Library Search! If you
can't find it, try to find another book on your topic using the search terms you generated. Write
down the call number of the book you found! 

Link: https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?
docid=alma991011756719706532&context=L&vid=01UCS_BER:UCB&lang=en&search_scop
e=DN_and_CI&adaptor=Local%20Search
%20Engine&tab=Default_UCLibrarySearch&query=any,contains,The%20Meaning%20of
%20Life%20by%20Terry%20Eagleton&offset=0

Doe Library
Available , Main (Gardner) Stacks ; BD431 .E235 2007
Find Books Nearby on the Shelf

The call number of a book is like an address. It tells you the location of the book. Books at the
library are arranged on the shelf by topic. This means you can find several books about your
topic near each other. Even when you're online, you can find out what's nearby on the shelf by
clicking on a book's call number. From above, let's pick call # PN1995.9.S695 S76 2005 for Star
Wars and Philosophy by Decker and Eberl.
Click on the call number and locate two more books on your topic. Do a "Virtual Browse" and/or
an In-Person One, if safe and if permitted on campus.

Here you are doing a "Virtual Browse," a function located at the bottom of the webpage after you
click on your chosen call number. Write the titles, locations, and call numbers below of the 2
other books you found from Virtual Browsing. In order to do a "Virtual Browse," you must have
a call number to click on (an actual book on an actual shelf in a Berkeley Library). When you
click on the call number, then at the very bottom of the webpage, you'll see the "Virtual Browse"
findings. You must scroll all the way down. Example of a call number: PE1617.O94 W55.

Note: If possible, try this technique in person at Moffitt or another library on campus. Go to that
stack of your chosen call number, and look around that book on those shelves nearby. Also
remember sometimes books are misshelved by students, faculty (!), and others there, so look in
places all around, and be adventurous. Serendipity is also a part of well-organized, conscientious
research efforts.

***Below you see the section "Virtual Browse" and the selections I found from putting in call #
PN1995.9.S695 S76 2005 for Star Wars and Philosophy by Decker and Eberl. Do your own
Virtual Browse using your research topic / selected book, and then after virtual browsing, write
below the titles, locations, and call #s of the 2 other books you found from Virtual Browsing:

Now you've got 3 books you can use in your research!

Book #1: “Life, death, and other inconvenient truths: a realist’s view of the human condition” by
Shimon Edelman
Link: https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?
vid=01UCS_BER:UCB&search_scope=DN_and_CI&tab=Default_UCLibrarySearch&docid=al
ma991056765159706532&lang=en&context=L&adaptor=Local%20Search
%20Engine&query=any,contains,The%20Meaning%20of%20Life%20by%20Terry
%20Eagleton&offset=0

Book #2: “The dance of life” by Havelock Ellis

Link: https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?
vid=01UCS_BER:UCB&search_scope=DN_and_CI&tab=Default_UCLibrarySearch&docid=al
ma991000814429706532&lang=en&context=L&adaptor=Local%20Search
%20Engine&query=any,contains,The%20Meaning%20of%20Life%20by%20Terry
%20Eagleton&offset=0&virtualBrowse=true

Way to go! We're in this together!

SECTION 6
Find Articles

● Peer-review is a process by which experts in a field fact-check an article before it is

published
● This process is time consuming and expensive, which is why it's difficult for scholars to
get published
 ● Peer-reviewed articles often address more focused topics.

● Often to choose a peer-reviewed article, you must click "Peer Reviewed" under "Limit
To" on the "Refine Results" (see below).

***What are peer-reviewed articles and why are citations important? Sum up in 1 sentence after
watching video (See Video by Marisa Méndez-Brady)

Peer-reviewed articles are articles that are verified and fact checked by experts in the same field
before being published, and citations are important because they add up to the research that was
alredy published, plus it gives the reader a chance to explore these ideas.

Find Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Berkeley subscribes to many databases that contain peer-reviewed articles. These databases are
subject specific, so the best way to choose a useful database for your research is to select the
subject that is most related to your research topic from the dropdown menu "All Subjects," and
choose a database that is recommended by a librarian in your subject area.

Start here: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/az.php

Some good interdisciplinary database options are:

● JSTOR https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.berkeley.edu/

● Project MUSE https://muse-jhu-edu.libproxy.berkeley.edu/

● ProQuest Databases https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/advanced

Click on "All Subjects" to choose databases that help your research

***What database did you choose? Under "Film Studies," I chose "Film and Television
Literature Index with Full Text." Give yours here:

Under “Geography” I choose “International Encyclopedia of Human Geography”

***Search the database using the keywords you generated earlier, and find a relevant article.
Copy paste a citation for an article on your topic: 

One citation I found was “Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems” by Y. Leung
Link: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/
B9780080449104004028

***Download the article if full text is available. I chose "Return of the Jedi: Epic Graffiti" by
Todd H. Sammons, as my peer-reviewed article. 

I was able to download it but here is the link: https://www-sciencedirect-

com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/B9780080449104004028
***Find an Article from the Bibliography. Open the article you just found. (If it isn't available
through Berkeley, browse your results again for a full text article on your topic.) Scroll through
your article until you reach the bibliography. Browse the bibliography for another article on your
topic. Write down the title and author below. Also remember to search footnotes for new
sources! Give yours here!

Another article I found was, “The New Science of Management Decision” by Herbert Simon
Link: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-05849-000
***New Keywords? Scan the titles, abstracts, and subjects of your search results. Have you
come across any new keywords as you've searched? Write them down here: 

Representation of knowledge, artificial intelligence (related to the story line of Iron Man),
decision, serving, duty

SECTION 7
Way to go!
&
Ask a librarian for help!

You now have 3 books and at least 2 articles to add to your bibliography! Woot!

I know you're excited, but stop here for a minute...

Pro tip: If Berkeley does not have access to the article that you want, you can request it from ILL
and it will be delivered to your email in a few days! ILL? That's InterLibrary Loan, and yes, in
the parlance for today, ILL is "sick"! You need to plan ahead to use it, as sometimes it can take a
few days or longer to get the ILL you request, but it's an awesome way to expand your research
parameters!

Request It
● This link connects you to borrow from other libraries. If our library is able to request or
purchase the article, they'll send a scan to your inbox in a few days!
https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/using-the-libraries/interlibrary-loan-borrowing

Get Help
● Always a good option if you're feeling confused. Simply go here for many ways to Ask a
Librarian: https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/search?vid=01UCS_BER:UCB

Librarians love it when you ask them for help. You can make a research appointment or have an
online chat. Do it! Just click on one of the links below, found here:
https://search.library.berkeley.edu/discovery/search?vid=01UCS_BER:UCB
I'm always THRILLED when great research happens!

SECTION 8
Explore More

Research Guides & More!

Find the Research Guide for Your Topic

The Library has specialized research guides for every discipline. If you are doing an
interdisciplinary topic, there may be several guides relevant to you.

***Browse all research guides at https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/ Click on a subject related to

your topic and select a guide link that you might use. Give it here.

Philosophy: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/sb.php?subject_id=4553

***Find a Database or Digital Collection Useful for You. Look through the Research Guide you
choose above. Write down the name of a database or digital collection that might be useful to
you as you continue to research. Give that here:

Philosophy Research and Writing

What other sources might be helpful to answer your research question?

Don't be afraid to explore! A research project, remember, is the tip of the iceberg. The "iceberg"
is all the research you did, and it all counts and you learn from it; however, only the "tip" of the
iceberg makes it into the project. That's true for everyone, at all levels of research experience.

Getting Research Help. Here are additional ways to get help:

● Learn more about UC Library Search: https://news.lib.berkeley.edu/uc-library-search

● Stay up to date with Library Services and Resources During COVID-19:

https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/help/research-help/remote-resources
● 24/7 Chat/IM: tinyurl.com/3km75szf

● Research help appointments (via Zoom): https://berkeley.libcal.com/appointments

● Email subject librarians to get help in a specific subject:

https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/help/subject-specialists

***Write down ways that you have sought help already and/or ways that you will seek help,
including the possibilities listed right above and asterisked:  

I went to a workshop by a librarian called “How to Do Research in Literature” where I learned

tricks and tips to make my research journey easier. I will also seek help from librarians and
Carmen.

***Write down 3 other sources that may help you. These could include newspapers, other
databases, other books, other peer-reviewed articles, images, recordings such as at the Library of
Congress, podcasts, original photos, etc. Give these here:
 
Disney + due to the fact that my paper is related to Marvel films, so I plan to rewatch the films
for research purposes, YouTube for the well made reviews and explanations on characters. Also
google scholar or near libraries.

***What's something you want the librarian to cover during your library workshop or what is a
question you have for a librarian? Write it down. 
One question I had (and it was answered) is how to easily minimized search results.

Feedback for Our Amazing Librarians

***I am a. . . . [first year, second, third, fourth year, other] second year

***What is one thing that worked well about this notebook? 

How well explained each step was described and how it related to my own research, I really
enjoyed exploring and taking my time to enjoy it.

***How long did this take you to complete? 

Around 3 hours because I was exploring my resources

***What is one way this notebook could be improved? 

Finding articles was a little confusing, so maybe adding a couple extra pictures might be helpful.

Sources: This Library Research Notebook is continuously adapted by Dr. Carmen Acevedo
Butcher according to excellent student feedback (thank you past and present students), also from
a google form by UC Berkeley Librarian Kristina Bush and from an adaptation of that work by
UC Berkeley Librarian Kiyoko Shiosaki.