Mary Campany LIS 601/Irvin Bibliography Research Plan Terrorism in the Middle East: What’s going on? Mary Campany December 16, 2015 LIS 601/ Fall 2015 Dr. Vanessa Irvin 1 Mary Campany LIS 601/Irvin Table of Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………3 Audience ...………………………………………………………………………….3 Citation Style……………………………………….……………………………......3 Search Strategies………………………………………………………………………….…4 Search Terms………………………………………………………………………..4 Call Numbers (Dewey Decimal System and Library of Congress)…………4 Library of Congress Subject Headings……………………………………...4 Search Terms, Boolean expressions, and Natural Language……………......4 Search Process ………………………………………………………………………………5 OPACS………………………………………………………………………………5 Databases and Indexes………………………………………………………………6 Web Resources…………………………………………………………………… .11 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….13 Works Cited………………………………………………………………………………..15 Appendix I – Annotated Bibliography……………………………………………………..17 Appendix II – Search Terms Relevancy Chart…………………………………………….20 2 Mary Campany LIS 601/Irvin Introduction On November 13th, at nearly 9:30pm, the streets of Paris echoed with gunshots and screams. Gunmen were killing people at Parisian cafes, restaurants, and a concert. Over 130 people died, with many more injured (Steafel). In the aftermath, one can’t help but wonder: why? When ISIS, a Middle-Eastern terrorist group took credit for the massacre, many adults no doubt remember an equally horrifying act of terrorism, 9/11. This bibliography plan is about terrorism, with the sub-topics “ISIS and the Paris Attacks” and “Al-Quaeda and 9/11”. These two sub-topic are major acts of terrorism, and thus go hand-in-hand with the main topic. They are also related to each other, since ISIS is a group that splintered off from Al-Quaeda (Laub). Most of the databases explored in this bibliography plan are general and fact-based, rather than analytical. This allows for researchers to get an idea of what is going on in the world so that they can form their own opinions on this issue and the responses to it. Some databases that will be explored in this bibliography plan are Academic Search Complete,CQ Researcher, TOPICsearch, and U.S. History in Context. Useful references sources to look through before reading this bibliography plan would include the Encyclopedia Britannica: High school edition, or the Encyclopedia of Terrorism by Cindy Combs. Audience The intended audience for this bibliography plan is teenagers, especially those in high school or just starting college. I chose that particular demographic because my 14-year-old sister is getting increasingly concerned about what is happening in the world. This is a bibliography plan for teens like her who want to learn more about what ISIS is, how it started, why they are attacking people, and what this has to do with Al-Quaeda and 9/11. The library I chose is the Hawaii State Public Library System, because this is the one most accessible to teens besides their school library. Citation Style For this bibliography plan I chose to cite in the style of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition (MLA). 3 Mary Campany LIS 601/Irvin Search Strategy Call Numbers: Dewey Decimal System: 303.625 (Terrorism) Library of Congress System: HV6430- 6433 (Terrorism) Subject Headings • TERROR ATTACKS • TERRORISM – MIDDLE EAST • WAR ON TERRORISM, 2001- • TERRORISM—MIDDLE EAST- • SEPTEMBER 11 TERRORIST - JUVENILE ATTACKS, 2001 • QUAIDA (ORGANIZATION) • TERRORISM • ISLAMIC STATE • TERRORISM— (ORGANIZATION). PREVENTION— COUNTERTERRORISM Search terms, keywords, alternate terms: • Terroris*(m,t) • Suicide Bomb*(er, ing) • 9/11 • Extremism • Middle East • Terrorist Attack • Iraq War • Counter-terrorism • Al-Quaeda • Syria • Islamic State (IS, ISI, ISIS, ISID, • Islam ISIL, Daesh) • Paris Attacks Boolean Expressions: • Terrorism AND Middle East • ISIS AND Paris Attacks • Al-Quaeda AND September 11 Attack • ISLAMIC STATE (ORGANIZATION) AND TERRORISM AND Paris Attacks • TERRORISM AND Islamic state of Iraq and Syria AND Goals • (“Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” NOT “Al-quaeda”) AND TERRORISM • Terrorism N/7 "Al-Quaeda" Natural Language • • What are ISIS’s goals? • How did ISIS get so powerful? • Who orchestrated the Paris • Terrorism in the middle east attacks? • How did ISIS form? 4 Mary Campany LIS 601/Irvin The coding key used throughout this paper is that subject headings are entirely in capital letters, and natural language searches are in italics. Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT, will also be written entirely in capital letters. Search Process: OPAC HSPLS OPAC: In the Hawaii State Public Library System (HSPLS) Online Catalog I used natural language search terms in General Keyword searches and controlled vocabulary in Subject Browse searches. I chose this OPAC because it belongs to the local public library system, and therefore it’s the one that teenagers are most likely to use, besides their school library’s OPAC. I expected to find several non-fiction books for teens, but instead found that many of the books are almost ten years old and if the researcher wants any information at all on ISIS then they must head to the adult section. This may not be an issue for older teens, but understanding the content may prove to be difficult for those transitioning from middle school to high school. While searching, it would be best to use general key terms narrowed down with Boolean expressions, rather than specific ones. Natural language searches with the names of specific terrorist organizations such as ISIS, Al-Quaeda, and Boko Haram, all led to either a few slightly related results or, in the case of ISIS, an overwhelming number of results that were completely unrelated to terrorism. One successful Boolean expression was Terrorism AND Middle East NOT fiction. The last term, NOT fiction, removed novels about fictional terrorist attacks. In this case, controlled vocabulary worked far better to get specific results. The subject heading TERRORISM—MIDDLE EAST got 17 highly relevant results, while the subject heading TERRORISM—MIDDLE EAST—JUVENILE got 2 highly relevant results. While the latter search was highly relevant, it wasn’t as useful as the items in the first search because both items in that category were printed in the mid-2000’s, before ISIS rose to power. Items that aren’t cataloged as juvenile are more up-to-date, with several books that had been printed in 2014-2015. However, one book that is highly useful within the juvenile category is Arie Perliger’s Middle Eastern Terrorism, which gives the history of terrorism and unrest in the Middle East, providing insight on the region’s politics. Perliger, Arie. Middle Eastern Terrorism. New York: Chelsea House, 2006. Print. Roots of Terrorism. [303.62509 Pe] WorldCat I selected this source because it is an OPAC that allows one to view all the books in the world. While some of these items may not be available at the researcher’s library of choice, books and other materials can always be ordered through interlibrary loan. I expected to 5 Mary Campany LIS 601/Irvin find a lot of items while searching, and while I found more items there than what was available through the Hawaii State Public Library System, I also got more unrelated results. As I searched I confirmed my suspicion that here, just as in the HSPLS OPAC, it was easier to search with controlled vocabulary than natural language. For example, using keyword searches, such as Islamic State AND Terrorism, would often come up with several slightly related results, while the results of controlled vocabulary searches, such as TERRORISM – MIDDLE EAST, would result in fewer, more useful results. It’s especially useful to utilize the advanced search because it allows the researcher to put limiters based on audience, content, and format on their searches before searching. A useful item found while searching this OPAC with the “Juvenile” and “Non-fiction” filters on was the book “I am Malala”, a biography of Malala Yousafzai. It’s a fairly famous book that I didn’t think was intended for juvenile audiences, so I was surprised to see it in the search results. This book would be useful to a teen researcher because it shows the life of someone who lived within a terrorist group’s area of influence, and would be a way for teens to see this issue in the context of their own lives. Yousafzai, Malala, and Patricia McCormick. I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood up for Education and Changed the World. New York: Little, 2014. Print. Databases Academic Search Complete I chose this resource because it’s a well-known general database for scholarly material. The material within this database might be a bit much for a younger teen, but would work well for an older teen since it includes articles from more easily accessible periodicals like Time. I expected to find a variety of scholarly articles but found that a surprisingly large amount of non-academic periodicals were shown first, meaning that they were most relevant according to the database’s internal search function. What I feel that researchers would find most convenient about this database is its auto-fill feature where, much like Google and Yahoo!, the search bar will come up with suggestions for possible searches based on what is being typed. This allows for more ideas for search terms, such as Al-Quaeda AND ISIS, rather than ISIS or Al-quaeda by themselves. Sadly, when searching with subject headings the function will suggest search terms that aren’t necessarily controlled subject headings, leading to searches that won’t bring up any results because the searcher is unintentionally using natural language search strings instead of controlled vocabulary. Finally, since it’s such a large database the amount of results that come up may be a bit overwhelming, but thankfully searches are easily customizable with the limiter options in the left column. Crowley, Michael, Hania Mourtada, Massimo Calabresi, Jay Newton-small, Mark Thompson, Karl Vick, and Aryn Baker. "Iraq's Eternal War. (Cover Story)." Time 6 Mary Campany LIS 601/Irvin 183.25 (2014): 28-34.