COR 185 Culture Wars

Welcome to the COR 185 "Colleges and Culture Wars" Guide from the Proctor Library at Flagler College. This guide is designed to support you in your research endeavors by providing easy access to relevant resources from all sides of the topic. 

This guide covers the following key areas:

1. Keywords and Subject Headings for Effective Research
2. Relevant eBooks, Videos, Journals, and Databases
3. APA Citation Guidance

By exploring this guide, you will learn how to:

• Use keywords and subject headings to craft an effective search string
• Recognize relative topics and subject areas in Health Science and Sports Management
• Create MLA and Chicago Style citations

As always, the Librarians at the Proctor Library are ready to help you! Click HERE to schedule a research consultation.

Here are sample keywords and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

1. Break Down Your Research Question - Identify the main concepts. For example, if your research question is, "What are the challenges and benefits of free speech advocacy on college campuses?", key concepts include:

• Free speech
• Advocacy
• College campuses

By strategically combining these techniques, you can efficiently locate precise and relevant resources for your assignments. 

2. Use Quotation Marks for Phrases - For multi-word terms, enclose the phrase in quotes: “culture wars” “affirmative action”

3. Refine Your Results - After running a search, refine by:

• Date: Focus on recent materials for contemporary issues.
• Geography: Specify “United States” for relevance to American culture wars.
• Subject Area: Use filters like “Education,” “Sociology,” or “Ethics.”

4. Use Boolean Operators

• AND: Narrows your search to include results with all terms (e.g., "free speech" AND "college campuses").
• OR: Broadens your search to include results with any of the terms (e.g., "advocacy" OR "activism").
• NOT: Excludes terms you don’t want (e.g., "free speech" NOT "secondary education").

5. Sample Search Strings 

• “culture wars” AND “critical race theory”
• “free speech” AND “advocacy” AND “college campuses”
• “diversity in higher education” AND (“affirmative action” OR “equity initiatives”)
• “universities” AND “political stances” AND (“social justice” OR “advocacy”)

6. Leverage Subject Headings

Use Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) for precise results. Examples include:

• “Culture conflict—United States”
• “Diversity in higher education—United States”
• “Academic freedom—United States”

7. Incorporate Synonyms and Variants - Use synonyms or related terms for comprehensive results: 

• (“free speech” OR “freedom of expression”)
• (“college campuses” OR “universities” OR “higher education”)

By strategically combining keywords, subject headings, and Boolean operators, you can create powerful search strings that efficiently locate precise and relevant resources.