Humanities and Social Sciences Information Retrieval Tutorial (Second Edition)

Author: Jiang Yongxin et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-05-04
Features: This book is based on the practical needs of information retrieval and utilization in humanities and social science disciplines in China, systematically discussing the fundamental theories and basic skills related to information retrieval and utilization. The book is divided into six parts:
1. Basic knowledge of literature and information
2. Basic knowledge and skills of information retrieval
3. Knowledge of fact and data retrieval in humanities and social science disciplines
4. Database retrieval methods for books and journals in humanities and social science disciplines
5. Methods of retrieving and utilizing internet information in humanities and social science disciplines
6. Methods of collecting, organizing, and researching information in humanities and social science disciplines.
This book enables students to master information retrieval methods while learning to develop and utilize information resources. It is characterized by rich content, conciseness, clarity, and broad applicability. Additionally, the book includes case analyses and practice exercises, making it highly instructive and practical. It can serve as a textbook for literature and information retrieval for college and graduate students, as well as a reference for researchers in humanities and social sciences and library and information professionals when learning about literature and information retrieval.
[Preface] If the popularization of "Yindu" (indexing) knowledge is taken as a starting point, the education of humanities and social science literature in China predates that of science and engineering by far. However, due to the long-standing emphasis on science and engineering over the humanities in higher education in China, textbooks on literature retrieval in humanities and social sciences lag significantly behind those in science and engineering in both variety and depth of content. Since the 21st century, not only has higher education in humanities and social sciences in China entered a new stage of development, but the environment for utilizing literature and information has also undergone rapid changes. This has placed higher demands on textbooks on literature and information retrieval in humanities and social sciences, making it our historical responsibility to write textbooks that meet these requirements. This textbook is a new attempt in this context.
This textbook is primarily aimed at students and researchers in various disciplines of humanities and social sciences in colleges and universities, including economics, law, management, literature, history, linguistics, archives, sociology, intellectual property, film and television, fine arts, and sports. The features of this textbook are as follows:
(1) Guided by information literacy education. The literature retrieval courses in universities since the 20th century have achieved remarkable results, but the focus of these courses was primarily on teaching students how to use retrieval tools rather than cultivating their information literacy. With the new century, the teaching content of literature courses has not only significantly increased the proportion of digital information but also included research, evaluation, and utilization of information, which are part of information literacy, as a growing consensus among educators. This textbook fully reflects these changes, making this course a true public basic course for cultivating students' information literacy and enhancing their ability to engage in creative learning in an informationized and networked environment.
(2) Focused on information retrieval and utilization skills that support academic research, with an emphasis on the essential skills required by information users, while discarding purely theoretical explanations. The content reform of this textbook is guided by three main threads: first, literature awareness, literature retrieval, and literature utilization, starting from the actual needs of students; second, concept analysis, concept expansion, and concept summarization, with the essence of information literacy as the core content; third, network information, literature databases, and search engines, keeping pace with the times and enabling students to master the knowledge and skills specified in the teaching syllabus.
(3) Based on the objective reality of literature and information, highlighting the retrieval methods of common literature such as books and journals while also covering special literature such as conference papers. While emphasizing computer and network retrieval, it also emphasizes knowledge and skills in manual retrieval. It not only introduces how to retrieve literature and information but also how to analyze and research it.
(4) By providing case studies and exercises on the retrieval and utilization of humanities and social science information, this textbook not only offers students a starting point for understanding the knowledge but also encourages active thinking. Through practice, students can generalize and master the necessary knowledge and skills. The outline of the textbook was discussed and decided upon by the authors of "Information Retrieval in Humanities and Social Sciences." The chapters were written by Jiang Yongxin (Chapter 1, Sections 1-3 of Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and all case studies in this book), Bao Guohai (Chapter 2), Li Qi (Chapter 3), Chen Min (Section 4 of Chapter 4), and Zhao Boxing (Chapter 6). The overall editing was handled by Jiang Yongxin and Bao Guohai. During the writing process, this textbook referenced many similar textbooks by domestic and international authors. Teachers from the Literature Retrieval Teaching Group of the Library at Shanghai University, including Wang Deying, Mao Qinfang, Xu Zhijuan, Guo Ming, and Li Yaxian, provided many valuable suggestions for the manuscript. The leaders of the Academic Affairs Office, Shanghai University Press, and the Library at Shanghai University fully supported the publication of this book. The authors extend their heartfelt gratitude to all of them.
Any textbook is a product of development, and due to the authors' limited knowledge, there may be omissions in this book. The authors sincerely welcome readers to point out any errors or improvements.
Authors
January 10, 2005