{"id":11797,"date":"2023-02-28T09:37:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T15:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.library.depaul.press\/full-text\/?p=11797"},"modified":"2023-03-01T09:15:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T15:15:25","slug":"searching-for-time-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.library.depaul.press\/full-text\/2023\/02\/28\/searching-for-time-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching For Time Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Suppose you\u2019re about to write a research paper on the topic of time travel. You\u2019re free to take it anywhere you like\u2014your only constraints are time, and your willingness to explore different sources of information and ideas. So what exactly would you write about? Your most immediate thoughts may associate with popular culture or science fiction\u2014including the likes of Doctor Who or Captain Kirk, correcting a past mistake to save us all from future disaster. Alternatively, perhaps you\u2019re seeking an escape from the ills of humanity, abandoning the world as we know it for a utopia unimaginably far in the future.<\/p>\n

If any of these ideas sound appealing for a writing project, you may also be interested to know about a particularly timely opportunity for you to take things a step further, because on May 20th, selected papers will be presented at \u201cA Celebration of Time Travel<\/i>,\u201d the theme of this year\u2019s Pop Culture Conference<\/a>, hosted by DePaul\u2019s College of Communication (it\u2019s not too late to participate\u2014the deadline for submitting an abstract is March 3rd).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether or not you\u2019re intending to present at the conference, you\u2019ll get the most out of your time and your writing endeavor with a little research and advance preparation. And there\u2019s no better place to start than the Library\u2019s Popular Culture Research Guide<\/a>\u00a0\u2014a convenient source of guidance and resources for researching popular media phenomena across the fields of entertainment, literature, and other disciplines and information genres. The guide\u00a0points to enticing books<\/a> and\u00a0links to relevant background information sources, article databases and online collections that you can use to identify different paths and options for your time travel writing adventure\u2014including those that have been less well-traveled (and possibly more interesting!). And should you feel inclined to venture beyond “popular” notions of popular culture, the guide can point you to other subject-based Research Guides<\/a> that help you identify a research focus that “fits” with your particular interests and strengths\u2014including guides encompassing the realms of philosophy, religion, art and literature, not to mention science or mathematics.<\/p>\n

Wherever you are in your research process, also be sure to make full use of the various Ask A Librarian<\/a> services and resources provided through the library website\u2014including Chat, Email, Make an Appointment<\/a>, or in-person at the Research Help desk, where super-friendly and helpful librarians are eager to assist\u2014at any stage of your writing project. If you\u2019re up for an adventure, librarians make perfect travel partners for exploring the information universe\u2014in all its four dimensions. Before you find yourself floating in a confusing and disorientating mess of Google search results, and while your ideas are still materializing and coalescing, librarians can help you navigate and make sense of the vast quantities of available information. Whether your interests appear novel or timeworn, abstract or tangible, broad or narrow, nebulous or defined, we can help you seek out new and unexplored options for your research focus, and help in ways you can\u2019t possibly imagine!<\/p>\n

When you conduct your searches, librarians recommend you use library databases. Unlike search engines, databases won\u2019t frustrate you with mysterious and quirky algorithms and biases that are the bane of Internet searching (though Google may be a better bet if you\u2019re in the market to buy a time machine). Databases draw from curated collections of information sources, and generate results based on logical and transparent algorithms that seek matches of your keywords to terms expressed in article records (e.g. within Titles, Abstracts, Authors, or Subject Headings).<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re looking for \u201ctime travel\u201d references that are literal or literary, tangible or metaphorical, the best databases to start your searches are those covering a broad range of different subjects. For example, searching the database Web of Science<\/a>\u00a0with the phrase \u201ctime travel\u201d (using quotes to denote the exact phrase) will generate a rich assortment of content strewn across multiple subject areas and disciplines.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Visualization of subject categories in the Web of Science search: \u201ctime travel\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another way to explore your options is to search across the sixty-four different databases provided through the EBSCOhost<\/a>\u00a0search platform. Refining your results by Subject Term reveals a diverse, eclectic, and possibly surprising assortment of subject areas. Besides the appearance of Subject Terms we might anticipate (\u201cTime Travel,\u201d \u201cHistory,\u201d \u201cConventions,\u201d \u201cForecasting,\u201d \u201cPhysics\u201d), you may be surprised by the frequent occurrence of Subject Terms such as \u201cTourism,\u201d \u201cTravel Agents,\u201d and \u201cAirline Industry.\u201d However, don\u2019t panic, you did nothing wrong! It\u2019s just that databases ignore the appearance of commas, periods\u2014and various other punctuation marks\u2014appearing at the end of phrases or sentences\u00a0(in-between the words \u201ctime\u201d and \u201ctravel\u201d). In this particular example, you could exclude most of the irrelevant articles (including those published in Time<\/em> magazine\u2019s \u201cTravel\u201d section!) by limiting your search to words appearing in the title or subject headings. And that, of course, is just one example of the many ways your librarian \u201cco-pilot\u201d can help you keep on course with your searching!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Other things you can find out along the way include how to expand the scope of meaning associated with your \u201ctime travel\u201d concept\u2014including figurative or abstract usages, as well as those that are more literal or tangible. For instance, searching the plural form \u201ctime travels\u201d would look for matches in records expressing the idea that \u201ctime travels\u201d at different rates (e.g. more slowly when watching a pot boil, or, speaking relatively, when hovering near to a black hole).<\/p>\n

Alternatively, your research focus may be swaying more towards the idea of \u201ctime traveling\u201d or \u201ctime travelers,\u201d or perhaps \u201ctime traveler\u2019s\u201d (as in: The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife<\/i><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span>While our Sci-Fi fantasies might suggest otherwise, for now at least, databases are best treated like robots \u2013 they need specific instructions as to what to look for. And when it seems you\u2019re not getting through to them, that would be yet another great time to Ask A Librarian<\/a>!<\/p>\n

For the time being then, we hope some of these ideas might offer at least an inkling of what librarians can do to help support your research. Whether your interests gravitate towards science fiction, history, literature or science (including special relativity!), just remember to start with a mind that\u2019s open to possibilities, and know that the library will be ready and waiting to support your “time travel” adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suppose you\u2019re about to write a research paper on the topic of time travel. You\u2019re free to take it anywhere you like\u2014your only constraints are time, and your willingness to explore different sources of information and ideas. So what exactly would you write about? Your most immediate thoughts may associate with popular culture or science <\/p>\n

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