Arts

How to Not Write Bad

Arts Information Services — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:38:23 GMT

Ben Yagoda says that teaching students to write well may be too ambitious a goal. Instead he aims to improve your writing by eliminating those common errors such as spelling mistakes, poorly chosen words, and train-wreck punctuation.

In his book How to Not Write Bad you’ll find lots of helpful advice, as well as a discussion of eggcorns, a potted history of duck tape, and a defence of the supermarket signs reading “Five items or less.” (p.73)

And what is is the single most common mistake? Forgetting to delete a word. (p. 59)

Spoiler alert: there’s a page of clichéd phrases that Yagoda would like you to avoid. Including “spoiler alert”. (p. 130)

Ben Yagoda, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, New York: Riverhead Books, 2013.

How to Write a Lot

Arts Information Services — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:44:57 GMT

Motivational books are not usually found in university libraries, but one that seems appropriate is How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Academic Writing. Psychologist Paul Silvia discusses specious barriers to writing (can't find the time... need to do more research first... need a better computer... or just waiting for inspiration), and offers motivational tools and practical suggestions for overcoming them.

The key is setting goals, scheduling time for writing, and monitoring progress. Silvia admits that an SPSS file for monitoring progress seems "nerdy, obsessive, and weird" (p. 40) but don't be alarmed, there are some New Yorker cartoons to lighten the tone.

There are also some useful tips on style. Here's a free sample:
"Delete very, quite, basically, actually, virtually, extremely, remarkably, completely, at all, and so forth. Basically, these quite useless words add virtually nothing at all; like weeds, they'll in fact actually smother your sentences completely." (pp. 64-65)

Paul Silvia, How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Academic Writing, Washington: APA, 2007.

Audiovisual Library tours

Arts Information Services — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 01:20:49 GMT

Do you need to access films and other audiovisual material from the Library collections?

Come to the Audiovisual Library and join a 10 minutes tour!

When? Monday 4 March - Friday 8 March, 10:05am, 11:05am, 1:05pm, 2:05pm.

Where? Audiovisual Library, City Campus, Building 409, Ground Floor, Symonds Street 24.

Visit the AV Library's homepage for more information about hours, contacts, services and location.

Note: staff and PhD students may borrow material; students may view material in the Audiovisual Library only.

Updates for eHRAF World Cultures & Archaeology

Arts Information Services — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:51:14 GMT

The content of two Library databases, eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology, has been extended recently.

A significant number of cultures, 24 including Eastern Apache and Northern Paiute of the U.S. Southwest, Haitians, Puerto Ricans (Island), Manchu of East Asia, and Albanians of Southeastern Europe was added to eHRAF World Cultures. The new traditions that were added to eHRAF Archaeology include Early and Late Anasazi, finishing the Southwest sequence.

New to eHRAF World Culture and Archaeology? Both databases are produced by the Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF) at Yale University. The mission of HRAF, a non-profit consortium of universities and colleges, is to encourage and facilitate worldwide and other comparative studies of human behavior, society, and culture.

There is also a Facebook page for those interested in HRAF related news or how eHRAF is used in research.

Sociology Department Seminar Series

Arts Information Services — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:08:59 GMT

"Māori and Pacific Student Success in Higher Education: Preliminary Results from a Qualitative Study"

Hilary Dansey Dutton, Faculty of Education, Liberal Arts Programme,

Moeata Pele Keil, Department of Sociology,

David Tokiharu Mayeda, Department of Sociology and

'Ilaisa-Futa-Helu 'Ofamo'oni, Equity Office

In Aotearoa/New Zealand, academics have typically framed Māori and Pacific issues in terms of social deprivation. Although concerns exist, many Māori and Pacific peoples are excelling across a variety of institutions. This presentation will rely on recent data collected from 13 focus group interviews with Māori and Pacific students from the University of Auckland who are excelling academically. Research participants were diverse, representing a variety of different ethnic groups, majoring in varied academic disciplines, and coming from both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Participants expressed a variety of social factors and coping mechanisms that assisted in their educational success. This presentation will cover the following emergent themes from the focus groups: (A) negotiating a mainstream educational environment that can help or hinder; (B) coping with racialized microaggressions; (C) drawing strength from familial and educational role models; and (D) utilizing personal and institutional resources. Because the research project is ongoing, audience members will be encouraged to offer advice on future research questions. Preliminary recommendations for the tertiary education sector and Ministry of Education will be provided.

When? 12.00-1.00pm Wednesday 6 March 2013.

Where? HSB 901 Human Sciences Building 10 Symonds Street.

General Library Tours

Arts Information Services — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 01:57:04 GMT

Lost? It does not have to be this way.

We are offering tours through the General Library during the first two weeks of Semester 1. Each tour will take about 20 minutes and a librarian will introduce you to the layout and key services specific to the General Library. The tour starts in the entrance hall at the bottom of the staircase on level G.

When? Hourly from Monday - Friday (4-15 March 2013), at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm.

No bookings required. Everyone is welcome.

Southeast Asian history

Arts Information Services — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:40:48 GMT

The Works of Nicholas Tarling on Southeast Asia has just been published. It is a seven volume collection bringing together Emeritus Professor Tarling's scholarly journal articles.

1. The superintendence of British interests in Southeast Asia.

2. Diplomacy and pragmatism: Britain and the Kingdom of Thailand.

3. "A new and a better cunning" British policy towards Indo-China and Burma.

4. "The merest pustule" and other concerns: Britain and the Malay Peninsula.

5. "The burthen, the risk, and the glory": Britain and its territories in Borneo.

6. "When the Old Lady dies": Britain, the Netherlands East Indies, and Indonesia.

7. "A prompt gesture of goodwill": Britain and the Philippines.

The Criminological Imagination

Arts Information Services — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:26:37 GMT

The Book

Young, J. (2011). The criminological imagination. Malden, Mass: Polity Press.

Anyone who studies Sociology knows C. Wright Mills' classic, The Sociological Imagination. Now Jock Young has coined "The Criminological Imagination" for his provocative new book. In it he illustrates, drawing upon his research, the failings of the discipline as it is studied today and proposes a return to “criminology’s creative and critical potential”. Find out if he succeeds in rescuing criminology from irrelevance and determinism.

The Author

Jock Young is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, UK.

Location

Call number 364 Y68 | General Library | Level 1

Emile Durkheim - a new biography by Marcel Fournier

Arts Information Services — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:46:35 GMT

This newly published book by Marcel Fournier (University of Montreal) has been described as a new classic on the life and thought of Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of Sociology and one of the most original and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. The book contains a wealth of new material on his life and work and will be indispensable to students and scholars in the social sciences.

We have one copy of this book in the General Library. The call number is 301.0944 D96Y.

Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema

Arts Information Services — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 04:00:35 GMT

The database Victorian Popular Culture added a new section to its collection - Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema. This new part covers a variety of subjects:

Early visual entertainment such as shadow play, optical illusions, metamorphic pictures and protean views
Panoramas and dioramas
Optical or philosophical toys
Peepshows
Magic lanterns and image projection
Pioneers of cinema: Thomas Alva Edison, the Lumière Brothers, Eadweard Muybridge
Early inventions such as the cinematograph, phonograph and zoopraxiscope
Emerging film industry
The first film stars
Original film footage from 1894-1926

Victorian Popular Culture is a collection of primary source material on popular entertainment in late eighteenth and nineteenth century Britain and America, with supporting essays. It includes manuscripts, printed books, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, posters, handbills, children's literature, and celebrity memoirs.

There are now four parts to the collection:

Copyright
Images from this collection may be downloaded, printed and photocopied for educational purposes including course packs. Links may be created for essays submitted electronically. Photocopies and printouts of images may be used to accompany printed essay material. For commercial use contact the publisher Adam Matthew Digital.