1. I tried to answer the question "What type of animal life is in the Yangtze River?"
2.I used the term "yangtze" for my search
3.I used the subject heading of River dolphins-- China
4. There was another subject listing of "River Dolphins : A new river-dolphin from China", but it was published in 1918 so it wasn't current. I then chose "River Dolphins China : Baiji : the Yangtze River dolphin and other endangered animals of China / by Zhou Kaiya and Zhang Xingduan ; translated by Luo Changyuan " because it was published in 1991 and it related more to my topic.
5. Author: Zhou, Kaiya
Title: Baiji : the Yangtze River dolphin and other endangered animals of China / by Zhou Kaiya and Zhang Xingduan ; translated by Luo Changyuan
Publisher: Stone Wall Press ; Nanjing : Yilin Press
Copyright: 1991
6. I could not find any quotes in this book
7. A reference book is a reference point for regular books. Regular books use reference books as a source for factual information.
8.I think the material comes from between 1980 to 1985.
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I like the fact that you were able to find a book on your topic, but it's not a reference book. Remember from the module that you can find a reference book by combining your search term with "reference collection" which you choose from the "location" drop down menu on the advanced keyword search screen.
ReplyDeleteI combined "yangtze" with "reference collection" and got 0 results, so I broadened my search.
I then tried "china" and "animal life" combined with "reference collection" and got 0 results.
I then tried "china" and "mammal" combined with "reference collection" and got 0 results.
At this point, I had to choose between "china" and "animal life" or "mammal" to combine with "reference collection."
The major topic is actually "animal life" because I want to find that first and then see what animal life is in China or along the Yangtze.
I then tried "animal life" combined with "reference collection" and I got 3 results. When I looked at them, here are the ones I thought relevant:
Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia
Grzimek, Bernhard
Detroit : Gale, c2003 [i.e. 2002]
The Larousse encyclopedia of animal life.
New York, McGraw-Hill [1967]
What I'd do then is look at these reference books and see what animals were native to China and, potentially, to the Yangtze River in particular or to the provinces through which the Yangtze River flows.
That's how you find a reference title. This is one case where you are looking for a broad overview of a topic, so you have to pick broader terms and decide which term predominates, if you have two or more.
As for a quotation, I expected you to go to the book you chose and pick a quotation from it. I'm sure there was something to quote from within a whole book.
As for defining a reference book, it's generally a book you consult rather than read cover to cover. It also covers a very broad spectrum of a topic and often has alphabetically listed entries and a number of indices to help you find what you need. In this case, if you went to one of the two reference books I identified, you would use the index in the back of the book to find where there were references to China or even the Yangtze River. You would then be directed to specific pages where animals are listed, ones that live in the area you are researching.
I hope this is clear.