Subject Guides: Indigenous Studies: Courses

INDG 200 Assignment Practice

GROUP TASK: Choose one of these three assignment options...

(a) Select an existing template or create a conceptual framework of significance and relevance to the writer’s autoethnographic lived experience in relationship to one or more course themes. TOPIC: Medicine Wheel Teachings

(b) Critically reflect upon and/or conduct research to strengthen awareness and gain deeper level understanding of your lived experience in relationship to one or more course themes. TOPIC: Indigenous Feminism

(c) Critically reflect upon the relevance and interconnectedness of your lived experience in relationship to one or more course themes as situated in social, cultural, economic, political and ecological contexts. Include reference to Indigenous principles. TOPIC: Land

GROUP TASK: Brainstorm on your topic using the following prompts...

What are some big ideas connected to your topic?
How does your lived experience connect with your topic? What's your location and positionality?
What are some keywords that might pull up information on your broad topic and these angles?

TIP: For keywords, the fewer words per idea, the better! (keywords are like tags)

GROUP TASK: Thinking about your topic (Medicine Wheel, Indigenous Feminism, or Land), try out the Main Library Search HERE and find...

ONE related article
ONE related book

TIPS:

Try out different searches
Use your strategies ("phrase search", canad*)
Use the different limiters
- Subject (to find subtopics)
- Peer Review (to only retrieve academic articles)
- Publication (to look for Indigenous-centred publications)

Indigenous voices can be silenced by the sweeping searches of Main Library Search. For this reason, it is important to explore more focused collections.

TIP: Browsing or searching with broader terms tends to work better in smaller collections.

GROUP TASK: Thinking about your topic (Medicine Wheel, Indigenous Feminism, or Land), look for another TWO related resources using the various collections below...

Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America This link opens in a new window
Covers aspects of the culture, history, and life of the Indigenous peoples living in what is commonly known as North America. Includes a wide range of topics such as archaeology, multicultural relations, gaming, governance, legend, and literacy. Consists of citations for books, essays, journal articles, and government documents.
Coverage and Currency: 1500s to present
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.
iPortal: Indigenous Studies Portal Research Tool This link opens in a new window
Comprised of electronic resources with a primary focus on the Indigenous peoples living in Canada, with a secondary focus on North American materials and beyond. The resources include full text articles, e-books, theses, government publications, videos, oral histories, and digitized archival documents and photographs. The database contains both freely available materials as well as licensed resources.
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.

Wisdom of the Universe | Christi Belcourt | Access

Google Scholar has some important uses in the research process. These include (A) tracing conversations backward and forward & (B) Searching for really specific topics.

GROUP TASK: Thinking about your topic (Medicine Wheel, Indigenous Feminism, Land), explore Google Scholar by...

Cutting & pasting the article that you found in your earlier Library Search. Does it lead you to anything useful?
Trying out a new search. What comes up?