Carmen Cortez – Research Update

Throughout the course of my research, I have been able to identify a variety of research studies and publication that have be written with regards to the changing role of community colleges through time and efforts made to improve education attainment within higher education. The topics range from challenges and opportunities for improving community colleges to perspectives on access and equity. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the strategies that I have used with the hopes that it may be some support to you in conducting further research. I have found that keywords as well as attention to detail are crucial in finding the right data. For example, I have come across a solid article through the Brooking Institute, a recognized policy research think tank based in Washington, which provides access to policy studies, publications and events on an array of topic areas, including all if not most of the topics that are being covered in the class. Using this platform, I was able to locate recognized educational researchers by not solely limiting myself to research papers but by exploring the events they had posted on their site. Among one of the events was Transforming America’s Community Colleges and listed under the key speakers was Sara Goldrick-Rab, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin and Senior Scholar at the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, which led me to find one of her studies on Academic Search Complete. I would recommend that when engaging in research, you review all the sources that appear including key words and you may also find it helpful to review the references list on the end of the studies, which can lead you to other resources on the selected topic.