WEEK 10: OCTOBER 24-OCTOBER 30
Reading
- “Guide to Using OneSearch” (Newman Library)
- “Zotero: Source Management Software“ (Newman Library)
- “Using Databases” (Newman Library)
- WS2 “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources” (Rosenberg) [11 pages]
- “Source Evaluation” (Salisbury)
Turn In
- Writer’s Journal Prompt[8] [Blogs@Baruch]
Writer’s Journal Prompt [Blogs@Baruch]
This week is all about searching for and evaluating sources in research. Because that is such a complex process, this week’s prompt has two parts. I recommend doing the first part and then returning to complete the second part after you’ve found at least one source. You only need one complete source for the second part and it need not be a source you use in your project – in fact, the source evaluation is to help you determine if a source is useable. You might do a source evaluation and decide the source doesn’t pass the CRAAP Test. That’s great! That’s exactly what the source evaluation is for.
Part 1
To conduct secondary research we have to develop methods for searching for materials. This can be a bit more difficult than a simple Google search, especially when using an academic tool like OneSearch or other scholarly databases.
Before beginning to search, writers and librarians both suggest developing a list of search terms you can edit and add to throughout the research process. When creating this list you should think of words that are relevant to your topic as well as synonyms or alternative phrasing for those terms.
Example:
- First-year writing
- First-year composition
- Freshman writing
- Freshman composition
- Required writing courses
- Required writing classes
Though search algorithms often have accounted for these similarities, sometimes different phrases turn up different results even when they mean the same thing.
You’ll also need to use what are called Boolean Operators (conjunctions like “AND”, “OR”, “NOT”, OR “AND NOT” to combine or exclude terms in your search. This practice can target your results for the kind of sources you’re hoping to find. You might refer to “Using Databases” for more ideas.
In this first part of your response, please start your list of terms—10-15 is a good number to start with—and consider combinations you might want to experiment with using Boolean Operators.
Part 2
As described in the Writing Commons’ “Summary, Evaluation, and Synthesis”:
When evaluating a source in an assignment such as an annotated bibliography, it is important to evaluate the credibility of that source. There are many elements that work together to make a source reliable or unreliable. In evaluating a source’s credibility, a writer is considering its rhetorical situation. A source evaluation should consider the following questions. While a source evaluation does not need to answer every single one of these questions individually, these questions guide a thorough consideration of the source’s credibility.
Conducting source evaluations helps writers not only determine how useful a particular source is for their research but also the source’s purpose and argument.
Use at least one of the Source Evaluation techniques found here. Not all questions may be relevant to your source but you should thoroughly analyze the source and dig below just surface level content.
Finally, describe how the source relates to the research question.
BONUS: You can add this Source Evaluation text to the entry for the source in Zotero under “Notes” if you’re using that. Then, you can easily refer to your notes for each source in one place.