1) Academic Search Complete is a great database and a great way to fin research on a topic.

2) When researching on a database it is helpful to use Boolean Operators in order to navigate and either refine or expand your search results.

3) Wikipedia is a good way to find background research on a subject matter in order to get a general idea before researching in depth but should never be a source that is cited in a bibliography for a research paper.

4) When using a database refining your search by using the specific fields available– such as title, author– it is a helpful way to find what you need quicker without having to filter through other results.

5) It is helpful to know and use the Google search commands effectively such as– Google Books– to find trustworthy research on a topic.

6) Using quotation marks “…” is a helpful way to search in search engines like Google if you are looking to find a specific set of words. For example: “cotton candy” without the quotation marks you will receive numerous irrelevant results that have nothing to do with cotton candy.

7) Using the asterisk (* ) at the end of an incomplete word is helpful when using a search engine. For example if you want to search about a topic such as sampling music you could type sampl* in order to not only results that say sampling, but also sample, sampled. By doing this it expands the amount of relevant results having to do with your topic.

8) It is helpful to make a concept map when researching on a topic in order to brainstorm ideas.

9) It is important to always do background research on a topic before choosing the topic and formulating a research question.

10) It is also important to do background research on the author of a source so you would be able to know if the author is trustworthy or not.

1. Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: Penguin Press, 2004. Print.

2. Yardi, Sarita, and Danah Boyd. “Dynamic Debates: An Analysis of Group Polarization Over Time on Twitter.” Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 30.5 (2010): 316-327. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.

3. Boyd, Danah , and Nicole B. Ellison. “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 13.1 (2007): 210-230. Print.

4. The New York World’s Fair, 1939-40 – Treasures of The New York Public Library. 5 October 2008. YouTube. Web. 29 November 2010.

5.

6. Sisario, Ben. “U.S. Shuts Down Web Sites in Piracy Crackdown.” The New York Times 26 Nov. 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.

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Background: (Fernback, 1999)

Exhibit: (Subrahmanyam, Reich, Waechter & Espinoza, 2009)

Argumemt: (Poplin, 1972)

Method: (Strauss, Corbin, 1998)

One thing I learned about research today is the find it button and what it is used for, which is to locate a specific article you have found in the Baruch database for example. I have also learned about the Marquis Who’s Who database which could be helpful in searching current biographies and was helpful for today’s in class activity on Yochai Benkler.  I also learned that in evaluating sources it is helpful to know that the person who you are using to cite your source has taught or published information on your topic, this shows that person actually knows what he is talking about and he can be trusted.

One thing on evaluation I am still uncertain about is how to truly ensure that the source I am evaluating is trustworthy.

The subject headings were alphabetized and categorized into different subtopics and categories including different areas and countries in the world such as the Caribbean area, Africa, Asia. The subtopics included economic aspects, educational aspects, government policy and much more.