Category Archives: Assignments

Summary of today (11/11) and reading/blogging for Wednesday 11/13

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Today we discussed the writing of an academic research paper. Slides from today are available here.

On Wednesday, we’ll begin our discussion of documentation and citation, starting with the rationale for documentation and citation. Please read Hausman, pp. 7-13, which I distributed in class; if you missed class get the book on reserve in the library (call number PN171 .F56 H38 2008). Also read Bugeja & Dimitrova, chapter 5″ What, in fact, causes footnotes to vanish? (pp. 33-39 of eBook available from City Tech Library catalog). Your blogging assignment is one reading response blog post.

The research paper draft is now due as an email attachment sent to me by 10 a.m. on THURSDAY, November 21!

New research tools.

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Samurai slash!!!

Samurai slash!!!

During the past two weeks my arsenal of research tools has been upgraded. I have previously used scholarly databases for other English classes. However by reading Badke, and learning about more databases in class, I have learned how to navigate these databases’ information much better. I am still just at the brink of this discovering how to find my way through all this scholarly territory. Using advance searching like rephrasing, time relevance, authors’ reliability, publishers’ credibility, the domain source, and relevance of the material I feel more confident in writing new papers for class or any future occupation. I have not yet searched library catalogs, but do have some knowledge on how to. I have to say playing the research game was a clever way to shed light on how much search criteria play a role in search results.

Happy researching.

Reading and blogging for Monday, November 11

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On Monday, we’ll discuss writing a research paper. I’ll distribute guidelines for the research paper draft in class. Please read Badke, Badke Ch. 10 and Appendix 1 pp. 223-257. Your blogging assignment is one research journal blog post in response to the following prompt:

This week and last week we read about and worked on these tools and strategies to find scholarly and other information:

  • advanced internet searching
  • searching library catalogs
  • searching article databases.

What have you learned in these classes that’s new to you?
How do you see yourself using your new skills outside of our course?

Google vs. EBSCO

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Using Google and EBSCO to search for “who controls information”, produces very different results. Google provides more relevant results on its first page it provides. They range from information control and on other subjects like mind control. EBSCO provides scholarly works, but on a very broader scale. Both searches require advance searching and some extra mining to get more relevant search results. The results by EBSCO provide results about law, and gun control. Other terms I have used are information filtering, monopolies, and information control. Although both search systems provide different results the combination of the two provide enough relevant information to do the research project.

Reminder about November 6 readings and assignments

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I hope you all enjoyed Monday’s discussion on how to evaluate information sources with my colleague Prof. Ian Beilin. On Wednesday, Prof. Maura Smale will lead a discussion on why to evaluate information and facilitate the evaluation game in class. The research paper outline is due by the beginning of class on Wednesday, November 6 as an email attachment to me. Guidelines for the research paper draft are now on the course site. The research paper draft is due on Monday, November 18.

For Wednesday 11/6, please read Fister, The Devil in the Details and Grimmelman, The Google Dilemma (note Download link on that age). Your blogging assignment is to comment on at least one blog post.

~Prof. L

Today’s summary, and assignments and reading for next week

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Today we discussed finding articles and other content from library databases. Slides from today area available here. I distributed guidelines for the research paper outline, due Wednesday, November 6. Here are some suggested databases that may be useful as you search for articles on your research topics:

Remember that the annotated bibliography is due by noon on Friday 11/1, emailed to me as an attachment. I’ll be away at a conference next week, but my colleagues Prof. Beilin and Prof. Smale (Monday and Wednesday, respectively) will be teaching those days. Next week we’ll discuss how and why to evaluate information. For Monday, please review the following websites on how to evaluate information:

UC Berkeley Library, Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask
Cornell University Libraries, Critically analyzing information sources.

Your blogging assignment is one research journal blog post in response to the following prompt:

Do a search on your research topic in at least one internet search engine and one library database. What words or phrases did you use to search?
What are the similarities and differences between the results of your two searches?

~Prof. Leonard

Today’s summary, and assignments for Wednesday 10/30

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Today we discussed searching (and finding!) in library catalogs. We discussed the CUNY library catalog, the Library of Congress Classification Outline, WorldCat, and reviewed LibX, a browser add-on to make your searching more efficient.

On Wednesday, we’ll discuss searching in library databases. Please read Badke, chapter 5 (pp. 94-120). Since databases have great potential for your discover of relevant, high-quality scholarly sources, here is a quick preview:

Remember, the due date for the annotated bibliography is now Friday, November 1. Please email your assignment to me as an attachment by noon that day

New due date for the Annotated Bibliography

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You all probably saw my earlier email message, but I wanted to make sure you all know this: I decided to change the due date for the annotated bibliography from Wednesday 10/30 to Friday 11/1 by noon, sent to me as an email attachment. You’ll need Wednesday’s discussion and activity on searching library databases to complete the assignment.

Following up on our discussion of advanced internet searching last week, I located this blog post on clever Google search tricks. Useful stuff!

~Prof. L

Help I am lost!

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With all this information available at my finger tips it is easy to get lost in web pages. Having to read articles, and judging which ones have the most relevance to my topic becomes overwhelming. Using scholarly works for research again reminds me of how much I can trust the information provided. As long as I am willing to spend the time scanning them. I do mean “scan” because reading entire articles would be too time consuming. I used ERIC – Education Resources Information Center in class and was enticed by how much more solid the information provided was. Rather then using Google and having to be skeptical about what I clicked on. Both search engines require navigation through a lot of information, however ERIC provides scholarly work which I can trust more. Using key words and playing around with them helps me bring up more narrow search results. This is definitely helping me to find my way, in the beginning stages of looking for concrete material for my paper.

Summary of today, and reading/blogging for Monday, October 28

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Today we discussed advanced internet searching using scholarly search engines and portals, and spent time discussing (and using) Google Scholar and LibX. Slides from today are available here.

On Monday we’ll discuss searching and finding in library catalogs. Please read Badke Ch. 5 pp. 74-82 & 89-93 and review the Library of Congress Classification Outline.

Your blogging assignment is one research journal blog post. Please write one blog post in response to the following prompt:
In class today you tried out advanced search strategies and scholarly internet resources from the Badke reading to search for sources on your research topic. Describe one advanced strategy or scholarly resource you used.
Did you find different information sources than you found doing a regular internet search (just using Google, Bing, etc.), and if so, how are they different? Did you encounter any difficulties that you haven’t encountered in a regular internet search?

Remember, the annotated bibliography is due on Wednesday, October 30. Please get in touch if you have questions about the assignment.

~Prof. Leonard

By the way, happy Open Access Week! This video is a great summary of Open Access and scholarly communication: