Transcript Group Activity: Research Brainstorm

Before Class
 This is an excellent time to review the ENC1101 vocabulary we went over
last week
 Rhetoric (p. 16)
 Rhetorical Context (p. 16)
 Purpose
 Audience
 Genre
 Rhetorical Appeals (p. 58)
 Ethos
 Pathos
 Logos
 Angle of vision (p. 52)
 Wallowing in complexity (p. 27)
 Believing and Doubting Game (p. 33)
Today’s Goals
 Continue generating ideas for research
 Learn how to use the FIU Library databases
Your Research Ideas
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Endangered wildlife (look for specific animals or ecosystems)
Women’s rights & status in modern society
Standardized testing (effects and alternatives)
Teacher merit pay
Stem cell research
Human cloning
Bullying & cyberbullying
Freedom of speech (as a national or international issue)
Cognitive/behavioral psychology (look for specific issues or
effects to investigate)
 Steroid usage and athletes
 Obesity (classification as a disease and the epidemic in America)
Your Research Ideas
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Technology and its uses for education
Architectural preservation (look for specific examples or instances)
Gas prices (look at this as a social and political issue)
Political turmoil/corruption in Venezuela
Ethical issues in medical research/practices
Violence in video games
Terrorist groups and treatment
Space flight (consider this as an issue of economics as wells as politics)
Racial violence and discrimination in America
Alternative fuels & electric cars
Trade embargos and Cuba
Overcrowding and overly punitive prison sentences in America
Economic issues
Language learning (consider this as an educational as well as social issue)
Group Activity: Research
Brainstorm
 In your unit 1 groups (make sure to write down your group
number!)
 Brainstorm 10 possible research topics that you could use in
this class.
 These must be arguable issues that do not fall in to the
previously mentioned “Topics to avoid” or topics from our
Believing and Doubting Game
 For each possible topic, list one issue or problem you could
investigate and the type of source that you think will
provide you with the most helpful information: primary,
secondary, peer reviewed, newspapers, magazines,
academic journals, etc.
Journal Entry 2
 Focus: Research Experience Reflection
 Take a few minutes to reflect on your experience with research in
the past. If possible, focus on academic research that you did in
high school or college.
 Do you have a preference for primary or secondary research? Do
you find one more interesting than another? Why?
 How do you think you will use research in your current major or
career of choice?
 What do you think of the type of writing found in peer reviewed
journals?
 Was there any particular research experience that stood out to
you for being particularly interesting, difficult, or unique?
Library Databases
Advantages
Disadvantages
 Easiest way to find/access peer
 The sheer number of sources
reviewed sources
 Access to thousands of
expensive academic journals for
free
 The most credible
databases/sources you will find
anywhere
 (You will be required to use at
least 3 peer reviewed sources
from licensed databases for your
Exploratory Narrative)
can be overwhelming
 Many sources will have
pedantic language that is
hard to read
 Different databases will have
different criteria and search
protocols that will produce
varied results and take
individual time to learn to
use
Recommended Library Databases
 Easy to use
 Academic Search Complete
 OmniFile Full Text Mega
 Academic OneFile
 LexisNexis: Academic
 ProQuest
 Specific
 Use “Browse by Subject” in the left pane of the Research
Sources page
 Comprehensive (but harder to use)
 JSTOR
 Project MUSE
Research Strategies
 Eliminate function words or
words that will appear in too
many contexts, such as “the”
or “a” or “first”
 When you want to find an
exact phrase, enter it in
quotation marks (Note: this
will severely limit search
results)
 Enter search terms in their
order of importance rather
than the order they will
appear in the sentence (This
priorities the first words for
certain search engines)
 Use Boolean operators:
(special words that affect
search conditions. Do not use
these except for their listed
function)
 AND: only sources containing
all the words it separates
 OR: sources containing any of
the words it separates
 NOT: narrow search results
to not contain the word
following it
Secondary Research Strategies
 Working Bibliography
 As you find sources, write down relevant information so you can
find them again when necessary
 Make sure to indicate title, author, and in what search engine or
location you found the article
 EW p. 183 has suggestions for additional material
 Quote Bank
 Read through each article highlighting and annotating information
relevant to your argument. More information here is always better.
You can eliminate extraneous material later.
 After you read each article, write a shortened version of any quote or
important information in your quote bank
 After you have gone through all sources, read through your quote
bank and see if you have sufficient material to make your argument
MLA Citations
Best references:
 Everyday Writer
 Purdue Online Writing Lab:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
 MLA Handbook
Group Activity : Finding Sources
 In your unit 1 groups
 For each student’s topic, find one source from the library
database that the student could use for their exploratory
narrative. (There should be one source found for each
person in the group)
 For each source, answer the following:
What is the title and who is the author of the source?
What is the main argument or thesis of the source? (The
abstract may be helpful here)
3. What database did you find the source in?
4. How would you classify this source? (Would it be
considered primary or secondary? Is its stance objective or
subjective? )
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Homework
 Find the first source you can use for your Exploratory Narrative.
 Bring a printed copy of the source to class on Friday
 Note: this should be a different source than you found in class today.
However, feel free to save the source you found in class for later use
with your Exploratory Narrative
 Read A&B p. 251-258
 If necessary, review:
 Primary Source (p. 509)
 Secondary Source (p. 509)
 Peer Reviewed Source (p. 13)
 Source Evaluation Criteria (p. 527)
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Reliability
Credibility
Angle of Vision
Degree of Advocacy
Currency (For web sources. P. 536)