English 201: Research Method

SCHOLARLY RESEARCH METHOD. English 201 aims to prepare you for the large-scale research projects that you will be assigned in upper-division classes, so you will practice the scholarly method of recording and managing information—currently the standard for large research projects. During the period of study culminating in Paper 2, an annotated bibliography, you will complete research assignments, including using the index-card system; and you are encouraged to use this scholarly method for all major researched assignments in the class. Get a pack of 4x6 INDEX CARDS and a highlighter with your favorite color. For each resource you locate that you think will use in your project, do three things:

Early in the project you will compile a 10-item working bibliography (a simple list of sources whose titles and maybe a brief scan suggests they would shed light on your topic or approach) from which you can draw as you complete your research assignments. Also, you will complete a typed annotated-bibliography rough draft for each of the three sources you will use for Paper 2; these drafts are developed from the writing you do on your RAs (the index cards, see #2 above). All this work is completed in a systematic manner to enhance learning, to ensure that you are following a scholarly process of research and reporting, to prevent procrastination, and to build academic and workplace skills.

Practicing this scholarly method is not "busy work." Rather, it is a method of thinking and writing in small chunks to test and develop your reading, writing, critical thinking, and researching skills. It is writing to learn and create as well as to record and organize. In past semesters, when I have asked students whether I should delete the annotated bibliography—along with the index-card assignments, research journals, and annotated bibliography drafts—students answered with a strong, "No! Keep this assignment. We may have thought it was a pain when we were learning it, but now that we've done it, we realize how valuable it is. No, tell your next students that we said it was a good assignment!" Successful students who have transferred to or graduated from universities write or call me to tell me things like "your research assignments really gave me a leg up!" Practicing the index-card and research journal process of research will help you gain more confidence, discipline, and independence. By practicing mindfully, you will improve your researching, thinking, reading, and writing skills. You will be on your way to being a college-level researcher, an independent scholar!

THE PROCESS. As you begin research on your topic, browse around to get a sense of the territory. Whenever you discover a possible source of information, assess its value to your research. During this process, you can make rough notes on any kind of paper (a good place for this kind of note is your research journal) to ensure you get to the resource immediately or have enough data to place a hold on it if it is checked out. When you have the resource in your hands (or before your eyes), quickly scan it to determine its usefulness to your project. If it does not offer you insight or even a possible model of organization or analysis, if it is too far off your topic, or if it seems unusable in some other way—then simply make a note of it, and keep the identifying information (author, title, call number, etc.) in case you later discover that the item will be helpful after all.

DETAILS ABOUT THE BIBLIOGRAPHY CARD. A bibliography card (aka "bib card") for this project is a 4x6 index card containing the following information: (1) the bibliographical citation for the item in MLA format; (2) information about the author's expertise (credentials) on the topic of the work, plus documentation of the source of this information; (3) a summary of the whole work that is identified in the bibliographic citation, or a summary and identification of the part you will use in your research (e.g., Chapter 3 on "Peace in the Family"); (4) a brief comment on how or what you will use for your research; (5) identification of your bib card with a code that matches a code on the connected note cards; usually the last name of the author makes for a good short identifier (if you have more than one item by the same author, you'll need to refine the code to distinguish one item from another). In addition to these 5 standard items for bibliography card, add the following for this class: (6) the call number if available and/or the place where you accessed or located the item; (7) the type of item (book, scholarly journal article, etc.) - of the name of the research assignment, which includes the type (e.g., RA-ScholJ); (8) your initials or name on each card so you get credit for the cards and so that they don't get lost or given to a classmate.

DETAILS ABOUT THE NOTE CARD. A note card helps you frame and manage your notes from each item in your bibliography. Each note card contains one idea, which may be expressed in a quotation, a summary of a part of the work, a paraphrase, some factual extractions, or some personal commentary. For Paper 2 process work, practice with quotations: copy word for word two or three particular passages of interest from each source; on each note card, practice the APEx formula for introducing and explaining the quotation. For each note card, you'll record an appropriate subject heading, which identifies in a short phrase the topic of the information in the note (a phrase related to the general topic of research, but more specific than that general topic).

INFORMATION COMPETENCY, EVALUATING WEBSITES, AND OTHER GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE WEB: Use these criteria of evaluation to test whether a source is good enough for you (meets standards of college scholarship): authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage, and quality of writing. On "authority," you look for a clear signature (name of person or organization responsible for the content on the page) and credentials of that person or organization (look for qualifications to write about the content you are thinking of using). Various Websites provide helpful information about evaluating information on the Web. First see the MiraCosta College Library Website, where you'll also get links to great scholarly sources that are available in online databases to which our library subscribes. Another good list of sites can be found at our own English 201 Research page.

A Note on Publisher Bias and/or Credibility. Relevant information about the publication can help build the credibility of your author. Scholarly books and journal articles are fairly credible sources, offering more reliable evidence than magazines and trade books, which are published to make money and seldom treat your subject with the depth you can expect in a scholarly source. Scholarly books and journals are usually published by university presses or academic organizations, which subject the texts to careful review before publishing them; their authors write for academic honor rather than for profit-and they document their sources. For your research work this semester, however, it is not enough to verify expertise by noting the scholarly nature of the the publisher. Here, for the minimum number of resources required, you must find relevant information about the author that shows her or his authority or expertise on the topic of the note you are taking. If you cite sources beyond the minimum, then feel free to rely on the publisher credibility if you cannot locate relevant information about the author because knowledge of the credibility and bias of the publishers will help you in making good critical decisions about how and whether to use the source for papers you write here and elsewhere, this semester and in the future.

In his 25th-year edition of Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide (7th), James Lester, Professor at Austin Peay State University, writes, "Be aware that many organizations publish slanted, biased articles to promote their views" (90). It's important that you raise your awareness of editorial policies: know whether the editors wish to present a liberal or conservative view on the world, for example; and think about whether the publishing organization has a vested interest in the information being published (for example, an article reporting that consumption of beer improves health, published by a national beer association, must be read with skepticism).

Two of the sources you can use to find information about publishing organizations and companies and the audiences they cater to are (1) Writer's Market (contains information on publications and audiences)-there are special varieties for specific kinds of writing; and (2) Katz' Magazines for Libraries (contains information on owners, and on the bias of various periodicals).

If you cannot find any information about the author or the publisher, or if the publisher is small and has not been in business long, you will need to exercise some caution. Many authors today self-publish; they will donate copies to libraries, hoping to gain a reputation this way. Some of these books present views well supported by evidence and well reasoned; they are credible sources of information. Some of these books, however, simply record the musings or ramblings of an ill-informed, irrational mind. Sometimes the best way to test the credibility of the source is to ask an expert in the field to give an opinion. Sometimes you can tell by the quality of the writing itself-look for clarity, coherence, careful reasoning, specific and relevant evidence, documentation, an index, a bibliography.

Remember that for the English 201 research papers and projects, publisher credentials may not suffice; you may be required to find relevant credentials for the authors of required resources.