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Click to edit Master title style,Click to edit Master text styles,Second level,Third level,Fourth level,Fifth level,*,Research Methodologies,Finding Information in the Modern Era,Researching,At the university level, one of the most important skills that you will develop is how to properly research.,This will help you throughout your life at school as well as at work.,Finding information, finding knowledge, allows you to control your thoughts and ideas as well as provides you with the ability to do things on your own rather than having to rely on other people to help you all the time.,Researching,The question of course is where do students find information?,What are the most common sources for research among students in China?,A,Baidu,Bing,Google,Wikipedia,How many of you rely on the preceding sources for research?,Poor Researching Habits,It is not surprising that students (both Western and Chinese) choose the easy way out when it comes to doing proper research.,Why?,Convenience,Laziness,Ease of use,Waiting too long to start an assignment to allow for proper research (poor time management),Unsure how to research,Unsure where to look for proper academic resources,Developing Research Skills,The purpose of this lecture then is to ensure that students get a fundamental understanding of:,What Is Research?,Why Do We Research?,When Do We Research?,How Do We Research?,Where Do We Find Research?,What Is Research?,According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED):,Systematic investigation or inquiry aimed at contributing to knowledge of a theory, topic, etc., by careful consideration, observation, or study of a subject. In later use also: original critical or scientific investigation carried out under the auspices of an academic or other institution.,Investigation undertaken in order to obtain material for a book, article, thesis, etc.; an instance of this,.,The product of systematic investigation, presented in written (esp. published) form.,What is Research?,Research is the act of looking for or gathering information through:,Experimentation,Developing and testing theses and hypotheses through clinical or scientific means.,Observation,Noting trends and transitions within your subject material or others research/conclusions and developing theories regarding them.,Investigation,Looking for information on your given subject by other scholars or researchers.,Analyzing the conclusions of others for flaws or shortcomings.,What Is Research?,For our purposes, research is simply:,The act of finding information relating to a specific topic the researcher is investigating or studying.,The information can come from various sources:,Textbooks,Subject-specific research texts,Documentaries (film or book),Interviews,Researchers or scientists,Encyclopedias,The Internet,Why Do We Research?,The most obvious answer is that we research to gain knowledge independently.,In class, teachers provide us with information they feel we should learn; researching allows us to find information on things we WANT to learn about.,It also allows us to confirm what our teachers tell us we often make assumptions about the in-class information we are given:,We assume the person speaking is giving us accurate information.,We assume the source of their knowledge is valid/accurate.,We assume the speaker has up-to-date knowledge.,We assume that the act of researching and condensing information is simple.,Why Do We Research?,Another reason to research is based on the limited time we have access to our teachers.,As well, Chinese students may not fully understand what their teachers are saying (particularly with Native English speakers).,Taking the time to research properly ensures that:,We as scholars are informed.,Our data is accurate.,Our ideas/thoughts/beliefs are as supported as they can be.,We are NOT plagiarizing someone elses ideas.,Another thing to keep in mind is that information changes rapidly, so by researching, we keep abreast of new trends or interpretations of data.,Why Do We Research?,There are other benefits to researching too:,We may discover new and different ways to perceive our materials or subject.,We may discover new theories or approaches towards out studies.,We may find inspiration for our thoughts/ideas.,We may find new fields we wish to explore.,We may learn of greater opportunities or ways to apply our field of study.,We,WILL,gain skills that enable us to be more independent or help us deal with everyday life issues that may occur.,When Do We Research?,If you are sitting around with your friends discussing how much you hate the Gaokao, do you need to do research?,If you are doing a class presentation on Nathaniel Hawthornes short text,The Ministers Black Veil, do you need to do research?,If you are arguing with your parents on whether you should do a double major, do you need to do research?,If you are entered in the school-wide debating contest, do you need to do research?,If you are debating whether to buy a laptop or Macbook, do you need to do research?,If you are writing an argumentative paper, do you need to do research?,If you are writing a letter to the editor or a newspaper, do you need to do research?,If you are writing a Dissertation, do you need to do research?,When Do We Research,There are situations when you dont need to do research, where it is preferable to do research, and where it is necessary to do research.,While arguments with friends and family do not require research, the more you know will increase your likelihood of persuading the people against you.,In academic pursuits, research is fundamental.,While expressing your opinion is acceptable, it is better to back up your conclusions with support from various scholarly sources.,No student here is an expert in their field. Therefore you need the support and knowledge of people who are considered experts.,If you are uncertain whether you need to do research for an assignment, if the assignment is unclear on this point,ASK YOUR TEACHER FOR CLARIFICATION!,How Do We Research?,How we research depends on what our topic is.,Too often students have problems understanding, choosing, or narrowing down their topic.,If the topic is too large or too unfocused, then students need to take the time (and enlist the help of teachers) to narrow down their topic.,If the topic can be narrowed down, then students can begin searching for keywords related to their research.,For specifics on narrowing down topics, see the Research manual, pages 8-12,How Do We Research?,Step 1,Express your topic or research question as a sentence.,Identify the key words contained in the sentence and use them as search parameters for your research.,Step 2,For definitions or background information:,Use dictionaries, directories, and encyclopedias.,For in-depth research:,Use books, journal articles, and government reports.,For statistics,Use government websites, associations or organizations.,Step 3,Carry out searches and locate your information.,See the links to the Library Electronic Reference Catalogue.,Other sources include electronic sources such as the SFS e-Library.,Step 4,Evaluate your source to determine if it is academic or scholarly.,Is it a peer reviewed journal? Is it a scientific textbook?,Is it a popular magazine? Is it Wikipedia? Did you find it on Baidu?,Where Do We Find Research?,Research is where you find it, but that doesnt mean that the information is valuable.,As students, the tendency is to put forth as little effort as possible in the face of what often feels like overwhelming tasks.,Unfortunately, your work reflects the effort you put into it the more work you put into it, the better it is; conversely, the less effort, the worse it is.,TEACHERS RECOGNIZE THIS!,Where Do We Find Research?,We spoke about,Baidu,and,Wikipedia,earlier, and these are two prime examples of the garbage pit that the internet can be.,Baidu,is a search engine that is paid to advertise or list websites this does not make them impartial and the websites they direct students to are often loaded with adware.,Case in point, most of the “scholarship” found on sites through Baidu is regurgitated each year to us, and we recognize it as Internet-based trash.,Wikipedia, as scholarly as it seems, is not peer reviewed and those who post information are not necessarily scholars, nor is their information peer-reviewed (or those who edit the information).,The fact that anyone can log into Wikipedia and change entries should be a sign that it is not scholarly or rigorously controlled.,Where Do We Find Research?,How many of you use the following:,Library Books?,Scholarly Journals or Articles?,Online Journal or Article Databases (JSTOR, Project Muse, Project Gutenberg, Scholarly Societies Project, etc.)?,Current Textbooks?,Subject-specific Research Texts?,Documentaries?,Newspapers and Periodicals (Time, Newsweek, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times)?,Google Scholar?,How many of you are familiar with JSTOR, Project Muse, Project Gutenberg, Scholarly Societies Project, or Google Scholar?,Where Do We Find Research?,It is important to know that your research source is valid; this is part of the “where” of research.,Determining whether a source is scholarly can be determined by asking specific questions and evaluating the answer.,Yes, this takes time initially, but as you do this more often, you will become better at it and will soon distinguish scholarly sources from non-scholarly sources in the blink of an eye.,Where Do We Find Research?,Timeliness/,Currency,The information should not be too old as it might have been superseded by newer research.,The information should not rely on information that is too old as this may make it irrelevant.,Authority,Authors and their credentials should be CLEARLY identified.,Authors should have an educational background with past writings and/or experience in the subject area.,In general, government, academic, and non-profit web sites are more reliable than personal or commercial sites.,Accuracy/,Completeness,Information should appear valid and well researched.,Authors should indicate methods and provide support for their conclusions,It should have a bibliography.,Objectivity,It should be informing you, not trying to persuade or sell you something.,Information should be fact, not opinion (WARNING: skilled writers can make opinion appear as fact).,Quality Control,There should be no obvious spelling or grammar mistakes.,Translations should be grammatically correct.,Coherent Organization,Should be logically organized,Main points should be clearly presented.,Authors arguments should not be repetitive or circular.,Reasonableness,Given what you already know about the subject, the information should be reasonable.,Should not contradict information you found elsewhere; if it does, check other sources to determine which view is correct.,Where Do We Find Research?,There are specific questions that can be asked to help determine whether the above criteria can be met.,Refer to pages 17-18 of the Research Manual for specific questions to ask and consider.,When we ask these questions, we can ensure that the criteria is met.,Where Do We Find Research?,Aside from hard-copy sources (such as dictionaries, text books, newspapers), there are also select internet sources that students can access.,These are internet sources that students may not be familiar with but can help you find data for most of your research papers.,Google Scholar,Google scholar is dedicated to searching scholarly materials available online in full or in part.,It will also list texts that cite particular articles.,Please note:,Wikipedia,does NOT show up here. Nor does anything on,Baidu,.,G-Scholar will identify articles that are peer reviewed and link students to them.,These links may require subscriptions, but odds are if you cant access it, you can speak with the Library about this.,The more students approach the library about sources, the more active the library will be in securing them.,JSTOR,www.jstor.org,One of the best scholarly sources out there, JSTOR offers databases on a variety of sources.,USTB will hopefully be getting a subscription to this database soon.,Even if we do not have access, the search function still works and students can look at abstracts.,Project Muse,http:/muse.jhu.edu/,Produced by Johns Hopkins University, Project Muse is much like JSTOR in that it is a collection of scholarly journals and articles online.,This we should have access through Library Electronic sources page.,See the Manual for links and more specific information.,Voice of the Shuttle,http:/vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp,Started in 1994 and hosted by the University of California, Santa Barbara campus, Voice of the Shuttle has access to a wide selection of topics ranging from Anthropology to the Technology of Writing.,Intute,http:/www.intute.ac.uk/,Intute is a UK-based website which is unfortunately no longer being funded by government grants.,However, the website is still maintained, and students can find a great deal of interdisciplinary resources through this site.,Pitfalls of Researching,Researching is fraught with pitfalls, not the least being failure to use the best materials or resources possible.,However, there are other issues, including (but not limited to):,Overgeneralization,Biased Methodology,Correlative/Causative Relations,Failure to Consider Other Related Factors,Other issues when researching include:,Determining valid/invalid data,The need to prove our initial thesis,Plagiarism,Pitfalls of Researching - Overgeneralization,Overgeneralization refers to applying a research topic or thesis beyond the applicable scope of it.,For example, students may read Toni Morrisons,Beloved,and analyze the character Sethe, then try to apply an individual analysis to the female African-American population at large (which is not tenable),It is important to realize that generalizations breakdown in the face of specific examples, and inversely, specific examples cannot lead to generalizations.,Taking focused/specific information and making generalizations about a group of people based on it doesnt always work.,Pitfalls of Researching Biased Methodology,Personal bias may lead us to develop researching techniques that only support our views.,For example, if you are researching abortion and trying to prove that Chinese people do not support it (because you do not support it), you may ask questions in such a way that promotes a negative answer.,Ie. “Do you support the right to rip a living human being from a womans womb and discard it?”,In other cases, avoiding research based on personal biases is unacceptable.,Using the above example, if students avoid researching Pro-Choice sites, then their research suffers from biased methodology.,Pitfalls of Researching Correlative/Causative Relations,Many of my students hear me repeatedly say that “Correlation is not Causation.”,Just because there is a link between two things does not mean one is the result of the other.,E.g. Chinese food must be healthy because Chinese people are thin.,This presupposes that thin is healthy (anorexics, bulimics),Implies that Chinese are thin because of the food, not other factors (health, genetics, exercise, restricted diet, etc.),If Chinese food is so healthy, then why am I so fat after 14 months of eating it?,Do,NOT,presume that two things that are linked together have a cause-effect relationship.,Pitfalls of Researching Failure to Consider,Writing research papers is difficult not just because writing is hard, but because there are so many variables to consider.,It is important to know when something is relevant to your argument and when it is irrelevant.,Too often students include things that are unnecessary, and exclude points that ARE necessary.,Failure to consider related factors is a problem that students need to be aware of.,Pitfalls of Researching Valid/Invalid Data,Students often look for information and settle for the first pieces they find.,They dont often check the date of it.,This happens with teachers too.,If you recall, one of the conditions of good information is timeliness/currency it is important that students use current (or as current as possible) information when researching.,Case in point one student of mine was discussing divorce statistics in the US and used statistics from 1990.,Obviously all her arguments and claims based on this data are irrelevant because the data is irrelevant now.,For private research (such as surveys), you must take into account the possibility that people are not taking the survey seriously, and you must eliminate those options (but be careful doing that!),Plagiarism,The West has long held that Plagiarism and other forms of Academic Dishonesty are an absolute and unforgivable evil.,China is starting to accept this view to some degree. Western teachers in China will absolutely enforce this view!,Part of researching is finding information and ideas that you can use to support your own thoughts and ideas.,It is essential then to cite or reference the materials of other people.,The one condition though is that if you DO use someone elses materials, GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR THEIR WORK!,If you do not cite them, you are plagiarizing and therefore a bad person who should be ashamed of themselves.,To avoid plagiarism, you will use a Citation Style as prescribed by your teacher .,Thank You.,
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