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Amy Fara Edwards and Marcia Fulkerson, Oxnard College
Victoria Leonard, Lauren Rome and Tammera Stokes Rice, College of the Canyons
Adapted by William Kelvin, Professor of Communication Studies, Florida SouthWestern State College
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES |
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After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
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Figure 7.1: NYC Public Library 1
Introduction
When was the last time you spent hours on social media looking up people you used to know? Maybe we are looking to see how former schoolmates are doing or we try to identify the underlying meaning of an ex-partner’s posts. As we search for “spilled tea,” we tend to have more questions and need more information, so we continue to click deeper into profiles. Whether we care to admit this or not, we have spent countless hours on this type of “research.” However, this process of asking questions, gathering information, analyzing the truth of that information, then asking more questions and gathering more information is research.
There are similar steps we take in college when researching for a speech or essay, but instead, we search library databases, not social media apps. We pull up article after article and question the truth of new information at each turn, which then leads to more questions and more articles.
Figure 7.2: Study Group 2
The Research Process
Formal research occurs in a step-by-step process to gather content that we then fit into class assignments. In this chapter, we discuss methods of formalizing our research process so it becomes an effective tool for academic research. Let’s start with library databases.
Library Databases
The search for information about our topics can be fun when you start the speechmaking process. Using your library databases will generate higher-quality academic work. Don’t be afraid of the library databases! They work similarly to a Google search, but they produce more peer-reviewed, academic material. Let us explain.
In the beginning, it is okay to use the internet to search for topics, but once you identify a topic, you must use the library database to find the research. The results of a database search will all be peer-reviewed articles, primary sources, books, and other vetted or pre-screened materials; library databases act as a “background check” for your research. One of the key benefits of using library databases is free access to scholarly and full-text articles to be used as the foundation for our work. Libraries purchase subscriptions to these databases that a general internet search cannot access. When selecting research from the library databases you are using material that has been vetted or screened for credibility and reliability. The alternative, traditional search engines, produce countless results flawed by bias and non-scientific approaches.
Exploring Sources
When we are looking for sources for our speech outline, we may be looking for peer-reviewed journals, books, newspapers, or magazines. A peer-reviewed source means that multiple expe