Finding a Credible “They Say”
1. Establish the key terms
a. Reviewing the assignment:
i. List key terms from the introductory material for the “unit”
ii. List key terms from the assignment itself
iii. List key terms from your notes
iv. List key terms from any comments on your previous paper.
b. Reviewing your TEQ Sheets for:
i. The specific terms central to others interested in the topic
ii. The specific terms of your own about the concepts in the readings
c. Annotating the assignment to note key terms
i. Via a TEQ Sheet
ii. Via Hypothesis
1. To collaborate/share ideas for searches or other issues
2. To go beyond the Terms section of your TEQ Sheets
2. Identify keystone sources: preliminary steps
a. Review articles, introductions in books; foundational essays
i. Named in class during lecture/discussion
ii. Listed on handouts and online class materials
iii. Listed in Wikipedia bibliography
iv. Produced by searching scholar.google.com
1. Search term “+ review”
2. Note number of citations
v. Read abstracts/introductions
1. Books.google.com offers access to many introductions
2. Are there new key terms?
3. Does a source name a useful problem for you to explore?
4. Do you want to read the entire article?
3. Search techniques
a. Authors, articles, books, journals
b. See “research” link under “Tools” tab on class web site
i. Narrowing search results
1. Precise vocabulary (key terms from above)
2. Uses of “and,” “or,” and “not” in searches.
ii. Via scholar.google. com
iii. Via library databases
iv. Compare scholar.google to library databases: HERE.