Lecture topic: The research process part two: planning the library trip, whether it is a physical trip or a virtual visit online

First things first:

• You have already decided on your topic by submitting a research proposal.
• You may change your topic anytime before the annotated bibliography is turned in by submitting a new proposal to me.
• Change topics as many times as needed, but you must always submit a new proposal.
• You would change topics because you might find out that your research has led to a dead end. This is common and you should not be concerned that I will think you are unprepared.
• Because having to change topics is quite common, you should begin your research early. The sooner you find out if your topic is researchable, the better your final grade will be.

Strategies:

• You do not want to pursue a topic over which little scholarship has been written, nor do you want a topic if OSU holdings are sparse.
• Begin with a broad sweep.

The Broad Sweep:

• If your topic has something to do with bison, then brainstorm keywords about the topic and the argument. For example: bison; conservation; buffalo, etc.
• Do a search using different keywords and determine how many articles and books are available on the topic.
• Research is a time-consuming process, and although switching topics is sometimes necessary, it also wastes valuable time.
• Once you have determined that you have a solid topic to research it is time to pull articles and mine their bibliographies.

Mining Bibliographies:

• The bibliography pages of a book or article are gold mines of resources.
• If an article you have pulled speaks to your topic, then chances are that the author cites articles that speak to your topic as well.
• Read the titles of articles on the bibliography page and decide which ones seem relevant to your topic.
• Search for them and see if they are available.
• Those articles too have bibliographies, and so on, and so on . . .
• Also, pay attention to the names of the authors. If you are seeing the same names on the bibliography pages of different articles, then you have discovered who the heavy hitters are.

The Heavy Hitters:

• The heavy hitters are the scholars who are widely recognized as experts on your topic.
• Once you know the heavy hitters then do a search for articles by that author.
• Print that list and search OSU availability for those articles.
• Do not be too heavy-handed about including heavy hitters. One or two articles are enough because you want to make certain that your research demonstrates diversity.

Diversity of Research:

• Make sure you present opposing arguments.
• Not all scholars agree, or there would be no debate.
• Try and include one or two scholars who disagree with you, then refute their argument with your own argument and with the arguments of scholars in your camp.
• It is important to collect sources with opposing views because it will make easier your essay 4 at the end of the semester, which is worth much of your final course grade.

Bringing it all together:

• Remember that if you need, for example, 10 sources, then you should start with at least 15.
• Doing so allows you to choose the best articles in terms of the scholarship, and in terms of how well they relate to your own argument.
• Use current research.

Current Research:

• The best research demonstrates an awareness of the current conversation among scholars.
• While a 10 year old article may be very informative, it is also true that since that time the debate has taken new directions.
• The best procedure is to stay with articles no more than three to five years old.

The Recap:

• Use a broad sweep.
• Mine bibliographies.
• Discover the heavy hitters.
• Diversity of articles.
• Use current research.
• Work smart by starting early.