research project

This project has three major sections. There are directions for you to follow and a numbered list of questions. You will turn in a page with a numbered list of answers. Many are short answer; some have word minimums. The final “question” 6 is a two page (1000 word minimum) paper. Please make sure to answer each part of every question.

Your research project is due *Thursday, March 31, 2011*. Please email it to me via Blackboard or via the Blackboard assignment submission.

Image courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/timriley/246432530/

I. Learn how to search a database: Academic Search Premier (10 points)

In the age of the Internet, you can find most everything online. Do a quick search on Google and you can find thousands of hits on any given topic. But where did the information come from? Can you use it for college research? This project will teach you how to get started doing college-level research.

“The following checklist summarizes major differences between scholarly journals and popular magazines.” Read it.

• “Is Your Journal Scholarly?”
  IPFW Helmke Library
  http://www.lib.ipfw.edu/1370.html

1. Based on the above reading, summarize the characteristics of a scholarly article and how you can recognize one. (250 word minimum.)

Scholarly journal articles aren’t always available for free online. Luckily, libraries pay for access to databases that have all of this available to you. IPFW’s Helmke Library has a plethora of sources to search for research information. Check out the list of databases available for General or Multidisciplinary studies – this is great for Women’s Studies research because it is multidisciplinary (covers many academic subjects – psychology, business, sociology, education, etc.). If you need to do research for another class, check to see which one(s) would be best for your subject/topic.

Libraries pay for access to databases which contain articles from thousands of research journals. But there are tons of databases from which to choose. we are going to examine and try some of the resources available to you from Helmke Library at IPFW.

We’ll start searching on Helmke Library’s home page: http://www.lib.ipfw.edu/

it takes you to the library’s home page:
http://www.lib.ipfw.edu/:

For this assignment, we will be searching Academic Search Premier – the link to this is right at the top of the page (see above).  Off campus, you will need to verify that you are an IPFW student; you must log in with your network username and password.

I like this database because it has two great options – you can limit to Full Text (so all articles can be read fully online), and Academic/Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals (so you know the source is high-quality and good for college research).

Choose any topic we have dealt with in class. Enter your search terms (keywords) at the top and click Search.

2. What was your search and how many results did you get?

Now let’s limit the Source Types that were found. Over on the left, Refine your results to only ‘Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals’ – then Update.

3. How many results do you have now that are just Scholarly?

4. Would you use the magazine articles for a college class? How about newspapers? (50 word minimum response for both questions combined – 25 for each.)

Note that to browse through the results list, you can click on the title and see a little bit more about each article, usually including an abstract (summary paragraph). To read the whole article, choose from the available options, which may be HTML Full Text (can read on-screen), PDF Full Text (will download a PDF and open in Adobe Acrobat Reader), and Linked Full Text (also downloads a PDF).

Something I have found to be helpful for my research is to make note of the Subject terms used. Sometimes they aren’t words or phrases you would first think to use, but by using on them you can find other articles on the same subject, or a more specific topic. We are going to use these subject terms to investigate research topics in the section below….

II. Investigating Subject Terms (10 points)

You will choose five different topics to examine research available. You may use any five of the topics below, or any similar topic covered in Women’s Studies.

Possible topics:

• sexuality
• rape
• body image
• pornography
• marriage
• motherhood
• childcare
• gender roles
• domestic violence
• birth control
• reproductive rights
• abortion
• multiculturalism
• work
• glass ceiling

For each, search on the major topic and then find related subtopics as you look through your results. This is kind of like an expedition. You can start out with a basic idea for a topic, like pregnancy.
Enter that term in and do a sample search. Browse through your results and see what you find interesting. If the results seem too off-topic, try adding and feminism or and women to your search terms.

As I click on titles that looked interesting, I found these subject terms that interested me the most in what I’d like to study further: PREGNANCY, Unwanted; WOMEN, Sexual Behavior; PREGNANCY — Psychological aspects; TEENAGE pregnancy; and ABORTION. (Note that is five subject terms.) The goal is not to grab the first five subject terms that you see, but rather to comb through the different articles and see the variety of possible research angles.  You can use these subject terms to perform new searches to find more specific information for your research…

You can use this browsing technique to find interesting topics. You don’t have to read all of the articles – just look over the titles and see what looks interesting. Please scan through several pages of the results – not just those on the first page!

For my second topic, I chose housework. Some related subject terms I found were HOUSEKEEPING; WOMEN’S roles; SEXUAL division of labor; DIVISION of labor; GENDER inequality; WORK & family.

5. List five major topics you started with, and at least 5 related subject terms for each. For example, the Pregnancy topic I chose would be ONE major topic with the five subject terms above. The Housework topic would be my second major topic – I found six related subject terms for that. I would do that three more times with different starting topics.

III. Utilize findings (30 points)

Now you will focus on the topic/subtopic you found most interesting. You’ll read several of the articles to see which ones fit with the theme you choose for your paper.

6. You will write a two page paper (1000 words minimum) on the topic of your choice. Summarize the findings of at least 5 articles and highlight the similarities and the differences.
Include a bibliography (Works Cited page) of the sources you used — make sure there are references to all of them in your paper! Your bibliography is in addition to the 1000 words. It is not included in your word count.

Your work should be summarizing the articles. Do not quote directly from the articles. For an overview on the differences between quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing, read this: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/.

After summarizing each article, compare and contrast the broad themes in each. The articles you choose should have the same general them (or you would not tie them together for a paper), mention the similarity and the research findings which agree. Note any differences – in findings or research approach, for example.

Your bibliography should be in MLA format. Please remember to alphabetize the five citations by the author’s last name.

How to cite articles from online library databases, like Academic Search Premier:

Junge, Wolfgang, and Nathan Nelson. “Nature’s Rotary Electromotors.” Science 29 Apr. 2005: 642-44. Science Online. Web. 5 Mar. 2009.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal 50.1 (2007): 173-96. ProQuest. Web. 27 May 2009.

[Author last name, first name. "Title of Article." Journal Title volume number (year): page range. Database Title. Web. Date accessed.]

Note: Previous editions of the MLA Style Manual required information about the subscribing institution (name and location). As of fall 2009, this information is no longer required by MLA.

~From the OWL at Purdue

Please let me know if you have any questions.

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