Librarian
Welcome to Finding Research "Voices"
Guide Overview
This guide supports the "Finding Research Voices" library workshop for English 1A students working on their podcast research projects. It could also be useful for students exploring "voices" to create a scholarly conversation in their other research projects.
Guide Goals:
- Understand podcast project requirements
- Identify different "voices" needed for your research
- Build effective search strategies
- Find and evaluate diverse sources
- Access library resources and get past paywalls
Podcast Project Requirements
3+ sources (1 peer-reviewed scholarly + 2 credible sources)
Create a conversation between different voices
Include written & verbal citations (MLA format)
This project responds to Ruha Benjamin's call in Imagination: A Manifesto to harness imagination as a tool for social change.
The Research Cycle
1. Explore & Refine Your Topic
Need to brainstorm a suitable topic? Once you've picked a possible topic, it's a good idea to do some background research to learn more about your topic. After you've done some background research, it's time to refine or narrow your topic. The library is a great source for brainstorming and background information!
2. Find Sources
After you've refined your topic, it's time to start searching for sources. Consider your assignment requirements such as whether you need scholarly sources or the most recent research.
3. Search Effectively & Evaluate Always
Not finding what you need? Learn basic and advanced search strategies to find relevant results. It's always a good idea to evaluate sources before using them in your assignment.
4. Write
Pull everything together by tying information from your sources together with your own observations/experiments and analysis. Share your results and discussions/conclusions in a cohesive report/presentation. The LPC RAW Center has many tutorials to assist you. Don't forget to look at the Citing page on this guide for tips on proper citation formatting.