Scholarship is a ConversationHow does this

research thing

work anyway?

High School

College

!

Scholarly Conversation

Scholarly Conversation

!

You are a contributor to the conversation!

How can you join the scholarly conversation?

How can you join the scholarly conversation?

1) Read up on the subject you are interested in. Be sure to read critically to determine the argument being presented to

you.

How can you join the scholarly conversation?

2) Get a sense of who else has responded to this particular argument. Responses won’t necessarily come from databases

—they could come from social media sites or websites or pretty much anywhere.

How can you join the scholarly conversation?

3) Recognize the influences of other voices on this argument. Keep track of dates to document the change in the

argument over time.

How can you join the scholarly conversation?

4) Add your voice to the conversation! What questions haven’t been answered? What conclusions have you drawn

after listening in on the conversation?

Tracking Influences Activity

Tracking Influences Activity

1) Scan your assigned article and determine the topic.

Tracking Influences Activity

2) Go to the references page and find two articles. (Articles will have page numbers, books generally won’t.)

a) Type the titles into OneSearch to find the abstracts.

b) How do their arguments differ?

Tracking Influences Activity

3) Go to the library homepage and click on Research Databases. Find Web of Science. Type the title of your article in the search box. How many times has it been cited?

Tracking Influences Activity

4) Use Google or another online search engine to look up the topic of your article. See if you can find any blog posts, tweets, or Facebook posts about the topic.

Tracking Influences Activity

5) Read your article’s conclusion and re-read the abstract. What new research questions could this article inspire?

Tracking Influences Activity

0Before turning in your handout, please answer at least a couple of the reflection questions at the bottom of your handout.