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UWC First YearResearch WorkshopGetting started on your Extended Essay research

Workshop leader: Jillian Harkness

Why are we here today?

Who Am I? Hello my name is Jillian Harkness

My aim is to help you by:

• Developing a research strategy for your EE• Introduce research resources at UWC Adriatic• Discuss research skills – note taking and citation

What is research?

What are you hoping to get out of this workshop?

Coming up with a topic

Things to think about:

• What are you interested in or curious to know more about?

• What are you naturally drawn to? • What topics or issues are important to you?

Coming up with a topic

I’m interested in the environment and I think that environmentalism is an important issue.

I like poetry and I think poetry helps people understand themselves and their world.

Maybe I will do a paper on nature in literature?

Brainstorm!

Once you have a general topic in mind, make a list of words and phrases about the topic. You might ask yourself:

• What are some key issues involved in this topic?• How would you describe this topic to someone else who

didn’t know about it?• What do you like about this topic? • What do you want to know more about it?• Why do you think this is an important subject?• What other subjects or topics are related to this one?• Where will you find this subject/topic? In what

sources/mediums?

• What are some key issues involved in this topic?

• How would you describe this topic to someone else who didn’t know about it?

• What do you like about this topic? • What do you want to know more about

it?• Why do you think this is an important

subject?• What other subjects or topics are related

to this one?• Where will you find this subject/topic? In

what sources/mediums?

Nature Literature Brainstorm

• What are some key issues involved in this topic?

• How would you describe this topic to someone else who didn’t know about it?

• What do you like about this topic? • What do you want to know more about

it?• Why do you think this is an important

subject?• What other subjects or topics are related

to this one?• Where will you find this subject/topic? In

what sources/mediums?

Nature Literature Brainstorm

Human experience of natureNature is relaxingDifference between experiencing nature in a book or in real lifeDoes nature literature make us more interested in our natural world?Is it linked to environmentalism?Literature can express links between:

technology and nature gender and naturesociety and nature

Might find it in poems, novels, essaysWho are some major authors of nature lit?

Find out more – Research!

With your brainstormed list of words and phrases, choose some of the main ideas you find the most interesting.

Use these main ideas to find more information in order to help you develop your research question.

What kind of information do you want to find?

Types of sources - Primary and Secondary Sources

What are Primary and Secondary Sources?

Types of sources - Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary sources will be the ‘data’ you choose to analyze or investigate.

Primary Sources:• original works of art and literature • first-hand accounts of events• materials created by participants or witnesses of the event/s under study• original records created at the time that events occurred• raw data

Secondary sources will give analysis, insights, and complementary information on your topics to help in your discussion.

Secondary Sources: • works that discuss a subject, but which are written after the time that the event/s

occurred (by someone other than an eyewitness)• works that contain explanations/interpretations/analysis/judgments/discussions of past

events, research results, data etc

What are some examples of primary and secondary sources?

Types of sources - Examples

Primary Sources

Literature, songs,advertisements, interviews,

speeches, memoirs, autobiographies, pamphlets/treatises,

works of art, photographs,television and radio shows,

letters, wills, diaries, Government documents,

treaties, censuses, and statistics, scientific data, original research

Secondary Sources

Encyclopedia entries,non-fiction books on a subject (also

called monographs),journal articles,

dictionaries,textbooks,

biographies…

..which help you to furtherunderstand, interpret or analyze

your primary source.

Resources for research:

Where are you going to find your information?

• Google?• Wikipedia?• Blogs and personal websites? • Professional websites? Government websites? • Newspapers/magazines?• Academic journals?• Books (monographs) and encyclopedia?• How can you tell if it’s an appropriate source???

Evaluating Secondary Sources

• Who wrote it? Is the author a scholar in the field? • Who published it? A blogging platform or a university publisher? Is it in an

academic journal?• When was it written? Is the content still relevant?• Was it Peer-Reviewed? • Is the author discussing their own opinion or do they use citations to back up

their claims?• What sources or references did the author use? Is there a bibliography? Do

their sources seem credible? • Where did you find it? Has it been indexed and organized for research?

Could someone else find it?

An academic research paper should use secondary sources that meet the following criteria:

• Written by a scholar in the field• Published by an scholarly press (as a journal or monograph) which

requires peer review• Current and up-to-date• Unbiased (ie. is not swayed by a personal agenda/ideology)• Include citations and bibliography.

UWC Adriatic Library Resources

Books!

Use the catalogue to search for them: http://www.infoteca.it/uwcad

Online databases for academic articles and e-books: Questia School

https://www.questiaschool.com/

Other Sources:

Other libraries!

This summer, visit your local public library or university libraries – they are

great resource!

They may have online databases (like Questia) which you may be able to can

access from here with your library card.

Academic Books and Articles

(all disciplines):

Directory of Open Access

Journal (DOAJ)

Directory of Open Access

Books

Google scholar

African Journals Online

JSTOR open access e-books

(list form)

Ideas

PubMed Central

Primary Sources:

EuroDocs

World Digital Library

Google Arts and Culture

Elephind: Historical Newspapers

Internet Archive Wayback Machine:

Website Archives

Other Sources: Online Resources

What is open access?

Data and Stats:

Organization for Economic Co-

operation and Development

(OECD)

UNdata

(Food and Agriculture UN) FAO

World Bank Development

Indicators

RFE: Resources for Economists on

the Internet

Gapminder DATA

(Adapted from the 2016 IB Guide)

Start with more general sources such as encyclopedia and reference books on

your subject. Ask yourself:

- What has already been written about this topic?

- Was it easy to find sources of information?

- Is there a range of different sources available?

- Is there a range of views or perspectives on the topic?

- What interesting questions have started to emerge from this reading?

Start to pose open-ended questions about your general topic using the

terms “how,” “why” or “to what extent.”

Preliminary Reading and Developing a Research Question

How does Rilke explore the relationship between technology and nature in The Duino Elegies?

Primary Source – The Duino Elegies

Secondary Source research areas:• Technology and literature• Rilke – biography, major themes, other works, etc• The Duino Elegies• Early 20th century German literature• Technology in the late 19th and early 20th century• Views of nature in early 20th century

And now …. back to the research process!

The process is a cycle. You think, research, read, refine, repeat, and then you

write.

So, how are you going to keep track of all that research?

What is Citation? What is a Bibliography?Why Cite?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMhMuVvXCVw

What is Citation? What is a Bibliography?Why Cite?

• All good research relies on previous research and writing• When you write an essay, you enter into the scholarly conversation• Citation is the system that scholars use to show the context of their

work:• Citing makes your work stronger as it backs up your ideas• It allows readers to trace your steps and find your sources if they

want more information• Proper citation prevents accidental plagiarism

Understanding citation will help you in a huge way!

It will allow you to:

• Understand the author’s sources and where to find them• Evaluate the author’s sources• Prepare for your own writing, where you will have to:

• Use other author’s quotes • Cite other’s ideas• Avoid plagiarism• Create a bibliography

Other citation managers:

Zotero - an open source citation manager, very recommended!

No matter what style of tracking you choose, make sure you record this information for all your sources while you are reading:

• Author name (and editors names if applicable)• Title• Date of publication (and volume/issue if applicable)• Publisher or Periodical Name• URL (if you found it online)• Starting and ending page numbers (if periodical or book chapter)• Page numbers for the material you are interested in• And be careful with copy and paste!

Record your search history too – keep a list of the search terms you used in each database.

Questions?

Happy researching!

For the links in this workshop, go to:

researchuwcad.wordpress.com

Thank You!