Gears
Why Writing Works

Disciplinary Approaches to Composing Texts

Research Resources

Research at SMSU

What does a scholarly article look like?

Quality of sources

Scholarship as conversation

It is important to understand the metaphor of "scholarship as conversation" and how it applies to reading, writing, and research in academic settings. 

  1. Watch each video & take quick bullet-point notes. After each video, make a bullet-point list in which you re-state the main points of the video in your own words. 
  2. Using those 5 bullet-pointed responses, write 2 paragraphs for the Discussion Board:
    1. Paragraph 1: Explain your understanding of "scholarship as conversation" as a metaphor for reading, writing, and research in academic settings.  Does the metaphor make sense to you? Do you see how it fits this class? 
    2. Paragraph 2: What questions are you left with?  If the metaphor still doesn't make sense to you, please help us to understand what doesn't make sense.
  3. Read your classmates' 2 paragraphs. See if you can learn something: Did they have the same understanding as you?  Did they have the same questions? If you read someone's response and they don't understand it yet, try to help them to understand. (This is what learning communities do!) Respond to at least two people on the Discussion Board, and make sure your response is substantive: do not simply say "Oh I totally agree" or, "I like what you said." Add something new to the conversation!

Confirmation bias

The research process

  • SMSU’s Research Guide for ENG251: https://libguides.smsu.edu/ENG251

  • SMSU’s Periodical/Journal Chart
    Use this chart to help identify the different types of periodical publications. If you have physical examples of these, bring them to class to show students—many have never laid their hands on an academic journal.

  • Image: The Research Process

  • Graphic Organizer: Research Article Organizer

  • Video: Analyzing Popular, Trade, & Academic Publications (5:57)

  • Video: sections/section1-introduction/genres
    • In any discipline, you'll encounter multiple types of documents (also known as genres) as you do research. In this video, students talk about the differences between types of research sources.  
  • Graphic Organizer: Source Grid

  • Video: Intro to Academic Research (5:10)

    • Watch the video & answer these questions: 

      • What are "scholarly" sources? 
      • What are the differences between scholarly sources and magazines? 
      • What is "peer review"? 
      • Why is it better to use library databases rather than Google/Internet searches? 

      Then make a bullet-pointed list of any questions you are left with. 

  • Video: Developing a Research Question (4:33)
    • In this course, you will be researching a topic of your choice. This video will help you determine a research question to guide that process. 

    • Make a bullet-pointed list of what you learned from the video and any questions you are left with.

    • Make a bullet-pointed list of any research questions you are considering at this point. Respond to at least 2 other people on this post and comment on whether their research questions are "good" ones  based on the information in the video. '

  • Video: Search Smarter (3:41)

    • In the beginning of the research process, you may have to go back and forth between an Internet search and library databases. This video has some tips about how to do that. Watch & take notes. Submit bullet-pointed notes + write a few sentences explaining whether or not this was a useful video & why. 

  • Video: Picking a Topic IS Research (3:10)

    • Choosing your topic is often more challenging than we expect.

      1. Explain how you typically approach choosing a topic & beginning research.
      2. Watch the video & take bullet-point notes.
      3. Explain what you learned from the video and how that might impact your research process. 

 Expanding and narrowing topics

Research matrix