Pitch to a First Year Writing Professor

Library Research 2.0 is less about complicated web tools and more about connecting, consuming, and creating information through social media in order to be more effective, efficient, and meaningful in finding sources and writing research papers. There are many free resources available that students should be encouraged to incorporate into their research.

Consume: The library currently has excellent databases which allow students to consume scholarly information. We propose the following tips and sources to aid students in finding information for their research.

• RSS feeds keep you updated on new information being posted on any subject.
• Zotero can be used to find bibliography information although Ref Works is a great citing resource for scholarly articles.
• Google scholar is a great resource for finding scholarly material and can be connected to the library. (Tips for using Google can also be included. See blog post. http://digiciv-hammondlynsie.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-do-real-research-on-google.html )
• Students can find out what others are saying about their topic and what is currently being done about a certain issue by exploring blog posts and websites from enthusiasts.

• Connect: Students should connect to other researchers on their topic using digital tools. This makes students’ time more effective, since they can build off of articles and sources found by others, jump-starting the research process. They can also personally contact experts and researchers to gather content. This helps students learn how to build networks, and will prove to be a valuable research tool as students and as professionals.
• Connecting can be as easy as speaking to an expert in addition to reading their work. This can seem daunting to students, but with the digital tools we have today, it is relatively easy to contact experts on any subject.
• Students can find contact information through university websites
• If a student finds a scholarly article relating to their topic, he or she can usually find the author’s blog and comment to find more information. This may even spark a conversation with them on the subject, which will add both quality to the research paper and value to the student’s experience in writing the paper.
• Students can also go into an office which might have more information on the subject. For example, if a student was researching how technology has influenced education, he or she could go to an office of a nearby school and ask to interview someone on any new forms of technology their school has implemented and how it has influenced student’s learning. Interviews are generally considered scholarly sources and can generally be cited in research papers.
• Note: tell my story about connecting with the Danish expert on a certain species of Australian ant for my First Year Writing paper
• One great connecting tool is delicious.com. This site allows students to access sources from others who are researching a particular topic. The student can use these sources and build on their research by publishing a new list of sources on that topic for others to use.

Create: Students’ work will become more meaningful to them if it can be read and used by others. There are many fields in which an online presence will help with career opportunities and collaboration. Teaching students to share their work online will not only give them a chance for social proofing their ideas, it will also help them develop skills that may be crucial for their future careers.

• Publish their papers into Wikipedia articles. This is what my First Year Writing professor had us do. Knowing that others would be able to read and edit my work over time really motivated me to put my best effort into my research paper. However, I recognize that this is not possible for all research topics.
• Students can publish their work through eBooks. This is an easy way to publish a 8-10 page paper.
• Students could also turn their work into a Prezi presentation. They could design the presentation to be explored on its own or create a video where they explain their research while using a Prezi as a visual aid.
• The class could produce a TED talk where all students could take turns making a brief presentation of their topic and direct the audience where they could find more information if they are interested. A single student could also produce a TED talk to fully explain their research.
• Students can present their research as a video and publish it on You Tube.
• Information could also be presented as an infographic.
• Students can publish their research as a blog.
• A student could both create and connect by presenting their research to an expert on their topic and ask for suggestions on publication.