Path of inquiry: What are some free Internet resources that we might use in the research process? What are some techniques to critically analyzing Internet resources? How are they different from the databases we used last week?
From what we learned in class, a few internet resources that would be free and good for research are “Google scholar”, “Google docs”, “zotero”, “Wikipedia”, as well as on line libraries. From Paul Piper we learned strategies and questions to ask ourselves when looking at internet sites to see if they are credible. For example, who is the author of the site, does the site look current, what is the message of the site, are there biases within the site, etc. I found it very helpful to look at site examples and discuss them in class. I know that next time I see an internet site I will be more discerning as to its credibility. The difference between the free online sites and the library databases is that we know for certain when utilizing library databases they are credible, trustworthy and there has been previous research and evidence based writings. We know our library is selective and ensures the resources they have available physically and online are credible and trustworthy.
MENTEE UPDATE – NEWSFLASH! Woo hoo!
Okay, so for REAL, one of my mentees got a hold of me and asked if I would help her pick out articles for two papers in two classes! I met her last Wednesday night at the library at 8pm. I had asked her ahead of time what her papers were on. When we met, I took her through the exercise the Writing Center had us do on each of her topics. I asked her to pick 3 questions she was interested in finding information about. We then identified articles, and two references books that would be helpful for her. I was beaming when I left the library! I had a real mentor glow! It’s very fun and rewarding to actually have that hand on experience with a mentee. Thanks to Gabe for the idea of asking about other classes. I hope she sends me her draft this weekend. I have a little skip to my step and a little ditty in my head and I hope to be able to experience anything similar with my other two mentees before the quarter is over.
I really missed seeing you all and being in community with you in class last Thursday. I had a memorial for a best friend’s husband, who passed away unexpectedly the week before in Auburn, WA. The memorial was good but very, very sad because he was only 63 and much loved. For me when people I know and love are going through hard times, I feel kind of helpless and I’m glad right now I have school, it helps me to have meaningful work to do, towards a goal, it is a positive distraction where I can see results from my efforts. It’s nice to fill my head with other things and then I feel more present for my friend when she calls or I call her.
Have a safe and fun weekend. I don’t know who my new group is in class…but I’m excited about Tuesday and getting back to our class work. I like our class! Christina
Christina,
ReplyDeleteHope the memorial went ok and that your freind is holding up okay. We missed you in class and hope to see you this Tuesday. Gabe walked us through the Zotero process, which was really helpful, even though I was still a little confused, but I got put in a new group with Percy who seems to understand it fairly well. Im hoping to get some one on one time with him so he can help bring me up to speed. Great news about your mentee putting you to work, I am very envious of you and glad to see the program is doing what its intended purpose is.
I'm so happy that you got the mentor glow! That is great! I hope that your mentee gets back to you and that you are able to help out even more. Glad you will be back in class on Tuesday. It is always wonderful to see your enthusiasm!
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting how many students seem to have found Roberta's presentation and handout useful. A future class of this sort could probably benefit from more interaction with the Writing Center.
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