Course Summary & Conclusions

LIS488’s Final Class

Writing Skills

Writing Skills

• Greater precision to reflect more accurately what you mean

• Booth et al. demonstrated both the importance of writing well and a “system” of writing research:– Recognizing a structure to help one to

think and to create is useful … provided one realizes it is only a guide: the creative part is knowing when to follow and when not to.

Writing Skills

• What does it mean for a researcher to write well?

• What does it mean for a reader to “read well”?

Scholarly Communication & Intentionality

• Why are there different journals?• Cluster journals by topic; also provides

a research opportunity to see how concept develops, moves thru society, influences other concepts (a history or anthropology of knowledge)

• Cluster journals by domain; also provides opportunities to see how a members of a domain perceives itself, its values, and relationship to others

The Structure of Research

• Identify physical elements - why are they useful?

• Suggests the structure of reflective inquiry

• Helps reader to identify the questions, the literature, why the research questions are valued … the “so what?” factor

• Text, graphic, and numeric facets: all three are in a sense different languages saying the same thing; a kind of checks-and-balances

The Structure of Research

• Reveals, too, what questions and types of evidence (warrant) are accepted as a means for confirmation or veracity; this is an unarticulated aspect in the discovery of truth and, in a way, raises the question of truth in an empirically-bound field …

The Structure of Research

• Part of these means for acceptance can increase one’s ability to read and to interpret research

• Part of these means may limit what is valued as important and limit what counts for evidence and warrant

The Structure of Research

• To convince others thru evidence or (knowingly) to stun others into submission– I don’t understand, so I’ll skip this section– Oh! I didn’t notice that …

• Emotional language or emotionally-charged issues that impact your personal and professional life– “Diversity”– “Smokers’ Rights”– “Right to Life” / “Keep your laws off my body”

Role of Research

• Requires a shared, interpretive structure (society writ large; work domains; organizational communication) and

• Spirit of Inquiry– Compare: “It’s a [xxx] thing, you

wouldn’t understand.”– “That’s a management issue.”– “How do I …”– “I wonder …”

Nuts and bolts

• Take on the challenge of finding, interpreting, critiquing, and integrating “research”. In class, we …

• Examined sources of research/profession lit• Critiqued articles• Explored data collection• Use of data• Interpretations/alternatives• Student-provided cases to explore (on the

board)

Data Collection

• Many techniques but for us primarily the idea of collecting data that actually inform us about the research question

• “Critical value” - not memorizing a zillion stats, but sensitized to the primary concepts of how statistics are used to explore a question and are expressed in the literature

Putting it all together

• Practiced one type of collection - survey

• Some specifics:– Overview of the question– The purpose of the survey– Right to opt out without punitive

measures– Interpretation of data– [everything, frankly, lissa course forms

are not]

Putting it all together

• Demonstrated what happens to the collected data: statistical software (used the Babbie text)

• Writing a Proposal:– Now that you have all the pieces, you integrate

them into a single, cogent whole: the proposal– You have an idea of what you want to study.

Now you, like all researchers, must shape your expression, data, warrant, etc., into a format that is understandable by the intended audience.

– Examples?

Discussion Topics

• Ethics and Research• Digital rights and research• Your questions

What’s next?

• If you’re interested in pursuing research - you can! Take classes/read about research methods and statistics.

• Consider a doctorate!• Practice writing: don’t be afraid to

write, write, write and then throw the whole thing away and start fresh! (Writing to learn)…

What’s next?

• Philosophical aspects: our notion of science is based in empiricism; read about it and alternatives; consider epistemology

• Read and reflect - be the informed consumer of data

• Find journals or domains where the work interests you - even if the articles seem difficult or poorly written - keep at it!

In conclusion, congratulations!

• If you’ve completed all the readings, thought about the content, reviewed the course materials available online and in-class demonstration/lecture/discussion, you’ve gained a large body of passive knowledge and a good deal of active knowledge.

• You’re quite ready to consider and participate in the Role of Research.

Bye!

• Have an enjoyable summer and good luck in your other courses.

• If you’re graduating, congrats!

• If you have thoughts, comments feel free, as always, to drop by and send an e-mail.