Speech 101Fall 2015

Why should I do research?Research is

the search for knowledge

So, I just go to Google because everything is on Google, right?

Choosing a topic

NPR News

Peer-reviewed literature

Example topic: Fetal alcohol syndrome

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications. The term FASD is not intended for use as a clinical diagnosis.1

• Discussion question – is this a just-right topic?• Note – there is lots and lots and lots of peer-reviewed literature on this

1. National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. (n.d.). Diagnosis. Retrieved June 26, 2015 from https://www.nofas.org/faqs

Fixing my too broad topic• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term

describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications. The term FASD is not intended for use as a clinical diagnosis.• Class discussion: What resources do you think I could use to make my

topic a just-right topic?

Too narrow a topic• What if, instead, I want to talk about something like the Sturgis Rally? • Note – there are NO peer-reviewed sources on this topic

When do you write your outline?

Types of Sources

Textbook

Magazine

Novel

Original Source

Pamphlet Trade Publication

Scholarly Book

Newspaper

Legal Documents

Journal

Encyclopedia

Wikipedia

Video

Website

Government Document

Peer-reviewed literature

Peer-Reviewed Literature

What do reviewers look for?• Citing/ethics• Documentation of sources/background information/literature review (C&RL

News)• Are there any special ethical concerns arising from the use of human or other

animal subjects? (Nature)

• Research reported on• Methodology (C&RL News)• Analysis/Logic of argumentation (C&RL News)• Are there other experiments or work that would strengthen the paper

further? (Nature)

What do reviewers look for?• Paper/Writing• Presentation (C&RL News)• Who will be interested in reading the paper, and why? (Nature)• How does the paper stand out from others in its field? (Nature)

• Scholarly Communication• Relevance to advancing knowledge in the filed of academic librarianship

(C&RL News)• Is the paper likely to be one of the five most significant papers published in

the discipline this year? (Nature)• Are the claims appropriately discussed in the context of previous literature?

(Nature)

How to find peer-reviewed literature

• Library databases!• Ebsco Discovery Services (EDS)

Aerobics for the Mind• Let’s see what we can guess (or what we know) about a peer-

reviewed article and its parts.

Evaluating Everything You Find!• What to look at when evaluating information (the criteria used in this

class come from your textbook):• Accuracy• Authority• Currency• Objectivity• Scope or coverage

Information Ethics• APA citation styles• http://libguides.sdstate.edu/APAStyle

Speech 101 Research Assistance