ACADEMIC RESEARCH and WRITING Peter Paolucci, Ph.D.

TWO TYPES OF SOURCES POPULARACADEMIC Neither necessarily has truth but one is more legitimate See for more examples and (+/-) of both

TWO TYPES OF LIBRARIES PUBLICUNIVERSITY Housing two very different kinds of materials

ACADEMIC PUBLISHING 1. Books 2. Journals (published monthly) 3. Peer review process a.Sent to several 3 rd party experts for scrutiny b.Returned with: rejected, publish with minor revs, major revs, or as is

ALAN SOKOL Published an article through peer review process that was “BS” –Only one article by one journal BUT –Made critical world wonder about the whole process –Where does truth live? –What is the relationship between truth and legitimacy?

PUBLISHING SCANDALS Sokal's HoaxSokal's Hoax (see next slide) Sokal's Hoax The Scandal of Poor Medical Research (1/7) The Scandal of Poor Medical Research (1/7) About the Peer Review Process About the Peer Review Process The Abuse of Science The Abuse of Science

INTERNET / LIBRARY KEY DIFFERENCES Librarians standardize everything, incl. booleans (and, or, adj, not) but Internet search engines standardize little (they compete)

LIBRARY SCIENCE Is all about standardization ISBN numbers Library of Congress Standard “subjects”

INTERNET SEARCH ENGINES 3 Kinds: –Generic (Yahoo) –Meta: search other engines (Metacrawler) –Dedicated (Lawcrawler). See

SEARCH ENGINES Each –collects –filters –stores –eliminates –serves data … differently differently See

PROBLEMS WITH SEARCH ENGINES Research and promotion = 2 sides of same coin Sometimes what you find has nothing to do with your research skills

HOW YOU ARE MANIPULATED Research and promotion = 2 sides of same coin What you find has little to do with your research skills Promotion can be Passive (in the HTML code) Active (submitting abstracts or buying ads which are measured in CPMs)

TWO APPROACHES 1. Searching with purpose takes amounts of time takes HUGE amounts of time 2. Exploratory (relying on serendipity) takes STAGGERING amounts of time –more than you have in any course takes STAGGERING amounts of time –more than you have in any course

SOLUTIONS The “answer” is NOT in the library or on the Internet … It’s in your head ! in your head !

OBJECTIVES 1. Thoroughness While you’re at it, research more than you need Explore more than is necessary Bring home (copies of) everything you come across 2. Accuracy & Meticulousness Record all meta information (a uthor, title, journal, URL, date, call #, page #, editor, which library) Where you were What the date is

OBJECTIVES 3. Balance & fairness Choose a variety of sources, opinions and viewpoints Choose a variety of sources, opinions and viewpoints Always choose current sources, but older ones are not always wrong or outdated 4. Clarity in complexity Retain paradoxes, dilemmas and inconsistencies Don’t oversimplify

INTENTION Not always to narrow down your data, but to open up possibilities and generate choices

SCRUTINIZE SOURCES The key is TRANSPARENCY Who wrote it? Credentials? When? Why? Are sources used documented and traceable?

EVALUATE SOURCES 1. Thoroughness 2. Accuracy 3. Balance 4. Clarity = TRANSPARENCY

PREDICT ! Speculate specifically about what you find; what you're likely to find Speculate specifically about what you could find; what you're likely to find Even if wrong, it’s better to approach research with articulated assumptions

KNOWLEDGE / WISDOM Knowledge = –Mere data (who, where, what, when) Wisdom = data that’s been 1.scrutinized 2.labelled 3.categorized and clustered (linked relationally and to other data) Wisdom = Why and how

MAP IT! Try to locate data in a schematic or map showing its relation to –other data –other problems –other concepts –other ideas

IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDER ESTIMATE … The time and trouble it will take (power of bad luck) The power of serendipity (power of good luck)

PROCESS Predict Search (gather more than you need) Evaluate Document / record Cluster/group/categorize

SOME GOOD SOURCES ! 1. How to do research How to do research How to do research 2. Advice on Research & Writing Advice on Research & Writing Advice on Research & Writing 3. Scott Library resources (York) Scott Library resources Scott Library resources 5. Style, formatting documentation (Monash U) Style, formatting documentation Style, formatting documentation 6. Academic Integrity (avoiding plagiarism) Academic Integrity (avoiding plagiarism) Academic Integrity (avoiding plagiarism)