1. Disciplinary Thinking in Research Processes

2. Student: Professor Smith wants 3,000 words on 1930s Marxism at Cambridge University. Librarian: Do you have some sense of how you are supposed to address the topic? Student: With at least five books and three journal articles. Librarian: What have you done so far? Student: Wikipedia article on Cambridge U. It didn’t have anything I can use and Dr. Smith hates Wikipedia anyway. Librarian: What course does Dr. Smith teach? Student: European politics. Librarian: Did he tell you what the goal of the project was? What does he expect you to accomplish? Student: To write about Marxists at the University of Cambridge. Explain about them. What’s wrong with this picture?

3. Disciplinary Thinking in Research Processes Much of our research instruction is short-term: “The result may be a learning and teaching strategy which fails to engage the student at anything but the most superficial level. The student may gain a few tactics which enable him or her to negotiate some specific information sources. However, the student does not become information literate, capable of engaging in a fast-changing information society.” Webber, S., & Johnston, B. (2000). Conceptions of information literacy: New perspectives and implications. Journal of Information Science, 26(6), 381-397.

4. Disciplinary Thinking in Research Processes Disciplines are cultures, and learning how to function within them requires enculturation over time. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AMHB.jpg

5. Disciplinary Thinking in Research Processes When thinking of disciplines, we need to emphasize three factors: Epistemology Metanarrative Method

6. Disciplinary Thinking in Research Processes Epistemology What are the major sources of the discipline’s information base? What criteria determine inclusion/exclusion? What are the outliers (new modes of communication, information production, information venues)?

7. Disciplinary Thinking in Research Processes Metanarrative What does the discipline hold as its main values? What behaviors and ways of thinking are considered essential to defining the discipline? How does the discipline know who its insiders are?

8. Disciplinary Thinking in Research Processes Method What method is central to the discipline doing its discourse and adding to its knowledge base? What constitutes evidence and legitimate argumentation? What method outliers exist, and how are they being received by the discipline as a whole?