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UGS 302: City in Latin American History / Lara

Questions and Comments from your worksheets

What is surprising about research?

  • How many sources one article will cite as evidence - makes me feel like I should cite more sources in my papers.
    • Yes! The way I think about it is to remember the role these scholarly resources play - they are continuing and building upon previous research. As such, the authors need to demonstrate that they have a command of the existing conversation and show where their argument is moving the conversation forward.
    • Seeing how many pieces of evidence go toward supporting a claim shows you what a high level these researchers are writing and reading at. It takes a lot to convince them, so you have to show your work.
  • The abstract is helpful and has more info that one might think
    • Yes! Abstracts are typically written for a general, non-expert audience. Use the abstract to learn what the author is arguing, what previous research they are building upon or disagreeing with and what evidence they are using to support their claims. I think they are really hard to write! Think about how hard it is to be succinct.
  • How often an article is cited over time
    • We tend to think of information as expiring, having a short shelf date. In reality, the nature of scholarship is such that an article can be cited by a variety of disciplines and for many years - it takes on a life of its own as other scholars consider it and use it as evidence in their work. 
    • Some articles or studies in a field are regarded as seminal or landmark. They are touchstones for researchers in the field for years to come.
  • You can use one article as a rich jumping off point
    • Yes! If you find an article you like, the conversation within the citations and the terms and jargon an author uses, the disciplines she engages with - all of this helps you explore a topic without doing separate searches right away. Searching in a discipline you aren't familiar with is hard.
  • All the different citation styles for all different source types
    • Yes, and I can see why this might be frustrating to a beginner researcher. It seems overly fussy. But adopting a style within a field allows everyone in that field to quickly identify and locate sources from citations.
  • It's easy to track stuff down in these search engines!
    • Yes! Think about all the effort that goes into storing, organizing, describing, indexing and making accessible all those information bits.

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