As the research phase of your composition process winds down, I’d like you to spend some time reflecting on the work you’ve done. As we’ve discuss throughout the CP research stage, the CP forms the foundation for your AP. Before we jump into the next assignment, now is a great time to reflect on the skills and insights you’ve gained regarding the research process so that you can become more aware of them and potentially engage them in your next assignment.

Additionally, this piece of writing can become useful for your ePortfolio Reflexive Introduction – an assignment you will be working on at the end of the quarter. Just like the process assignments for your CP and AP, starting this type of reflexive writing early, and earnestly, will help you prepare for your final composition of the quarter well ahead of time.

When you have finished the assignment, upload it to your ePortfolio.

PROMPT

In at least 750 words, engage the following questions. Feel free to format your composition in bullet form, but make sure your responses are in complete sentences and provide explanatory detail.

Finding Sources

1. As we’ve discussed, research is not a linear process of confirming preconceived conclusions or theses. Instead, its a recursive and circuitous process defined by discovery, questioning ones assumptions, and often following chains of thought that weren’t there at the earliest stages. How has your research process guided your thinking about your topic? How has new information made you change, challenge, or accommodate your assumptions?

2. In the past weeks we’ve spent a lot of time narrowing down your historical, cultural, or political problem into a researchable solution. How did your research process help you narrow down, or redirect, the focus of your solution? What strategies, readings, or exercises aided you in this process (claims analysis, audience statement, specific course readings, etc.)?

3. As we discussed in our library tutorial and throughout the quarter, the HCP and the AP ask you to engage various types of sources (academic/scholarly, popular, multi-modal, etc.) to build your composition. Accumulating these sources requires you to navigate a variety of web-based resources, including scholarly databases, archival catalogs, popular search engines (Google), media repositories (Youtube, Vimeo), etc. What databases have you been using to find your sources? What keywords have you been using as “hyperlinks” to guide your research?

4. What other strategies have you used to narrow down your keywords and generate more gainful results (e.g. using bibliographies as hyperlinks, Google “works cited” function, “subject” hyperlinks, etc.)? How has this changed since researching your HCP?

5. Have you experienced moments when the light bulb suddenly illuminated? Can you explain why and how this happened?

6. Researching, as you may have learned, is a timely process. Finding research that guides and informs your composition is less a question of quantity (hitting the required number of sources) than quality (sources that have been well-vetted and enhance your analysis). How much time did you dedicate to the research process (hours/week)? How early did you start? Did you find the amount of time you spent on the research phase sufficient? What barriers did you experience in carving out time for research? How has this changed since researching your HCP?

7. Did you make an appointment with a research librarian? If so, describe your experience and how you applied it in your work.

Analyzing Sources

8. How have your weekly group source annotations helped your guide your own research? What skills from the source annotations did you apply in your research process? How has this changed since researching your HCP?

9. If you did not use the source annotation method, what other skills did you use to help organize your information? In what ways was it helpful, or not helpful? How has this changed since researching your HCP?