What resources are required and how do I choose the right ones?
Night of the Notables is first and foremost a research project. We are asking students to dig deep into a person's life and really get to know them. We are also asking students to learn research techniques that will last them a lifetime in academia and beyond.
Required resources include books, periodicals, interviews, and web pages. Below I will discuss each one and share what was covered in class.
Books - Students are required to use a minimum of three books. This means visiting a library and learning to use the catalog, talking to the research librarian, or getting help from a family member. Students will learn how libraries function, how to request information, and may even stumble upon another book that they want to read for pleasure. When choosing books students should take in to account the length of time they have for research, their personal reading level, and availability. We have already begun note taking. There is not time to request books from out of the area if it's going to take more than 24 hours. I have encouraged students to choose one book, at their reading level, that they will read cover to cover. The other two may be anthologies, encyclopedias, children's books, or adult biographies that are longer or more complex. These will be skimmed for information, but at least one they are expected to read cover to cover. I've already had the question, are ebooks alright? The answer is yes, as long as it's a full book, not just a web page, ebooks are fine.
Periodical - Periodicals will require that students go to a library, preferably one with a research librarian. The research librarian can help them locate and use periodicals catalog. They will then learn how to use the microfiche to view the original article. A periodical can be a newspaper story or a magazine story. These should be printed out so that notes can be taken from it. Be sure to note the name of the periodical, publication date, and author of the article for your bibliography.
Interview - Interview requests should have gone out last week. Please see the blog post about interviews for further information.
Web Pages - Yes, students may use web pages to fill in gaps in the information. While the main source of information should come from books, there may be information found on web pages that will be useful. Sites chosen must be credible and truly useful. In class we discussed the hierarchy of credibility and talked about the fact that this is not hard and fast, you must read with a critical eye and decided for yourself. Basically .gov and .edu tend to be the most credible with .org, .net. and .com coming in second. Wikipedia is NOT a credible site and may not be used.
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