The Literature Review Process in e-Research

It has been a LONG,LONG TIME since I have done a literature review, so this chapter was very useful for me to read.  A literature review, whether online or offline, needs to be thorough.  The process of this literature review involves the researcher familiarizing and educating himself/herself with the topic.  An excellent literature review, which should be the goal of all of us as we write our theses, mentions the background theory that guides the research in the study.  It also cites exactly how the data was gathered, analyzed, and interpreted (as well as where the results were published).

It has only been one month for me thus far in the TESOL-MALL program, but it is obvious that we are going to be doing a lot of writing and research.  There are pros and cons to doing online research, and in properly assuring the quality of literature for an e-researcher.

It's broken down into five categories...

1. Accessibility--library research is more-or-less a thing of the past... online research can now be conducted "anywhere, anytime".  This is certainly true, as I seem to check the results of sports events at least five times per day.  The results are waiting for me in real-time.  Embarrassing, but true!

2. Timeliness--as e-researchers, we need to take into consideration that published online articles could be "temporary or transitory"; that is, there is no longer a requirement for a "rigorous, peer-review process" to authenticate the material as there was in years past (offline).  The good news is that the widespread use of email reduces (almost negates) the lag time between researchers and editors.  E-researchers should remember to check the "late revised on" date in order to ascertain how recent changes were made to the online data.  Beware if the page has not been updated for quite some time!

3. Relevance--assessing veracity of research will be tougher and more time-consuming for e-researchers.  The reason is that a lot of the published online research cannot be authenticated.  E-researchers must sift through A LOT of material before making the final determination about what is truthfully represented.  One example I can think of could be on wikipedia, where revisions are constantly taking place to make sure ideas proported are pure.

4. Readability--a positive is that online researchers can enlarge or compress the font on the screen to fit their personal taste.  Page layouts of colors, fonts, and paper types may also be altered by the e-researcher, provided that there isn't any redistribution to a third party.  I have never tried to alter web pages to fit my taste, but timely research projects may be straining on my eyes.  I may try to make a few adjustments...

5. Authority--mostly redundant from the other points mentioned above.  In general, I would say that e-researchers should be cautious about believing falsified, specious, or unproven facts which they come across online.  Make sure the online author has provided his/her contact details.  As is the case with traditional library research, e-researchers should be able to tap into their critical thinking skills and a dose of common sense.  Many people have been duped into believing things on the internet that are far cries from the truth.  Simply put, e-researchers have the task of assessing "fact" versus "fiction".

Online researchers should always consider the bias of the writer (such as if there were links to websites with strong opinions or a general lack of perspective from opposing viewpoints).  One new point brought up in the chapter regarded searching for specific databases or web indexes.  I don't know anything about this, but apparently there are huge compilations of data on ProFusion, All Academic, Education-line, Content Select, and Education Resources Information Center (known simply as ERIC).  Does anyone in our class ever access data from these online indexes?

One way to acquire information online is simply to open up your inbox; that is, signing up for mass emails can be a helpful thing.  USENET is also helpful in this respect.  Each time I open up my inbox, I hear from many organizations and advertisers seeking to inform me about their products and services.  As such, an e-researcher could sign-up for an email list and be flooded with relevant information.  Very simple.

Alternatively, an e-researcher could write an email to an expert in the field.  A response may very well be warranted, especially if the expert was impressed with the researcher's writing skills.  Another great idea is to access virtual conferences.  It's a cost-effective way to gain access to speeches from experts.

Really, there are a ton of ways e-researchers can gather information.  Just remember to cite your sources...plagiarism is a serious offense and can threaten the e-researcher's status.  In fact, often an e-researcher has the daunting task of monitoring and categorizing a plethora of related material.  In this case, s/he can seek out reference management software...when I start researching my thesis, I will need this software for sure!

Grammar Girl Entry #1

Just listened to a podcast from grammar girl comparing the words 'addictive' and 'addicting'.  She said only half of the dictionaries listed 'addicting' as a word, but "addictive" is for sure a word.  Addictive is the safe choice to use, such as saying, "Caffeine is addictive." She also said that the word 'addictive' can be used in positive or negative settings.  Usually, when I think about the word 'addictive', it is in reference to a problem afflicting an individual (me included).  It has a negative connotation.

Perhaps one way to use the word 'addictive' in a positive way is when a man or woman tries a new sport or healthy food and simply cannot stay away from it.  His/her behavior is certainly addictive, but it may not be addicting...

What are you addicted to?  

Updated thesis topic

Another possible thesis topic is culture fossilization or language fossilization.  This topic was briefly discussed last week in my Issues in TESOL class.  The way I understand it is that culture and language fossilization refers to people who emigrate to another country, but still want to teach their children about the ways of their homeland.  By relying on this previous knowledge, perhaps they are misrepresenting the present state of affairs in their home country.  By not developing new, relevant knowledge, people who have left homeland teach their children the way things WERE--not necessarily the way things ARE!  If I choose this topic, I have a case study in mind who owns a restaurant down the street from my villa.

Now I'm going to do a google scholar search to see if there is enough published literature to support this topic.  

Freewrite Activity (Thesis Possibilities)

Just the thought of writing a thesis scares me...but intrigues me as well.  I suppose play therapy could be interesting (teaching through sports activities, even pickup, spur of the moment games could qualify).

Also, I speak in Korean to my Korean students when I can't get my point across in English.  This is limited because of a small vocabulary, but sometimes I think it's beneficial to explain things in Korean if they can't understand the description/command in English.  Then again, sometimes I think it's a cop-out.  I'm on the fence on that one...any suggestions?

An Approach to Academic Writing

Audience, purpose, organization, style, flow, presentation...that's a lot to handle right now, but this chapter made me think mostly about who my audience will be when I write academic papers.  Just like with our blogs, academic papers should not inform.  Professor Reynolds already knows all of this stuff--we do not wish to insult his intelligence by regurgitating what we read.  We need to show our "familiarity, expertise, and knowledge" about the topic(s).  We will be writing to an educated audience as graduate school students.  So we have to tailor our writing style accordingly.

Organization means problem-solution.  As defined in the chapter, 1. description of a situation; 2. identification of a problem; 3. description of a solution; and 4. evaluation of the solution.  Real life example:  Last semester, three boys sat in the back of my class and were very loud and disruptive...even talking on their cell phones loudly while I was lecturing! (situation). One of them was the most disruptive, and the other two followed suit (problem). I thought to individually speak to them in the hallway to try to convince them that their actions needed to change ( proposed solution).  This was only a marginally effective measure to take as their instructor, as this problem intermittently continued (evaluation of solution).  Lesson learned!  I've gotta be tougher.  Lay down the law and not let that type of behavior ruin the sentiment of the class. Or something like that.

Compared to lecturing, academic writing requires more formal words and expressions.  Thus, I will have to keep my thesaurus handy in order to "reduce the informality" of my prose.  I had also assumed that using "I", "we", or "you" was always frowned upon in academic writing, but it was refreshing to read that the use of "I" or "we" (if co-authoring an essay) is permissible in certain situations.  Regardless, it doesn't seem right to use these nouns so often...since it's not a lecture.  I'm still tossing that one around in my head.  

Plagiarism and Reflection

Remember to Exercise: Plagiarism and Reflection: When I read the Guided Reflection Protocol and Critical Incidents Protocol, I initially thought "I have never done this before."  But, actu...

Plagiarism and Reflection

When I read the Guided Reflection Protocol and Critical Incidents Protocol, I initially thought "I have never done this before."  But, actually, most teachers, in the case of the latter, have had informal discussions (which could occur anywhere--disjointed quips on the bus or subway or in a bar) which may qualify as the sharing of "critical incidents".  The tricky part is to "create a narrative without judgment" to start the process.  So often with teachers (including me!), we are quick to label blame on others when something goes askew.  Last year I chose to follow the advice of a colleague without consulting others about a problematic group of students in my class.  This ultimately backfired on me, but when I shared this story after the fact, I found myself way-too-often being a claimsmaker rather than a problemsolver.  This is eternally flawed, and I was not following the critical incidents protocol from the get-go. 

In regards to plagiarism, I would consider myself an inexperienced writer, so I was keenly interested in the anti-plagiarism measures cited in the two articles.  Back in the nineties, when I wrote papers for sociology classes, it was second nature to use quotation marks for directly borrowed text.  But, admittedly, my use of paraphrases was few and far between.  As noted in class, plagiarism is a gray area.  Gladwell's article discusses at length about a famous play which was stolen from a woman's work (and just slightly changed for dramatic effect--in a negative way for the woman), as well as music from popular contemporary bands like the Beastie Boys and Nirvana.  Even as far back as Beethoven.  Beethoven likely didn't have to worry about copyright laws in the same way that artists do today, but the question remains:  How much copying (or sort of copying) is too much?  In the field of journalism, there appears to be little wiggle room to copy, and based on Professor Reynolds' responses in class, plagiarism continues to be a hot issue (which is why we are tackling it so early on in the course).  Since "courts are willing to grant more intellectual-property protections" today than ever before, writers must be very careful to produce authentic work.  Point taken. Now I just have to figure out the right format to document another writer's words.  But it's only week #2.  So far, so good.  It's good to be thinking about this stuff again.  It's been a long time...