Simply put, research is detective work that functions as a critical component of any kind of study. Ideally, a researcher acts out of some compelling desire to know more about a subject, to find out what is already known, and to contribute to that body of expertise by discovering new information or critiquing what already exists.

How the work of research gets done has been incontrovertibly transformed by computer technology. Clearly, there's no replacement for the excitement of walking into a cold archive where yellowed pages resonate with centuries of curious minds, or interviewing an 80-year old grocer at your corner shop who can tell you how the neighborhood has changed over the last decades. But the Internet and World Wide Web have now made it possible for us to research the day's news in France, study the records of the U.N., and check out the discussion on Ebonics, all in the space of an hour. "Information overload," an affliction endemic to the late twentieth century, makes the basic questions of research even more imperative. Some of these questions are:

How do you find the information?

How do you determine what information is relevant and reliable?

How do you use the information you find?

Assignment Description

Class will be divided up into working groups of about five members each, who have chosen the topic they would most like to research. (You can find this list of topics if you click right here .) Each group is responsible for finding and evaluating information sources that cover the following forms: 1) reference work (such as an encyclopedia); 2) book; 3) print journal article; 4) CD-ROM article; and 5) a World Wide Web site. The entire group must post its reports to the listserv by 8 am of the date (usually Mondays) the report is due. Each member's entry should be the equivalent of 4-5 pages typed, double-spaced, or 800-1250 words. Each report should fulfill the following criteria:

1) summarize the information in the source - Producing a succinct but detailed and informative summary requires practice. Aim for a paragraph or two and rely on your own particular take of what you've read. Try writing your summary immediately after you read your source. Just close your eyes a moment, and then write what you remember. Use this initial draft for later revisions. ***Be sure to keep your summary to one or two paragraphs. A common tendency is to detail the content of the source rather than focussing on the following analytical criteria, which should constitute the bulk of your report.***

2) analyze the assumptions and arguments - First, determine the main point of the source. What do you think the author is trying to say or prove? Then locate the assumptions the author makes in order to state the main point. When you analyze these two aspects of the source (arguments and assumptions), ask yourself if you agree or disagree and why.

3) evaluate the source's worth as an information resource - How much and to what extent does this source teach you about the subject? Who is the audience? Does the author use appropriate tone and language for the audience? Is the source biased towards one perspective? Does the source give you leads to other sources?

4) synthesize the source's ideas with class readings and themes - Does the source agree with or contradict any of our readings and discussions? Just take some time to reflect on how your research relates to the study we've done in class.

Librarians, or the info-technologists of the late-20th century, offer lots of help with these questions. And there are some excellent resources on the World Wide Web. For a discussion of evaluating both print and Web resources, check out The Web as a Research Tool: Evaluation Techniques , by Jan Alexander and Marsha Tate, reference librarians at Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University in Pennsylvania. Alexander and Tate begin with a summary for evaluating print resources, then revise those criteria to evaluate Web resources. For an extensive bibliography on evaluating Web sources and for another quick checklist, see Evaluating Web Sites for Educational Uses: Bibliography and Checklist , by Carolyn Kotlas, at the Institute for Academic Technology, University of North Carolina.

How to send your listserv research report

These instructions are taken from a posting by a former student, to whom I am deeply grateful.

Since PINE is accessible even from a diskless "dumb terminal," it is very convenient to send your paper/work as an e-mail message instead of as an e-mail attachment. In addition, sending it as "pure text" eliminates incompatibility issues -- no downloading/uploading hassle, and the work is stored safely in the U of A's server's hard disk.

Quick Steps

1. Have your text ready on your favorite Word Processing program.
2. Highlight the text you want to send. (Using the mouse, go to the beginning, hold the left button, and drag it to the bottom.)
3. Copy the highlighted text into memory. (Go to 'Edit' on the Menu bar and then choose 'Copy'.)
4. Start PINE on another window. (Open your telnet program, connect to u.arizona.edu or whatever, login with your name and password, and then start PINE by selecting Mail or typing 'pine'. And then press "C" to compose a new message.)
5. Paste the text from the memory into the body of your message. (Go to 'Edit' on the Menu bar and then choose 'Paste'.)
6. Don't forget to fill in the recipient (hums250c@listserv.arizona.edu) and subject before you send your work.

Use your favorite word processor (WordPerfect, MS-Word, AmiPro). I recommend using the 'for Windows', 'for Win95', or 'for Macintosh' version, as these operation systems let you run more than one program at a time.

Once you have finalized your work, login to your PINE account (use the telnet program to connect to u.arizona.edu, and fill in your login name and password, and then start PINE either by typing 'pine' at the prompt or by highlighting [move the cursor buttons up/down] the 'Mail' option in the Menu).

Press 'C' to compose message, and fill in the 'To:' line with the intended recipient(s) of your work, in this case, HUMS250C@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU. Don't forget to fill in the appropriate 'Subject:' line as well.

Go back to your word processing program, go to the very first line of the work you want to send, and highlight the text using your mouse. This means: go to the beginning of your text, hold the left mouse button (or just the button on Macintosh systems), and drag it down to the end of your text. Release the button, and your text should now be 'highlighted.'

You now need to copy the portion of the text you want to send to your 'PINE' session. If you're using Windows 95, you need to Click 'Edit' on the Menu bar and choose 'Copy', or press 'Ctrl-C' to copy your portion of the text into the computer memory. If you're using a Macintosh system, you might also click the 'Edit' menu and choose 'Copy', or hold down the 'Apple key' and press 'C'.

Now it's time to "paste" your selected text into the body of your 'PINE' message. Go back to your 'PINE' session by clicking on the telnet window. Using the arrow keys, place the cursor at the part of the message you want your text to be pasted into. If you're using Windows, go to the 'Edit' menu, and then press 'paste', or use 'Ctrl-V'. If you're using Macintosh, go to the Edit menu and then choose 'Paste', or hold down the 'Apple key' and 'V'.

Now you are all set. Add whatever you want (comments, etc.), and then send the message by pressing 'Ctrl-X'.