Workshop, April 5th: Sense-Making as a Methodology

I'm going to highlight the variety of settings identified by Dervin as appropriate for research using sense-making as a methodology.

http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/

Look here to learn about Brenda Dervin's Sense-Making Scholarship...See the quotation below:

"Sense-Making is an approach to thinking about and implementing communication research and practice and the design of communication-based systems and activities. It consists of a set of philosophical assumptions, substantive propositions, methodological framings, and methods. It has been applied in myriad settings (e.g., libraries, information systems, media systems, web sites, public information campaigns, classrooms, counseling services, and so on), at myriad levels (e.g., intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group, organizational, mass, national, global), and within myriad perspectives (e.g., constructivist, critical, cultural, feminist, postmodern, communitarian). The approach has been developed by Brenda Dervin and is being expanded, transformed, and enriched daily by the efforts of some 100-plus persons worldwide (academics and practitioners, teachers and students). This web site is designed to provide access to these efforts and links to those who are involved. On this site, Sense-Making (capitalized) refers to the methodology; sense-making (not capitalized) refers to the phenomena of making and unmaking of sense.
Since Sense-Making has been under development since 1972, it cannot be encapsulated in a few sentences or even the intersection of all the documents on this web site. It is important, however, for the reader to know that the project has been based on three central assumptions regarding communication practice: (a) That it is possible to design and implement communication systems and practices that are responsive to human needs; (b) That it is possible for humans to enlarge their communication repertoires to pursue this vision; (c) That achieving these outcomes requires the development of communication-based methodological approaches."

Using EBSCO for Help with Citation Management

http://www.alvernia.edu/library


Go to Article Databases and select one of the EBSCO databases such as Education Research Complete. EDUCATION -- EBSCO

Using Advanced Search, you can probably find a good list of 10-20 full- text articles on a solid research topic and narrow it down enough to see the trends in the research.

Note that you can print, email, and save your results. Note also that after several searches you can use the "History" feature to see what you have searched and go back to previous results or combine searches. I suggest you save and email results so that you will have electronic files to document your work. We all forget what we have done and found almost as soon as our fingers leave the keys. Keep your results electronically even if you print some. You don't want to have to enter data more than once.

Enter the name of a scholar in the field and see what you find. I'm using Brenda Dervin for the workshop and also one of her dissertation students. Dr. Dervin, Ohio State, has developed and used a research theory and method called "sense-making" for several decades. I think that her work will serve as a good example for our workshop. I've chosen Dervin and sense-making for illustration because (1.) Dervin is well-established and works with the level of theory and with the methodologies most likely to be use or at least understood by students in our program in leadership studies; (2.) Sense-making as a theory and a method is used by students in a wide variety of disciplines and particularly in professional, action-oriented research; (3.) Dervin and sense-making are not so popular that as terms are the easiest to find so I can illustrate some of the subtleties in searching the electronic resources in scholarly communication.

You should be able to find "Dervin, Brenda" and "sense-making" in all of our social science databases, in Google Scholar, and in the academic regions of the web.

Original Research: Following in the Footsteps of Giants

For the workshop on April 5th

Original Research: Following in the Footsteps of Giants

http://scholar.google.com/

Before the workshop, take a look at some of your key authors in Google Scholar.

Let me share a few of my own random reflections about writing in academic settings and particularly about the process of getting started in scholarly research and writing.



1. Scholars are created by other scholars.

2. The process is more like growing up in a culture and learning to survive in order to multiple than it is like anything else I know.

3. It's probably easier if you imagine growing up to be a dog after being a puppy or growing up to be a cat after being a kitten. For puppies and kittens, it is in their best interest to make the bigger beasts happy.

4. If what you plan to do for a research paper or project makes sense to ordinary people, you may be in trouble.

5. Learning the language and the conventions of the field is essential. Figure out early what seemingly everyday words mean when they are used in an academic context.

6. Original does not mean original like a short story or an editorial.

7. Scholarly work builds upon the scholarly work of those who come before. Try to understand how this works from the beginning.

8. Academic writing doesn't have to be boring but it's probably safer for you if it is. Wait until your dissertation is finished before you try to show any flair for writing creatively.

9. No two scholarly agree on what research is and how it should be done. Look for a basic but not perfect consensus among your professors.

10. Take all criticism gracefully and remember that big dogs take better care of puppies who know how to be respectful. It may not always be right but in my experiences it's true.

Citing Sources: How the databases can help.

For the workshop on Saturday, April 5th

Let's use one of our databases to explore creating and managing citations. We'll also consider some of the current issues in scholarly publishing and communication and what a potential author needs to know.



First, you will find lots of basic help on our website. Look for citation guides and related resources. http://www.alvernia.edu/library

Here are some websites you may want to consult.



American Psychological Association

http://apa.org/


The Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/


Copyright Clearance Center
http://www.copyright.com/

Finding Articles in the Subscription Databases

For the workshop on April 5th

The first part of the workshop on Saturday, April 5th, will focus on the subscription databases. Let me start the presentation by pointing you to our current list at http://www.alvernia.edu/library Click on Article Databases and you should get the list below. If you click on one of these links, you will be able to get inside the databases from on or off campus. The key is to know enough about the databases to make a good selection so your searching will produce the best results. I'll illustrate at the workshop.

Finding Articles
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Multiple Topics & Disciplines - EBSCO
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Multiple Topics & Disciplines - JSTOR
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Book Reviews
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Business - EBSCO
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Business, Legal, News - LexisNexis
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CIAO - International Affairs
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CQ Researcher - Controversial Issues
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Contemporary Authors
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Criminal Justice
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Dissertations & Theses - ProQuest
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Dissertations & Theses - World Cat
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Education - EBSCO
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Education Journals - ProQuest
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GreenFILE - Environment & Ecology
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Health
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History
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Human Resources Library
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Legal - Westlaw
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Literature
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National Library of Medicine
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News
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OT Search
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Philosopher's Index
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Psychology
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Sociology
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SportDiscus
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Religion
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Ulrich's Periodical Directory
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wired.MD streaMed Patient Education Solution
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EBSCO Database Selection
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Databases for Marywood Students

New Resources: The Green File

Flowers and Trees and Earth and Sky: Oh My!

GreenFILEGreenFILE offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for approximately 295,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,600 records.
You'll find it in our list at http://www.alvernia.library/ Click on Article Databases.

GreenFILE

Ideas for our website?

We're going to redo our website to make it more friendly and easier to use. Please take a look and let us know your ideas. What do you need to find most frequently? Shall we link to Facebook and other social networking sites? All ideas are welcome.