ENGC 1101 College Writing (Hammerbeck)

Hello! My name is Libby Merrill, and I will be working with your College Writing class throughout this semester. My contact information is on the right side of this guide, along with the hours I typically work at the Research Desk in the Normandale Library. I am also available for one-on-one meetings, if you want to have a more in-depth conversation about your research. Feel free to email me so we can set up a time to meet! 

As you know from class, an I-Search is a little bit different than a regular research project, because YOU are at the center of the entire process. This allows you the opportunity to reflect on each step of your research. I have organized the information on this guide to follow those steps. Remember: you can always reach out if you need help or just want to talk through your topic. 

The first step of gathering information from outside sources for research is to find background information, which gives you a base of knowledge. Background information will help explain terminology that is specific to your topic and provide a foundation for the more complex concepts that you will find in scholarly articles and deeper research later in your research process.

One of the required sources for your I-Search essay is a human source. This means that you will need to conduct an interview or a survey. The links and videos below have helpful information on how to conduct interviews and surveys that will produce information that is useful for your research.

Unlike Google, library databases require a little more "pre-thinking" before you start to search. You can't just write out a full question in a database and get helpful results. Before starting to search for your topic, you need to think about the specific aspects of what you want to know, and then come up with the words you will use to search in library databases. 

Here is a worksheet to help with the process of developing keywords for your deeper research in the databases. 
 Keywords Handout  

After you've gathered background information and have a basic understanding of your topic, you're ready to begin diving deeper into your I-Search topic. Scholarly sources are a great place to learn about the knowledge that experts in your topic have and the research that they have done. One of your required sources needs to be a scholarly source. If you would like a refresher on what a scholarly source is, I have included a short video below.

Additionally, you will need to find one other source from the Normandale Library's databases. This could be one of the sources you found during your background research, but you could also use something like newspaper articles or videos. Newspapers are a great place to find out about recent and/or local developments that have happened in your topic. The videos from the database listed here might be clips from news channels or documentaries about your topic. 

Mondays: 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Thursdays: 7:45 am - 12:00 pm
Fridays: 7:45 am - 12:00 pm

Evaluate each source you use with CAPPS!
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