Welcome COMM215 students! This guide was created just for you to help you complete your final research proposal & annotated bibliography You can use the resources below to get your paper done. If you have more questions, you can ask your librarian (I'm in Canvas mail via this course or use the email on this page).
Some things to keep in mind as you use this guide (taken directly from your assignment):
"The research proposal should cover the following areas:
The area of intercultural communication studies you will pursue. Describe which field of communication studies field you are exploring and why it is important to study this aspect of it currently. What is the value of your research? How does it contribute to the field?
Discuss how this fits into a “Future Challenge” in intercultural communication. Discuss how your research could help address the challenge as well as the benefits and drawbacks of your approach.
An annotated bibliography of five (5) scholarly, peer-reviewed articles found using the Bucks County Community College library databases. You must include a link (or links) of your search in the library databases."
The database below is a good starting point for your research. How do you choose the right article the most efficiently? You want to answer the question: Is this worth following up on? My advice on how to do that is below. Searching (entering some words and hitting the button) is easy, but finding what you need in a large results list is the tough part.
Searching is easy!
Students can throw some words into a search box and hit the button. That's something everyone has done. It's finding the GOOD stuff that's tricky.
The first steps of evaluation (in Google, Library catalog, Wikipedia, databases):
The first clues are the same. Once you search you have:
Part 2: Selection
Okay, we have some search results. Which of these is best for our particular paper? Our full range of clues are:
1) Keyword in title? – This is a good sign that the article is RELEVANT.
2) Read the abstract!! – There is no better clue to whether we want to use this in our paper than this SUMMARY. It should tell you want was studied, how and possibly why. (concerns PURPOSE and RELEVANCE)
3) Long enough? – A scholarly article should be longer than 1 or 2 pages; watch out for editorials or sidebars. (speaks to RELEVANCE)
4) Reliable source? – Is the author affiliated with a university? Is the publication a scholarly journal or a magazine? (that’s AUTHORITY and ACCURACY)
5) Don’t take that tone with me! – Is the tone of the article biased or unbiased? Is it intended to inform or persuade? (this is PURPOSE)
6) When was it written/published? – Think about it like this: do you want your doctor treating you with information from an article published in the 1960s? Not if you want to live. So pay attention to WHEN the information comes from; knowledge changes over time. (CURRENCY)
