CMP-125 (Titus, Spring 2023)

• Use the Advanced Search. Combine your terms with AND, OR, NOT (Boolean searching).
• Truncate your terms with an *
• Use the databases LIMITERS, EXPANDERS, and SUBJECT TERMS.

BOOKS

BOOKS that are collections of essays contain pages, either at the beginning or the end, that list credentials, affiliations, and/or provide a brief bio. Books written by one person may contain information in the beginning or end of a book, or on the book jacket. You may also find information in the "acknowledgements" section or the preface.

ARTICLES

ARTICLES in academic journals and magazines might list the credentials and affiliations of or give a brief bio about the author either at the beginning or end of the article.

Sometimes, contributor information is given in a separate section of the journal, either in the beginning or end pages.  This preforatory or concluding material may or may not be available through the library subscription databases.  To find out whether it is available, click on the "source" link in the full citation to open up the journal record. Click on the year, volume, and issue for your citation.  All the contents of the journal should be listed there.

You might also be able to get this information by visiting the publisher's web site and by looking in that volume and issue.  While articles may not be available for free through publishers on the regular Web, contributor information is often available.

To use our example for Hypatia (below), we find that contributor biographical information is not available in the article itself (by viewing the PDF). It is available if we browse through the volumes and issues of Hypatia in Academic Search Premier.  Also, if we go to the publisher's web site , we find that there is a separate section called "Notes on Contributors," which comes at the end of the journal. 

If you want more information on the author, Google him or her to see what you can find! It may be helpful to put their name in quotes and include any institutional affiliations.

Is your item an article, a book, or a book chapter?  Is it in a magazine, newspaper, or an academic journal?  What kinds of articles does the journal publish?

The citation information in the library databases will tell you. (The example below uses Academic Search Premier as an example; other databases vary.)

You can search the journal title under Journals and click the title of the journal to learn more about it.

1. Icons in the result list next to the citation should tell you what you are looking at, but you can click on the article title to go the full citation, where you can learn more information.

2. This brings you the full record view, where you can see your "document type" (article), subject terms, an abstract (summary), and the ISSN (international standard serial number) of the journal, a unique number used to identify it worldwide.

To learn more about the "source" itself, click on the title (or in some cases [journal detail] at the end of the "Source" line.) From the intial results screen, we already know it is an academic journal.  But is it peer-reviewed?  What topics does it publish?  Click on the title of the "source" to find out.

3. This is the record for the source "Hypatia," the journal in which the article above was published. We learn that this is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes on feminist philosophy.

4. If we click on the publisher link, we are taken to the journal's home page, where we can learn even more about it, if we like, such as its aims and scope.

• Is this an article from a peer-reviewed journal?

• Is this a popular or a scholarly source?

• What type of magazine or journal do I have?

Ulrichsweb can answer your question!

The Rider University Libraries subscribes to a database called Ulrichsweb that gives "detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals (also called serials) of all types: academic and scholarly journals, e-journals, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more."

You can search by journal title, keyword, ISSN number, and subject area.

Below is the record for a journal called Marvels & Tales.  This record tells you that Marvels & Tales is an academic or scholarly journal that is peer-reviewed. 

Also, click on the website link to go to the journal or magazine's home page, where you can learn more information about it!

CMP 125 Essay 4: Narrative of Your Research into Your Subculture

Important Dates:

3/24: Library Session with Prof. Hofmann in Moore Library

3/31: Annotated Bibliography Due in Conference

4/7: First Draft of Essay 4 Due in Conference

4/10: Mid-Process Draft of Essay 4 Due: please submit to Canvas, and bring four copies to class for peer review (you must bring hard copies! If you cannot bring hard copies, you must submit to Canvas by 10am on the morning of the 10^th so I can make copies for you (and note you would like me to do so)

4/14: Graded Draft of Essay 4 Due to Canvas by 11:59pm

            Through the semester, we have analyzed our subcultures from a variety of perspectives. We’ve looked at the space in which our subculture resides, and we’ve looked at the people who inhabit our subculture. While we’ve used secondary sources sparingly in our first few formal writing assignments, the time has come for us to begin more thoroughly synthesizing our primary and secondary sources. This next essay is a research narrative, or an essay in which you detail your thought process as you collect more exhaustive secondary research. The goal of this essay is to help you begin to make more in-depth connections between your research and your own ideas about your subculture, but in a less formal way than academic essays typically ask you to.

            The goal of this assignment is to write a first-person, chronologically organized narrative account of your thinking process as you investigate your subculture through secondary research, talking with others, and doing your own reflective thinking. For this essay, you will focus largely on the research you have found about your topic (such as sources you find during our library session), and bring in primary research only as needed. As you reflect on your research, you can also bring in your own memories and experiences.

Your goal in this essay is to examine your topic from a variety of perspectives, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of particular points of view. By the end of your essay, you should attempt to draw some conclusions about your subculture in the form of a thesis that presents your own point of view towards your subculture. However, you will be rewarded for the quality of your exploration and thinking processes. In other words, this essay focuses more on the process of wrestling with all the sources you have about your issue.

Instead of this essay having a thesis that you are required to prove, think of this thesis more as a hypothesis: in your introductory section, you can establish that you think X and perhaps Y about your subculture, and are curious to learn more. Your conclusion, then, is not a reiteration of the introduction, but rather, an assessment of the overall process of researching your subculture, what you have learned, and a presentation of your current position.

An exploratory essay such as this one needs to have a particular structure. I encourage you not to feel trapped by the structure; instead, use it as a point of departure for how you are developing your point of view toward your subculture. The structure is as follows:

1. Introduction (one or more paragraphs):
   1. Establishes your subculture, and explains to the reader why you are interested in it
   2. Presents relevant background – what does the reader need to know to follow the essay?
   3. Either begins with or builds up to your hypothesis (what you currently think, what you want to know more about, and why).
2. Body section 1 on first source:
   1. Introduces your first source and shows why you started with it
   2. Provides rhetorical context and information about the source (where it came from, who wrote it and why, etc.)
   3. Summarizes the source’s content and its argument (try to do this in a few sentences)
   4. Offers your response to this source. Try to include points that you agree with and points that you find contentious
   5. Discusses what this source contributes to your understanding of your subculture and your hypothesis: What did you learn? What values does this source have for you? What is missing from this source that you want to consider? Where do you want to go from here, and why?
3. Body section 2 on second source:
   1. Explains why you chose this source (to find an alternative view, pursue sub-questions, find more data, etc.)
   2. Summarizes the source’s content and argument
   3. Provides your response and how the source contributes to your understanding of your subculture
   4. Shows how your cumulative reading of sources is shaping your thinking or leading to more questions
4. Body sections 3, 4, 5, and so on:
   1. Develops and continues the process
5. Conclusion
   1. Wraps up your intellectual journey and explains where you are now in your thinking and how your understanding of your problem has changed
   2. Presents your current position based on what you have read and learned so far, or explains why you are still unsure of your position towards your subculture.
6. Works Cited List
   1. Includes complete list of citations n MLA format.

(adapted from Ramage, Ramage, and Bean, p. 151)

For this essay, you must use at least six (6) secondary sources, of which only two (2) can be Internet sources (ie., sources not found through the library or other databases). If you have more than two Internet sources that you believe are essential to your research, please see me.

This essay should be approximately 6-8 pages, double-spaced, with proper MLA formatting and a Works Cited page.

CMP 125 Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Due: Friday, 3/31 in Conference; any changes must be submitted to Canvas by 4/3

For Essay 4, you are asked to use a larger amount of sources that we have used for any of the papers we’ve written so far. The formatting for using these sources is also different; you will be required to assess each source’s credibility and value to your project, and also to summarize and respond to each source accordingly. Constructing an annotated bibliography can be an excellent start to composing this kind of research narrative; it asks you to analyze the sources in similar ways.

For your annotated bibliography, you will include any sources you wish to use. However, you are required to have at least 6 secondary sources (all non-database sources must be approved by me). The goal here is to cast a wide net, and then figure out which sources work best for your research narrative.

Your annotated bibliography consists of citations (as they would appear on a Works Cited page), followed by a 5-7 sentence paragraph that discusses each source. The annotated bibliography should include the following:

1. All your sources should be alphabetized. They do not need to be numbered.
2. All sources should be cited according to proper MLA style; you will lose points if you

do not use correct MLA formatting.

3. Compose a 5-7 sentence annotation for each source:
   1. First, offer some information that assesses the credibility of this source. Who is the author? What is the style of the source (is it a book, a journal article, a Web site, a film, etc.?), and how does the style impact the source’s credibility?
   2. Next, summarize the main argument or point of the source; use concrete language. Include quotations if you want.
   3. Then, indicate the writer’s stance. How credible or biased is this source? How do you know?
   4. Finally, and most importantly, describe the relevance of this source to your research. What did you learn about your topic from this source, and why is that information significant? (adapted from Alfano and O’Brien 156)

 Because of the nature of this assignment, it will be worth 60 points, 10 for each annotation.