Blog 3
Wagstaff
Having already been taught about this previously, there is not much for me to say about this definition of "periodical." There was one section, however, that I believe I missed the first time reading through this. I did not recall that prose journals originated in eighteenth-century Germany, so that served as a nice reminder. Regardless of its brief length, the definition serves as a useful reference for those who may be new or unfamiliar with research and/or periodicals. Being able to distinguish between scholarly and popular works will also help the researcher select credible resources for research projects.
Weir & Western Libraries
Thinking back to my undergraduate studies, I was not taught how to read a periodical in any of the English or research classes. Between my colleagues and I, there were few, if any faculty members that explained the process of research to us. We were unfortunately left to figure it out ourselves. While this is not detrimental to some students (for some, it is second nature), I particularly struggled with finding information efficiently. This came to a head when I entered Ithaca College last fall. Coming back around on this topic (during the summer), I do feel more comfortable with searching through periodicals, evaluating them, and using the information found in them for further research.
I also struggled with pacing myself when reading through the periodicals. Weir encourages his students to read journals "in small doses." When reflecting upon my struggles, they usually stemmed from this particular issue. I would try to tackle entire readings in one fell swoop, and it often resulted in me becoming mentally exhausted and missing key points of the articles. If I was approaching my wit's end with the article, I would skim the remainder of the article in order to finish before I could not take anymore. I am aware that doing this was not beneficial to me. Since then, I have begun to look for key features of the article (intended audience, purpose, etc.) in order to understand it more quickly and efficiently. Following a template similar to the Western Libraries video has been both time-saving and helpful for me.
Antelman, Beall, & Kolata
Ah, the open-access scholarly article debate. I recall this blog leading to a somewhat-heated debate in the fall class. While the results of Antelman's study claim that open-access journals provide a greater impact on research, Beall's and Kolata's posts argue that it is more detrimental than beneficial. They support this claim by giving scenarios/examples of publishers who solicit enormous amounts of money from researchers. While all three support the notion of making scholarly periodicals accessible to the public, they also note the potential dangers of doing so. It is very possible for some scumbag running a publication under an alias to dupe unknowing researchers into giving them lots of money (such as Entomology 2013).
From the researchers' perspective, I guess the best bet is to not only research the periodical, but the publisher as well. To start, they can look at Beall's blacklist of "predatory publishers" and see who to avoid contacting. If not, they can also communicate with colleagues and share any experiences they have had with a questionable source. We are fortunate enough to have the IC Library database containing a substantial amount of reliable and reputable periodicals. Outside of graduate school, however, we will have to ensure that we are careful when researching or publishing any material.
Goldacre
While this video ties in with the previous three, I decided to separate it for a reason not exactly pertaining to journalism or research. First off, I enjoyed the manner in which Goldacre presented his material to the audience. Not only did he discuss the distortion of information from articles and the placebo effect, but he also did it in a very light-hearted and easy-to-understand manner. Deciphering sources of information and distinguishing between accurate and inaccurate information can be tedious and monotonous at times. Yet, when Goldacre highlights these points to the audience, he is using vocal inflection and subtle humor to keep the audience engaged and enjoying the presentation. For that reason, I envy his public speaking skills.
Having already been taught about this previously, there is not much for me to say about this definition of "periodical." There was one section, however, that I believe I missed the first time reading through this. I did not recall that prose journals originated in eighteenth-century Germany, so that served as a nice reminder. Regardless of its brief length, the definition serves as a useful reference for those who may be new or unfamiliar with research and/or periodicals. Being able to distinguish between scholarly and popular works will also help the researcher select credible resources for research projects.
Weir & Western Libraries
Thinking back to my undergraduate studies, I was not taught how to read a periodical in any of the English or research classes. Between my colleagues and I, there were few, if any faculty members that explained the process of research to us. We were unfortunately left to figure it out ourselves. While this is not detrimental to some students (for some, it is second nature), I particularly struggled with finding information efficiently. This came to a head when I entered Ithaca College last fall. Coming back around on this topic (during the summer), I do feel more comfortable with searching through periodicals, evaluating them, and using the information found in them for further research.
I also struggled with pacing myself when reading through the periodicals. Weir encourages his students to read journals "in small doses." When reflecting upon my struggles, they usually stemmed from this particular issue. I would try to tackle entire readings in one fell swoop, and it often resulted in me becoming mentally exhausted and missing key points of the articles. If I was approaching my wit's end with the article, I would skim the remainder of the article in order to finish before I could not take anymore. I am aware that doing this was not beneficial to me. Since then, I have begun to look for key features of the article (intended audience, purpose, etc.) in order to understand it more quickly and efficiently. Following a template similar to the Western Libraries video has been both time-saving and helpful for me.
Antelman, Beall, & Kolata
Ah, the open-access scholarly article debate. I recall this blog leading to a somewhat-heated debate in the fall class. While the results of Antelman's study claim that open-access journals provide a greater impact on research, Beall's and Kolata's posts argue that it is more detrimental than beneficial. They support this claim by giving scenarios/examples of publishers who solicit enormous amounts of money from researchers. While all three support the notion of making scholarly periodicals accessible to the public, they also note the potential dangers of doing so. It is very possible for some scumbag running a publication under an alias to dupe unknowing researchers into giving them lots of money (such as Entomology 2013).
From the researchers' perspective, I guess the best bet is to not only research the periodical, but the publisher as well. To start, they can look at Beall's blacklist of "predatory publishers" and see who to avoid contacting. If not, they can also communicate with colleagues and share any experiences they have had with a questionable source. We are fortunate enough to have the IC Library database containing a substantial amount of reliable and reputable periodicals. Outside of graduate school, however, we will have to ensure that we are careful when researching or publishing any material.
Goldacre
While this video ties in with the previous three, I decided to separate it for a reason not exactly pertaining to journalism or research. First off, I enjoyed the manner in which Goldacre presented his material to the audience. Not only did he discuss the distortion of information from articles and the placebo effect, but he also did it in a very light-hearted and easy-to-understand manner. Deciphering sources of information and distinguishing between accurate and inaccurate information can be tedious and monotonous at times. Yet, when Goldacre highlights these points to the audience, he is using vocal inflection and subtle humor to keep the audience engaged and enjoying the presentation. For that reason, I envy his public speaking skills.
I enjoyed your insight to the readings. I completely agreed with your views on Weir & Western and that unfortunately, sometimes professors assume we already know how to do certain things, when infect we do not and are left wondering until we either discover the solution ourselves or ask for help.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the entirety of your blog. I thought that you did a nice job with connecting your own view points to the subject matter brought up in the reading material. I know I personally have a hard time connecting my own thoughts to the readings and instead just list and summarize the content in them, but you have seemed to transition between summarize and reflection smoothly.