Blog

As we’re starting to
get moving on the Annotated Bibliography, I want you to use this post to
find at least one academic source. First, I suggest, as the LEAP
modules likely recommended, that you try a “supersearch” under KSU
Library Research Tools: https://library.kennesaw.edu/index.php
Here’s a wonderful video from KSU which will walk you through steps and options for finding sources: https://mediaspace.kennesaw.edu/media/OUR+Video+Series+-+Locating+Sources/1_2kwvugur
Do a couple of simple searches for your topic of interest.
For example, I might search for social media and mental health. It’s a
good idea to put precise phrases in quotation marks when you search,
because this will cause the engine to search for that precise phrase,
rather than for sources which include any of the words (like “social
media” instead of social media). If your search returns an overwhelming
number of results, and they don’t seem related enough to your interests,
you can narrow your results further by using the “advanced search”
option within the supersearch. There, you can make modifications using
the dropdown menus to search only within source titles, for example. You
can also use the “and/or/not” dropdown menus to further narrow your
search. Get in touch with me after giving it a try if you are not sure
how to do this.
Browse some article titles, and perhaps cl

ick a few that
stand out and read the article abstracts; don’t just click the first one
that appears in the results, but instead look for titles that catch
your attention. There’s no need, at this stage, to read through full
articles at this stage: just read the article abstract, or perhaps the
introductory paragraphs if no abstract is give. Save the source
information (or the PDF) of any articles that stand out to you as being
of potential interest – you’ll want to have easy access to them in the
future.
After doing so, write down some notes here on the articles
that stand out to you. Why are they (or why do they sound) interesting?
Do any of them seem to cover a topic related to what you could see
yourself writing about and continuing to research this semester?
Then, write through some potential paper ideas or topics,
drawing any connections you see, if any, between your ideas and the
sources you looked up (or maybe sources you’ve already found, if you’ve
already started some research). None of this needs to be well-developed
at this stage: think possibilities and brainstorming. There’s no set
format here – just make it useful to yourself.
If you’d like, you can also consult some of the options KSU offers that might help you further narrow your searches: https://libguides.kennesaw.edu/sch_article/find
Aim for 250 words (or more if it’s helpful).