Of the several reading we had read for class, I think I gained the most help from the BEAM reading and the “hunter/gatherer” reading. The BEAM reading exposed me to a new way to think about and use sources, whereas the hunter/gatherer reading was just a fun meta cognitive piece.
During my entire research process, I kept BEAM in the back of my head as it lead me to sources I would have never used quarter ago. BEAM showed me the several types of sources you can have, and what the strengths of each source is. Additionally, BEAM showed how to implement these sources (some you don’t even have to cite!) and how to follow their trail for even more sources. If it wasn’t for BEAM, I’d be using very bland and one dimensional sources that I’ve been using on all of my research papers up to this point.
The type source I found most interesting was the method sources. In short, these almost serve as guidelines for how you should write/research/etc., and these usually go without being cited. I used this source type in my naysayer argument toward the end of my paper, where I defended my research’s reliability due to its diversity. Had I not learned about this source, I would not have known what to write about for my naysayer argument, leading to an overall weaker paper.
Another method source I found very helpful was the method of cross referencing and further contextual search. By forcing myself to dig deeper into what I researched both in the archives and in the database, I was able to add multiple dimensions to my research argument. Additionally, this led me to have a reservoir of sources from which I could pick and chose, so minimum source limits were never an issue.
To wrap up, reading those articles on how to research weren’t really the most fun thing to do. 20 pages of dense material on the subject of writing isn’t really my preferred past time. However, I can’t complain now. Thanks to these articles, I have learned much more about how to write and research than I had in high school!