Last week, I started researching my topic for the next step in this research process. We are supposed to use databases that we can find through our school’s library and specifically encouraged to use the database, OmniFile. Over the last 2 quarters at SCU, I have had a lot of experience using these databases, so I was confident in my skills at finding good articles. However, when I started researching this topic, I hit a wall.
Source: Giphy
I spoke with a librarian during one of our library sessions. She helped me edit my search to find articles that fit my topic. I was able to find 3-4 really good articles from this search, but then I hit another wall.
Source: Giphy
This search although it found a few very good articles, did not offer enough. I tried to do minor edits to my search in hopes to find articles that slipped through the cracks, however, that attempt didn’t really work. So, at the moment, I am very frustrated finding articles about my topic because as I touched on in my last blog post, I am basically open to anything as long as it in some way relates to my topic, but I can’t find anything else.
Source: Tumblr
Source: Disney/Pixar
In class, we learned about CARS (not the movie, I got excited too.) which stands for Create A Research Space. This includes establishing territory, establishing a niche, and occupying the niche. Establishing territory is setting the background and foundation for your paper. Establishing a niche is finding gaps in your research or asking questions about your research. Occupying the niche is filling the gap and answering the questions that are found during establishing the niche.
So, lets try to apply CARS to my research. This will be a little difficult since I am having such a hard time finding articles. This will also just be a limited version of my final research, so my CARS will not be complete, but let’s go for it.
Establishing territory: There are a few articles discussing whether or not single sex or co-education is the best option for students. These are often being discussed as a school is making this decision. The book, “Keep the Damned Women Out,” talks about how different elite universities transitioned to co-education including good and bad stories.
Establishing a niche: I see a gap in how single sex education or co-education has effected students after college. One article said that although women have been going to universities for 125+ years there is still a wage gap, but offers no more information regarding why or how.
Occupying the niche: I plan on researching my topic as a whole more, but I also want to look into the gap I have found in order to fill that hole.
Source: Disney
Well its goodbye for now…
Source: Disney
But I promise there is always tomorrow.