Transcript: Gabe

Coming into college I didn’t really know what it took to research or really do anything at such a high level yet. When I got to college, I had to write multiple research essays about difficult topics.

I would like to think that I have pretty bright and intuitive ideas. My thought process was never an issue, finding reliable and academic sources has always been something I have struggled with. During this process of finding specific articles to back up my research has been a long and difficult journey. I have read through many articles trying to find the ones I want to use when I am finished with my research, but how do I know if my audience will engage with those articles and if they are scholarly enough?

Well, what I found that helped me was using the Ohio State library website and Google Scholar to track down some very detailed and interesting articles that are directed towards my research question.

Specifically, I wanted to address  planning your sources. My planning my sources was in the research log which helped me overview all my sources and depict which ones were the best academic resources and which were the best secondary source resources.

What makes a source credible is that it is peer reviewed by other credible/notable authors. You can find this out by researching the authors and seeing their accomplishments and where they went to school to see if they are scholarly and therefore a good author to learn from. I realized that I need 1-2 academic resources and at least 1-2 secondary sources like Ted Talks or news articles.

This has been a big help with my research journey because this way I can find all the information I need, and it makes the research journey more enjoyable.