- Mostly I have relied on JSTOR through the Syracuse Library’s website. I’m pretty familiar with it through other classes I have taken, and was aware at the vast amounts of articles/book chapters that are available on there. Originally while conducting this research I never used the advanced search to limit the publication dates, but have since changed that to find articles or chapters that were written in the last 5 years or so. I also plan to use some news articles (being aware at the plethora of unreliable websites out there) I’m deciding to only use things written by a reputable news source and written by an expert in the field of educational diversity, rather than just relying on any random post that some random person wrote,
- As stated above, definitely relying on the academic sources- peer reviewed is always a go to for me. Most of the sources that I have found so far on JSTOR have been chapters from books, so I plan to piece those together in the most fluid way possible. As far as news articles, looking through things like the New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, etc. I realized I can probably just use the proquest search engine on the Syracuse Library website also since there’s a vast database of newspaper articles available on there. Do any of my classmates have good advice on sifting through newspaper articles to find something that isn’t opinion based or anecdotal? Thank you!
Writing and organizational cultures
Before this class I haven’t either used the advanced search but I have found it helps a lot when narrowing down the type of journal I want and to make sure it was published in the last 5 years. Your plan for looking through news articles sounds good however I’m not quite sure how to make sure the articles aren’t too opinion based or anecdotal and was also wondering if there was a way to do this or sources that are known to be not as opinionated.
Some databases will give you options to filter in or out by source type–in ProQuest, for example, you can use the Document Type menu in Advanced Search to choose or exclude “editorials” (those opinion pieces). Other databases offer similar capabilities; just play around in Advanced Search to find them.
Now, recognize that most texts are argumentative, not strictly objective–in other words, the author is presenting their take on a particular issue. So long as you’re satisfied with their use of evidence and logic, that text might still be a very valuable source. Let’s not assume that just because there’s a point-of-view that it’s flawed or useless. This is where your critical reading and evaluative skills come into play.
ProQuest is a great resource, with lots of options for tailoring a search. One to consider as you’re looking for long-form journalism is to head straight to the websites of publications that are known for that work–major media outlets like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and National Public Radio often have long features or series like this. You can also check out magazines like The Atlantic and others (here’s a useful list: https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/10-top-tier-websites-for-longform-journalism-stories/ )
Thank you very much!