As I said in the 9:00 class, the frustrating thing about research is that you want it to be 100% efficient and it just isn't. You run into many dead ends and have to take a step back. This is a normal part of the process, so don't feel like you're doing something wrong if it doesn't all go according to plan. I compared this wasteful aspect of the research process to what happens at Pfizer and Merck and all the other big pharmaceutical companies that employ scientists to do laboratory research... most of what they do never winds up being a successful product, but there's no other way to get there. So maybe out of the first 10 sources you come across in a database search, only 3 have good potential for your bibliography. Go back, change your search terms, use a different database, follow the forward and backward bibliographic chains. Then maybe you get 10 really good ones, but a few days later you're feeling stranger danger on a couple of those because your topic has shifted, and you also feel like there's something new about the topic you want to know, so you go back for more sources. That's just how it works.
Reminder: Wednesday's class will be devoted mainly to a thesis workshop, though anyone can always come forward and share his/her research troubles with the group, Bubbles style.
Link: This is the list of library infoguides with the subject specialist librarians highlighted in blue.
Apology: Essay #2 grades have not been posted, so you can stop hitting refresh on Google Docs. I had to go to NY
Random: Interview with Wendell Pierce (Bunk Moreland).
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