For this Module, we are going to start locating resources for beginning your research. These resources can apply for both school-related research and life-related research. Please complete the following:

1. Background and Preliminary Research slide show (lecture/video)
2. Claim your free online newspaper accounts (activity)
3. Find your sources (individual post on website, 5 points)
4. Evaluate a source (group post on Padlet, 5 points)

Part 1 – Background and Preliminary Research Lecture

Please watch/listen to this slide show for the contents of today’s lesson. There are audio comments on each slide, which you can listen to by clicking the audio icon in the upper left corner of the slide.

To play the slides, click “present” in the upper right corner, and the audio should start automatically. I’ve also included my audio comments in the “speaker notes” section on each slide if you prefer to read them

Included in the slides are two brief screencasts about using OneSearch* to find your sources. Please be sure to watch these!

2022_Background Research.pptx

*Note to instructors: OneSearch is Hunter’s primary search tool on our library website. The screencasts are specific to this, but we found it necessary to show students exactly what we expected them to do.

Part 2 – Claim your free newspaper accounts!

*Note to instructors: these are the two institutional, direct-access newspaper subscriptions we offer to students. Feel free to change this or eliminate this part of the exercise.

CUNY students can claim two free online subscriptions with a valid CUNY email address: The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. By claiming your accounts, you gain access to both of these major newspapers directly though their websites without having to go through the Hunter Libraries site. No more paywalls for you while you’re a student!

New York Times Academic Pass: NYTimes.com/passes

Wall Street Journal: www.wsj.com/Hunter

Part 3 – Find Your Sources (Individual, 5 points)

Review the screencasts in the slideshow at the start of this module for information about using OneSearch for Reference Entries and for Newspaper Articles. Use your assigned group topic for your search. Please select TWO specialized reference entries and ONE news article related to your topic.

Group topics are:

1. Housing & New York City
2. Public Health & Pandemics
3. Abortion & Reproductive Rights
4. Censorship & Schools
5. Climate Change & Extreme Weather
6. Gun Policy & School Shootings
7. Diversity & Representation in the Entertainment Industry

Create a post on our site in response to the following:

• Write an APA-style citation for each of your sources – see samples below. (You will have 3 citations: 2 specialized reference entries and 1 news article. If you use the citation generator in OneSearch please make sure your citation is complete – there should be enough information for someone else to find your source again, including a permanent link).
• What words did you enter into the search box? Please be specific and include all the words you used in your search, exactly as you entered them.
• What OneSearch filters did you use?
• What other filters or sorting options did you use (if any)?
• What is one thing you learned doing this activity, or one thing that remains unclear to you?

APA style samples

Your citation must include all the information needed to find the source again. Use the APA style site for reference: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstInitial. (date, or n.d. if no date is available). Entry or article title. Title of the publication. permanent link (if available)

News article:

Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at forgetting? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html

Reference entry:

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Just-world hypothesis. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved January 18, 2020, from https://dictionary.apa.org/just-world-hypothesis

Part 4 – Evaluate a source (group, 5 points)

We chose* either a Reference or News source for each group, related to the topic you were given, and posted the citation to the group Padlet. Evaluate the source and write up what you learned by posting the following in your group’s column on the Padlet below:

• Put your name on your post!
• Process: What did you learn about how this source was published? What is the process by which this information was created and published? 
• Authority/Expertise: Who is the author of the source? What can you learn about the author? Do they have relevant expertise to write about this topic? What gives them authority to write about the topic? 
• Aim/Purpose: What is the purpose of this piece of information? What does the author (or publisher) want you to do as a result of reading this information? Is it informational, persuasive, a call-to-action, etc? 
• Challenges: Identify any challenges you/your group encountered in completing this activity.

*Note to instructors: we choose sources based on the assigned topics and try to keep them as current as possible.