No matter what class I am taking in college, I will certainly have to be able to effectively do research on the subject. This week's focusing on how to do literature research, especially how to use Shorter University's online resources, was a big help to me. When you aren't doing research very often, or haven't been in college for a while, it's easy to forget even the basics of doing research.
You have to know what information you need and where to find it. The internet makes this so much easier now. Don't try to tell my almost 70 year old father that though. He refuses to use a computer. He spent hours last week digging through an encyclopedia trying to identify a turtle for my young son. He finally gave up. We found it on the internet within minutes. And, nobody stole our banking information or our identity the next day. Sorry Dad, but this time, you were wrong!
I learned so much in this lesson about what is available to me through Shorter University and their online resources. I learned how to search the library and browse the various research methods they offer.
Being able to determine what you need to know, where to find it, how to use the numerous resources available, putting everything together and presenting it correctly without plagiarising is no easy task! This lesson definitely helped me with all of these topics. I will be much more prepared for my future classes. I also have to say that I really like the OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab and have used it a lot. There is so much useful information for writing there and it is very user friendly!
