Module 3 (Key Tasks):
After (1) reviewing guest lectures from various fields, you will (2) decide what academic discipline or career field you wish to research and write a proposal; you will then (3) identify a subject in the field to interview and then conduct & record the interview; next, you will (4) find and critically annotate and analyze three sources from your field; finally, you will (5) create a portfolio, where you will analyze and synthesize your research findings and then (6) work with a small group to create an in-person presentation.
For the library component of this Module 3, we will be focusing on Step 4: finding and critically annotating and analyzing three sources from your field. This guide, and the library instruction session, are designed to help you identify and evaluate possible sources.
Step 4: Source Analyses (Overview)
For this part of the module, you will complete 2 source analyses for scholarly/peer reviewed articles and 1 source analysis of a public-facing/professional source
- 2 scholarly source analyses:
- Locate 2 scholarly/peer reviewed articles from your chosen major field and/or career using the NOVA Library databases (These do not need to be about writing in that field – they can be any current (5 years or less) peer reviewed article about topics in your field).
- Print the article and, using the strategies we reviewed in class, will annotate the article, focusing your notes on the rhetorical choices (style, point of view, organization, evidence, the rhetorical appeals used, integration of other voices, etc.) used in it.
- 1 public-facing/ professional source analysis:
- Locate 1 public-facing/professional source about your chosen major field and/or career using the NOVA Library databases (“professional” and “public facing” means the type of work that someone in your field would be sharing widely. This can include things like a website for a company or organization, a website for a professional organization, an article in the mass media (i.e. newspapers, radio, TV), a podcast, a video shared on some public site, or the official social media account of a company, organization. For example, someone interested in environmental engineering might chose to use the EPA’s Twitter feed or a New York Times Op-Ed written by an environmental engineer. A future nurse might choose to use a podcast created by nurses aimed at helping low-income residents improve their health or the homepage of the American Nurses Association.)
- Using the strategies we reviewed in class, annotate the article, focusing your notes on the rhetorical choices (style, point of view, organization, evidence, the rhetorical appeals used, integration of other voices, etc.) used in it (for taking notes, you can either save the page as a .pdf and take notes on it (need help with how to take notes on a .pdf? you can follow these instructions from Adobe.) or you can provide a stable link to the source and keep a page of running notes on a separate document.)
Complete the analysis chart and remaining steps as detailed in the Module 3: Source Analyses full details linked below.