This week will be having a library tutorial! No readings! I'm sure many of you will be excited about that!
Libraries though.............the bane of our existence or the lifeline to our work? A question for the ages......
I will be leading the library tutorial next week and the purpose is to help introduce you all to the research techniques and tips I have acquired over the years when it comes to writing essays in medieval history. For those of you who have had library tutorials already this year (perhaps led by a librarian), or those of you for whom library researching is old hat, please do still come along next week as the tutorial will be specifically geared towards helping you write the essay for this course.
Attendance is compulsory and you will be filling in a worksheet during the tutorial that I have prepared.
Here are all the details:
When: Wednesday, April 4th during your normal tutorial time
Where: Training Room One (ground floor), Caulfield library
Please arrive right on time as I will begin the tutorials promptly at the hour. This is because we have a lot of material to cover.
Here are some questions to think about before.....
1) What elements make up a good research essay?
2) How would you approach finding material and formulating your argument in your essay?
3) Can you find the book 'Charlemagne's Courtier' in the library catalogue? What other bibliographic information can you tell me about this book from the catalogue? Can you find another primary or secondary source related to Carolingian history? What methods did you use to find 'Charlemagne's Courtier'?
4) If you are in first year - What elements of the research essay are you feeling nervous or worried about? (ie. finding sources, knowing which material to reference in your essay, etc.)
5) If you are in second year and beyond - What are your tips and pointers that you can share with us on writing good essays and researching in the library? Have you ever received any feedback from previous essay submissions that have helped you improve your researching and writing skills?
Please have a think about these questions and post your thoughts on this week's library tutorial below!
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Essay Requirements
Word Limit: 1750
Due Date: Friday, 5pm the week after you give your presentation. You will find your chosen essay question at the bottom of the unit guide page for the week of your presentation.
You must include in your analysis:
2 primary sources
5 secondary sources - including one journal article
1 of your sources (either primary or secondary) must come from an online source
Any questions at all please just ask me.
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For fun here are a couple of photos of the Bodleian Library (part of the University of Oxford). It is a very old library (founded in the 17th century) and was the centre of my existence for a year (and more) of my life! It's a beautiful set of buildings and rather puts our very practical libraries at Monash to shame!
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| The gatehouse (porter's lodge) with reading rooms above Bodleian Library |
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| The Radcliffe Camera Bodleian Library |
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| The interior of the Duke Humphrey Library Bodleian Library |
yo!
ReplyDeleteThe elements that make up a good research essay are essentially the depth of the research undertaken. The way the key facts from this research are incorporated fluently into the writing and the structure of the essay (the way it flows) are extremely important!
My approach to finding material for an essay would be scouring the library’s infinite resources and making use of the World Wide Web! If in doubt or finding it hard to find sources- ask others, they can always point you in the right direction. Once you have conducted your research upon the chosen topic (making sure you have covered all angles), then it is easier to formulate your argument. By reading primary pieces and secondary pieces (containing views by prior or current historians), it is then easier to see where you fall into- or alternatively coming up with your own original perspective (although that of course is much harder).
I found ‘Charlemagne’s Courtier’ (by Einhard- exciting!) in the library catalogue-yet! Its full title is ‘Charlemagne’s Courtier: the complete Einhard’ and it is funnily enough by Einhard himself. Peter Edward Dutton is the man who had compiled for us today. Published by Broadview Press in Petersborough (Ontario) and Orchard Park (New York) in the year 1998. It’s also written in English (yay for us).
Another primary source I found was Henri Pirenne’s, ‘A History of Europe From the Invasions to the XVI Century’ (however accurate that may be, knowing his crazy theories) and it is accessible as an eBook online. My methods of research were nothing spectacular just typing the key terms in the search box and hoping for the best.
And lastly as I am a first year student- I’m nervous about everything!! But if I was to pin it to one, it would be finding relevant sources and incorporating the right parts for these sources into my essay successfully.
See y’all in a week!
Damn my first post disappeared .. I think I forgot to click "publish"!!
ReplyDeleteWhat I had typed was ... Take advantage of the lessons offered by the Library. I had just taken a lesson in "End notes" and found this valuable in keeping track of the resources one reads, and makes bibliograhpy'ing easier.
Get to Know what's on offer for you as a Scholar of Monash!Go take advantage of your Librarian!! You can download information and access information available at other Universities via your Monash account via the Library system... It takes time to find your way around database. I download a lot of information available in PDF format, transfer them to a USB stick and print at the Library. I think you are able to reclaim the cost of printing on your tax returns so keep your receipts! It does seem a waste of paper, to some, but I hardly buy note books I write my notes on the back pages of the paper. Unless you can figure out how to print on both sides of the paper! I am off the old school and find technology a challenge! (still learning in other words even into my fourth year!)
At times it does feel as if you get overloaded with information, but as Clare said in one of our lectures.. Reading is meant to hurt! but it is FUN!! if you care to make it such.
Nerves?? Don't think about it!
"First do what's necessary, then do what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible"
St Francis of Assisi
(this a shorter version of the missing first post!)
Yeah, my post just dissapeared as well! How annoying. Long story short my initial post said that I think the library tut will be great. Hopefully there is some sort of explanation on referencing - I have done plenty of referenced essays before but I am still never really comfortable doing it. Also said that I had a look at the library website and found it very useful. Wide range of resources that will definitely make the assessment task much easier.
ReplyDeleteAs for the nerves, I definitely am a little nervous, but not in a bad way. It is a major assessment task and goes a long way to determining our final grade for the semester. Pretty confident I can pull it together though, just need to find the balance between knowing the information and expressing it coherently when writing out the essay.
My initial post was much more interesting and in-depth, but given other study committments I don't really have time to go into as much detail a second time. Sorry!
I feel the library tutorial will be very helpful as I still need help with referencing too. I have found the library site easy to navigate and the staff are friendly and helpful.
ReplyDeleteNerves -- yeah -- but I'm hoping I can bring it all together successfully.
Janice Keirnan
Library tutorial should be good - can never have to much help when it comes to perfecting essay writing!
ReplyDeleteIs this tutorial worksheet given a grade or just a hurdle requirement?
-J. Lawry
I think for any good research essay it’s important to get a variety of primary and secondary sources, from a variety of different authors so that you get a feel for all aspects of the topic at hand. You can’t make a good argument without knowing both sides! I’m in my second semester and I found the library tutorial from one of my classes last year invaluable! I thought I knew what I needed to get by, but they showed me a few sneaky tricks when using the search engine I wouldn’t have figured out on my own. They also introduced me to JSTOR, what a beautiful little thing that is ;)
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I find library tutorials pretty boring but I have come out of every one I have done so far having learnt something new. Hopefully in tomorrow’s tute I will yet again learn something new.
ReplyDeleteBiggest thing for me and researching is definitely time. I know I need lots of time to find a whole lot of resources and then sort out what is rubbish and what is useful. Then I like to write a fair few dot points and drafts before doing the real thing.
My original post disappeared...
ReplyDeleteTo quickly recap; this essay will be a struggle between me and my ability to procrastinate.
Library tutes are necessarily boring. However, the change in location is diverting and worth at least 5 minutes interest.
See you all there!
Jess Kopp.
I like the library tutorials. great info on how cite, what to cite, and where to find good info. Went through a couple of these tutorials. I went through a couple last year, and you always learn something new.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, sorry for the late reply. When we were in class today, I noticed my blog post wasn't on here. However, I also noticed I wasn't the only one. So yes, I posted it again
ReplyDelete