What Can I Add? Finding Something New to Say About Your Sources

What Can I Add?Finding Something Newto Say About Your Sources

What can I talk about? A research paper is “a record of intelligent readingin several sources” (Raynor, n.d.) In the 1940’s,great “animal blackout”

What are the issues? • After 1940’s, “the great animal blackout” • Now Sam Gosling studies personality in octopi and insects….

What has Gosling learned? GOOGLESCHOLAR WEBSITE

What ideas does this suggest? New field of animal psychology

Reading  informed opinion Supporters Say: Animals havepersonalities Critics Say: Don’t confuseanimals and people I say:

What can you add? • Know the experts on your topic. • You can • agree • disagree • apply • compare/contrast • evaluate strengths/weaknesses Critical/ original thinking Bloom’s Taxonomy

Summarize an author’s idea: Marck Spinka, an animal researcher in the Czech Republic, has . . . [a] theory that play teaches a young animal how to handle novelty and surprise, such as the shock of being knocked off balance or a surprise attack. Dr. Marek Spinka

I say “Yes, and…” If Dr. Spinka is right, that would explain why play fighting is so different from real fighting, because a play fight has to be constantly surprising to teach the young fighters how to respond to novelty. (Grandin & Johnson, 2005, p. 123) Dr. Temple Grandin Animals in Translation

Research Comment In a study by Carol Dweck, 4th-graders were given unsolvable problems followed by solvable ones. Once the “helpless students” failed, their strategies deteriorated down to 1st grade level, whereas the “mastery-oriented students” stayed at 4th grade level despite failures. They rolled up their sleeves and worked harder. The crucial element was whether the student saw the failure as having to do with ability or effort. (as cited in Gordon & Gordon, 1996)

Research Disagree Based on her four-year study of brain scans and scientific research, Sunderland entreats parents to reject the modern theories of baby experts such as Gina Ford and Channel 4's Supernanny, Jo Frost, who preach strict discipline, routine and ‘controlled crying.’ —http://www.naturallynurturing.co.uk/MargotSunderland.htm

Critical thinking: Judgment • MST [multisystem therapy] is one of only a handful of "evidence based" programs that have been shown to be effective for violent children” • “54 percent fewer arrests and 57 fewer days in jail)" • The single most important piece of the treatment is getting children away from deviant peers. (Raeburn, 2006)

I say “Yes, but…” Although critics have suggested that Ritalin is overprescribed for children, a study last December found that doctors use about 21⁄2 times more Ritalin for hyperactive and inattentive children than in 1990—a much smaller increase than feared. (“Readin’, Writin’, and Ritalin,” 1997)

As you read, look for • new information • ground-breaking research • unexpected findings • contradictions • conversation (researcher responding to other researchers) • key findings or ideas • applications

Research Anything new? • The range of developmental impairments known as autism spectrum disorders, or ASD, is marked by an inability to communicate and interact with others. • Study: Kids can show signs of autism at 14 months old. (2007, July 4). Des Moines Register, 4E.

Research Currency • “2006 marked the 100th anniversary of the meeting where physician Alois Alzheimer presented the first documented case of the disease that would bear his name. Today, scientists are making significant discoveries every month. Ninety percent of what we know about Alzheimer’s has been discovered in the last 15 years” (A. Riesenberg, as cited in “Health Questions,” 2007).

Research Counterintuitive • In 19th century Bavaria, rainfall was unusually high. In rainy years, the price of rye rose. “Rain raised food prices, and those prices, in turn, led hungry families to steal in order to feed themselves.” However, violent crimes decreased. Beer, which contained rye, was also more expensive, so people drank less of it (Dubner & Levitt, 2006, p. 26).

Research Contradictions On the Contrary…. “Active procrastinators” use putting things off as a strategy for adapting to rapidly changing environments (Choi & Chu, 2005) Procrastination Is Bad College students who procrastinate in their academic work are also likely to have unhealthy sleep, diet, and exercise patterns…[and] have significantly higher rates of digestive ailments, insomnia, and cold and flu symptoms than the student population at large (Sirois & Pychyl, as cited in Glenn, 2002)

Research  Conversation I never realized how bad [MS’s grammar check] was until a student turned in a poorly written report that was ‘spellchecked’ and ‘grammarchecked.’”

Research “Totality of data” • How to interpret conflicting health studies? • Scientists “base their ultimate judgments on the ‘totality of the data,’ which in theory includes all the observational evidence, any existing clinical trials and any laboratory work that might provide a biological mechanism to explain the observations.”

Research Disagree Sullivan iswrong to say that Scandinavian registered partnerships are open to heterosexuals. They're not. Sullivan wants to claim that registered partnerships are a "marriage lite" that attracts large numbers of heterosexuals and thus weaken conventional marriage… But Scandinavian heterosexuals do not enter into registered partnership… —Stanley Kurtz, “Slipping Toward Scandinavia: Contra Andrew Sullivan” http://www.nationalreview.com/kurtz/kurtz200402020917.asp

Research  Adapt

Research  Apply “We offer the following empirically supported recommendations for helping adolescents avoid unhealthy risks: • “Reduce risk by retaining …higher drinking ages…. • “Help [teens] to practice recognizing cues that signal danger before it is too late to act (‘I will not ride with a drinking driver.’)” (Reyna & Farley, 2006/2007)

Add Evaluation • The problem with the American economy is “that so many have been stuck for so long at the bottom and in the middle. This is why one of the really good books on the subject, Inequality in America, by the economists James Heckman and Alan Krueger, is all about raising the incomes of people at the bottom. Punishing those at the top doesn’t help” (Lowenstein, 2007, p. 14).

Originality = Critical thinking • Which is best? • Why do things happen the way they do? • How could things be made better? New organization Piecesof data As, Bs Cs

Credibility = Quality sources • Professional literature • Peer-reviewed journals • Professional associations • Respected sources • Harvard Business Review • National Institutes of Health • Expert opinion • H. Selye—stress • H. Gardner—multiple intelligences • M. Seligman—happiness, learned helplessness

Kuhlthau’s Model of Research • Stage Task Feelings • Initiation contemplating the task uncertainty and possible topics • Selection selecting a topic optimism • Exploration encountering inconsistency confusion and incompatibility • Formulation forming a focused clarity perspective • Collection gathering/documenting confidence • Presentation connecting and extending satisfaction or disappointment

Result = Answers and… Identifying genes involved in type 2 diabetes “is only a beginning. As is often the case with research, obtaining one answer often leads to a series of new questions needing new answers.” (Mitchell, 2007)

What Can I Add? Finding Something New to Say About Your Sources