A Counterargument For Inquiry: Making our Project Stronger

We were able to focus the Inquiry group's project today in class, which was very exciting. We have decided to focus on librarians and teachers and try to get Library Research 2.0 incorporated into the BYU library research curriculum. However, I've thought of some counterarguments that we need to face before our project will really be marketable. The problem is, how can we really prove that Library Research 2.0 will actually improve and/or  save time for students' research? It is VERY true that students could waste loads of time by using these tools. There. I said it. The thing that will make our argument successful is if we demonstrate how to use it in order to save time.

The whole idea of Library Research 2.0 is using social media tools online in order to find sources for your research, and/or collaborate. I personally know plenty of people who already waste so much time using social media. Adding the distraction of using social media to the research process may just be too much for some students to handle. How do we handle these kinds of arguments?

I am personally a believer in Library Research 2.0 because I've tried it, and it works. However, I think I have a biased opinion because it is my project, and I've only tried it on doing research about Library Research 2.0. There's not much scope to my experimentation.

Here's how I did research about Library Research 2.0: I used Gideon Burton's Diigo bookmarks to find some sites about social media and research. (Site1, Site2) I found a link on the first site that gives a whole list of Library Research 2.0 tools, and their respective links. GROUP: there is a nice infographic-like representation of this that maybe we can get some ideas from, published by the Research Information Network (I think Prezi should be added to the Presentation Sharing Tools). They also published a nice paper called Social Media Guide. What I think is cool about their website is that they have several case studies of real professionals who use Library Research 2.0 tools in their daily work! 

By perusing these sites, I also found a blog that talks about why academics should blog. This Clarkson University blog is all about Neurology, and I looked at the sidebar and found some cool things there! They have a list called "Our Publications" which shows the articles they've published. They also have a link where you can send in a book or article you want them to review! I mean, they probably wouldn't appreciate getting a Freshman's research paper, but he gives you his contact information via the faculty directory link. Use it! There is a secret I've heard that if you've read a professor's papers, and you contact them, they are more than willing to talk to someone who has read their work, and is interested in what they are doing.

Woah, woah. Ok. So I've gotten a little side-tracked. I know I'm not supposed to be researching about Neurology, but if I was researching about it, I could find this blog, and it would be very helpful. Anyway, I didn't spend any time reading the articles, I just wanted to recognize the tools that are there.

This was quite effective in doing research. I was able to find starting-off points in just a few clicks. If I was doing research in Neurology, I might be even further along in the research process. The trick is finding people who are also interested in the subject, and you're set. Maybe we should demonstrate how to do that. I'll have to try it myself first, I mean, it was easy to find Gideon Burton because he's my professor.

The bottom line is, how can we demonstrate and convince that this will save students time and energy, and will make their papers better? Use academic articles as supporting evidence? Anecdotes? Case studies? An experiment?