Biochemistry

Kenneth Burke was a 20th century American poet, philosopher, and rhetorician. One of his most enduring ideas was the concept of the "unending conversation" metaphor. We're going to start class by reading this expert from his book, The Philosophy of Literary Form.  

As scholars, we are engaged in this unending conversation. We enter the conversation at a specific moment in time by reading a particular article, but we could easily look backwards and forwards to see what others have to say on the topic. Some researchers call this "searching in time," as you might position yourself within the time-scape that your consulting literature was published within. 

Another way to approach this idea is by degrees of relatedness, or as a large interconnected web (see Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon as a fun example). Scholars, by way of citation, create a web (i.e. ongoing conversation) by consulting and citing previous author's works. 

As you read the scholarly literature and begin to make connections between authors (i.e. you enter the conversation more deeply), you will have to synthesize the literature. Which authors are important? What are the key concepts? Is this an outlying and/or unsubstantiated perspective? You will begin developing the themes present across time and across multiple authors. 

When you find one helpful article, this might provide other helpful leads. Look to an article's reference section to see if there are older articles that might be beneficial to you. You can search forward in time by limiting your database searches to a specific date range. 

Forward Citation Search: A search to find all of the articles (newer resources) that cite back to a specific article (older resource). This search looks forward in time to see how this article contributed to the scholarly conversation. Read: It's been in the room a long time! 

Backward Citation Search: A search to find all of the cited references in an article. This search looks backwards in time to see what informed the author's writing, at the moment in time that the research was being conducted. 

Middle Citation Search: A combination of forward and backwards searching. This is valuable when you are doing research that uses resources published in "middle years." For example, if you found a stellar paper from 2013, you will need to look backwards and forwards in time.

Author Citation Search: A search to find articles by an author or group of authors.  

For these types of searches, the Scopus database is a great option. In Scopus, you can customize your searches to be forward or backward in time. 

Finding information is fun, but it is also overwhelming. You might have fallen into a research rabbit hole if:

• You are not sure how the papers that you are finding are connected. Not even a little bit. 
• You have a lot of information and you don't know where to start. Or stop. 
• You feel that your searches are providing the same resources over and over again. 

These are all good signs to take a break from researching and to start evaluating the resources that you have collected. Start by reading the abstract for each article. If you feel that the abstract is helpful, keep the document for a more detailed review. If potentially helpful, set the document aside for a second read at another time. If the abstract makes no sense and you have no idea how it might be helpful, it likely needs to be deleted. Don't waste your time on unhelpful resources! Move on to more promising leads.

Annotated bibliographies are helpful research tools. Creating an annotated bibliography allows you to begin synthesizing your resources into a cogent narrative. As you read your articles consider the following: 

• Take notes while reading. Writing out a few lines at the bottom of each page will help you to stay active and engaged while reading dense scientific sources.
• Draw your ideas together at the end of each article. Gather your thoughts about the article, and write a few sentences summarizing the article's main themes and contributions. 
• Move beyond summary. After gathering the article's ideas, how can you see this fitting into YOUR research? Add your perspective to your overall summary. 

When it comes time to write up a longer research report, your annotated bibliography will provide the launch point for your work.