Exploratory Research in the MLA International Bibliography: “News Reporting” and Contemporary Society

Duration

50 minutes

Subject Matter

Exploratory research on news reporting and contemporary society in the MLA International Bibliography 

Audience

First-year undergraduate students in a composition or introductory course who are early in the research process for a research paper or project 

Resources and Materials

MLA International Bibliography

Goal

Students will be introduced to research as an exploratory and iterative process and find inspiration in searching for topics that align with their interests and identities. Students will also be introduced to the MLA International Bibliography as a valuable research tool. This lesson also aligns with the following ACRL information literacy frame: “Searching as Strategic Exploration.”

Objectives

Students will

• brainstorm keywords around a potential research topic
• explore and use the controlled vocabulary of the MLA Thesaurus 
• practice building searches and filtering results using controlled vocabularies
• experience research as an iterative, explorative process
• become acquainted with the MLA International Bibliography’s scope

Instructional Sequence and Activities

Before and throughout the lesson, emphasize to students that this exercise is less about finding specific sources for their upcoming research projects and more about understanding research as an exploratory process and learning how to use controlled vocabulary to search a database.

You can swap out topics for this lesson, but it is recommended to start with a term from the MLA Thesaurus that yields a large number of search results.

1. Before searching the database, hold an initial brainstorm for keywords as a starting point. Start with the term “news reporting” in a full class discussion or in small groups, and brainstorm additional keywords that are either narrower than, broader than, or associated with news reporting (e.g., “newspapers,” “journalists,” “CNN,” “local news,” “communication”). Next, invite students to suggest an additional keyword that reflects a contemporary discussion on news media (e.g., “misinformation,” “bias,” “comment sections”). Finally, have students create a list of topics that are often the subject of news reporting (e.g., “politics,” “business,” “public health,” “celebrities”). 
2. On a shared screen or projector, pull up the “About the MLA International Bibliography” web page and read together the first introductory paragraph and the “Content” list of the MLA International Bibliography. Have students discuss what types of scholarship and topics they anticipate the bibliography will have on news reporting. 
3. On a shared screen or projector, pull up the EBSCO advanced search page for the bibliography. Navigate to the Thesaurus search for subject terms. Demonstrate searching for and adding a Thesaurus term to the search, by searching for “news reporting” in the MLA Thesaurus and adding it to an advanced search for the database. Note to your students that doing so adds “DE” to the start of the search, signalling to the database that it should query using a subject term. Search for DE “news reporting” and show how it pulls up results with that subject term. Have students discuss the kinds of topics they see.
4. Return to the Thesaurus subject search. Have students try to find additional terms from the list generated by the class. Assist students in finding synonyms or related ideas (e.g., instead of “comment section,” use “commentary”). Have students build a two-term search using “news reporting” and a term of their choosing (e.g., “misinformation”). Have one or two students share their results.
5. Return to the DE “news reporting” search. Demonstrate how students can narrow using subject terms using the filter. Demonstrate using “United States” to narrow a search. Point out how the number of results decreased. Have students conduct a filter search using DE “news reporting” as the primary search term and then filtering using the filter tool. Have one or two students share their results.
6. Perform a new search using DE “news reporting” and another term. Open a record from the results list and show students how to click on the hyperlinked terms to start a new search. Do this several times, showing how searching using the vocabulary can be a serendipitous and yet strategic search practice. Be sure to show how you can quickly get too far away from your topic and need to reset back to the original search. Have students practice on their own. Have one or two students share their journeys.
7. Review search strategies and discuss with students how their expectations about researching matched or mismatched with their experiences searching in the MLA International Bibliography.

Assessment

Asking students to share their work periodically with the class will help you assess whether students are meeting the objectives, give you an opportunity to help students work through challenges, and emphasize research as a process that includes resetting and trying a new strategy.

For a more formal assessment, this lesson pairs well with a follow-up assignment in which students submit the citations for 3–5 sources they found in the MLA International Bibliography, along with a reflection that shares the search terms and strategies they used and any difficulties they had.

Note

Credit and thanks to the Brandeis University Humanities Librarian Zoe Weinstein for the keyword brainstorm part of this lesson plan.