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STC 231: Small Group Communication (Bradshaw): Home

Welcome from your embedded librarian!

Hello! I'm Jessie Long and I'm your librarian. My job is to help you find the information you need for your assignments in STC 231. The Gardner-Harvey Library website and the Rentschler Library website have a lot of wonderful resources for your research needs, and the ones listed in this guide are some great starting spots for your searches.

Please feel free to contact me using the methods listed under my picture on the right. You can also schedule a Research Consultation for a one on one appointment with me or any of our librarians.

The Art of Research

We all know the basics of research, but I thought the resources below could offer some quick insights to get you on track on working on your topics.

Here is a worksheet I've used at the beginning of a project to get my ideas down and start thinking about other directions to turn. Feel free to make a copy and type your own terms and ideas in.

Video - The Research Process (3:31)

Choosing a Topic (tutorial)

Background Research Tips (tutorial) -- as a follow-up, see our Reference/Background page for sources to use for background information (Wikipedia is great, but these might offer additional information, including useful statistics, that can help shape the direction you work toward.

Video - How to Narrow Your Topic (3:34)

If you have questions on narrowing your topic, or where to look next, please contact me using the options above and I'll be happy to make some suggestions.

Tools that can help

You will benefit from not only gathering great information, but also keeping it organized. In addition, it's handy to be able to share your notes and thoughts with others and work collaboratively on documents. I love using Evernote to take notes at meetings and conferences (I do it all the time), and then posting documents in Google Drive to share with my colleagues and students. Those are just two free resources. See the two links below for a host of other apps and tools that can help you:

Four apps that boost productivity, collaboration for online students

Apps for Academics

Let me know if there's an activity you need a tool to help you with, and I'll look around and check in with other experts at Miami and around the world.