English 102 :: Library Research Worksheet

 

Course homepage: http://www.georgehwilliams.net/102

 

Bring the notes you create in response to this worksheet to your one-on-one conference with Dr. Williams.

 

By now, you should have three rough ideas for your final project. As the syllabus explains:

 

You will make one of two choices about a final project:

1.         One option is to choose a local community service organization with whom to volunteer your time, following up your service with a reflective, autobiographical essay that incorporates relevant research and makes a proposal to fellow students about such service.

2.         Or you will conduct extensive research about a local community service organization and write a paper that proposes how future sections of English 101 and/or English 102 involve themselves with that organization.

 

Today, you’ll conduct preliminary research about each of your possible organizations. Point your web browser to http://www.uscupstate.edu/library and select databases from the alphabetical list:

 

1. Search these news databases for information on your organization or organizations like it:
1. Custom Newspapers
2. Lexis-Nexis Academic
3. New York Times
2. Search Google to find an official website for the organization. What does the official website say about the organization’s
1. Mission?
2. History?
3. Funding?
4. Volunteers?
5. Board of directors?
3. Find the organization at http://www.CharityNavigator.org and see how it’s evaluated.
1. Is there an entry for the local organization? What does the entry say for the local?
2. If the local is part of a national organization, what does the entry say for the national?
4. From the home page for the library, click on “all resources by title” (right under the alphabet)
1. Which databases are most likely to contain information relevant to each organization? (For instance, if you’re looking into volunteering at a hospice center, then a database devoted to health, medicine, or nursing would be most relevant.)