[nabs-l] research methods

[Corbb O'Connor]

This will be brief because I am running to class in a moment. If you
use Kurzweil, I open the articles in Adobe Reader, then print to "KESI
Virtual Printer"--installed when you install K1000. The page numbers
then appear at the top or bottom of the Kurzweil pages, as those are
printed on each page of the journal. There's an option in K1000 to
"review" or "skim" or something like that -- basically it reads the
first sentence of each paragraph. I read the first few paragraphs of
the article, the last few paragraphs of the article, and the first
sentence of each paragraph. That usually tells me whether the article
will be helpful -- if so, then I find parts that seemed of use and
read those.

I use a magnification program, not JAWS, so I am not sure about
database accessbility.

I am trying a new strategy for notes -- a new Word document for each
source, and then later blend those together into an outline of quotes,
paraphrases, etc. Then it's writing time!

Good luck.
Corbb

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 2:09 AM, Serena <serenacucco at verizon.net> wrote:
> I used the library data bases.  Proquest Direct and Ebscohost are pretty
> accessible.  If the articles were relatively short, I read them all the way
> through with Jaws, but if they were really long, I used readers.  The
> librarians often helped me find books.  That often helped, so I wouldn't
> have to use readers for that.
>
> Serena
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ashley Bramlett"
> <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 9:14 PM
> Subject: [nabs-l] research methods
>
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I wanted some more ideas on this.  Then I'll have a sheet with ideas for
>> myself and others wo ask me.  I am about to begin a big research paper for
>> my senior class.  All seniors do this to demonstrate critical thinking,
>> organization and writing skills.  Research has been quite challenging.  I
>> use readers a lot but its hard to communicate what I am looking for.  Much
>> research is at the library and books and some other matterial is not
>> accessible.  So my questions.
>>
>> Do you use your school's databases?  What ones are jaws friendly?  Its
>> been my experience that databases are not very accessible.  There are lots
>> of boxes and info before jaws reads the titles of articles.  In an article
>> I'm sure you read the abstract first to determine relevance.  I do as wel.
>>
>> How do you skim the article for relevant info?  Or perhaps you read it
>> all?  Scholarly articles are big, about twenty pages long on average from my
>> experience. With jaws or a reader, skipping info is hard since I don't know
>> what I'm looking for exactly.
>> How do you cite pages?  Does someone read you the page numbers as well?
>> This has been problematic for me.  I write notes but don't know later what
>> page it was on and cannot skim the article for that info.
>>
>> Have you used the librarians for help?  If so, what role did they play?
>> Did you ask them to search for you and they read you the titles of
>> articles/books?  I have used them and they pointed me to the right databases
>> and card catalog for books but also served as a reader sort of as we
>> gathered info.
>>
>> I find research frustrating when you think something sounds great and read
>> it but then its not so good.  I think this happens to all students, but
>> since it takes longer for us its more frustrating.
>>
>> Any ideas are appreciated.
>>
>> Ashley
>>
>>
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