[nabs-l] Fwd: research techniques and assistance

Derek Manners dmanners at jd16.law.harvard.edu
Mon Aug 25 15:11:06 UTC 2014 

I can't speak to the accessibility options but just generally, your research librarians are bored and would love to help you out. I rely on mine all the time. Also, I also tend to read a lot of articles that don't pan out so I also think this is pretty common. 

I'd also agree with the comment about needing to know something about the topic. My approach is to google/Wikipedia the topic or topics first. Then check my textbook if the topic is in there. Then I do a little searching. But if I get stuck, I turn to the research librarian pretty quickly to get moving. 

Best
Derek

PS
I use zoom text so that is why I can't speak to the accessibility options. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 25, 2014, at 10:00 AM, justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Oops, How did that not go to the list?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mary Fernandez
> via nabs-l
> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 9:56 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: [nabs-l] Fwd: research techniques and assistance
> 
> I think Justin meant to send this to the whole list
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 09:53:05 -0400
> Subject: RE: [nabs-l] research techniques and assistance
> To: Mary Fernandez <trillian551 at gmail.com>
> 
> I take each paper as a separate entity as far as accessibility is concerned.
> I take a day of two and just do the research.  In other words, I have no
> intent to write the paper, but to simply get the articles I want and figure
> out my base for the paper.  Folks, I spend 6 to 8 hours, but I get 6 to 7
> articles and sometimes more, though I have found any more than about 9 or 10
> more cumbersome  then helpful.  I work  out all the accessibility issues
> before I do anything with writing the paper.  Don't forget your nls books,
> or books on the blio.  Sometimes the articles are pdfs, and other times they
> are web based; I try to stick to web based, but that is not always possible.
> Pdfs can be made accessible in a variety of ways, but sometimes, none of
> those ways are adequate; the article can still become unusable.  I have
> found google scholar inaccessible for obtaining the articles, If someone has
> a tip for this, please share.  I write down my citations for each articles
> and save them in a separate file.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mary Fernandez [mailto:trillian551 at gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 9:44 AM
> To: justin williams; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] research techniques and assistance
> 
> All,
> I think this is a fabulous topic! First, research skills are ones which are
> not necessarily intuitive, and which all successful college students learn
> to refine and perfect throughout their college career.
> Unfortunately, there are numerous accessibility barriers with databases and
> eBooks, which others have access too readily. Part of the answer, and
> Ashley, you are on the right track, is to learn how to most effectively use
> databases, and search tools like Google Scholar.
> Most universities have workshops that students can attend, and which focus
> specifically on research, many times even by topic. Through my senior year
> in college, it wasn't strange for a class, which had a major research paper
> do at the end of the semester, to have a class scheduled at the library, and
> have a reference librarian show us the tips and tricks. The other half of
> the equation, is to be creative with using your assistive software, a lot of
> times websites are inaccessible enough to be a nightmare, but sometimes
> there is a hidden work around, like using the different cursor modes in
> Jaws, right clicking instead of pressing enter, etc. This makes things more
> time consuming than they ought to be, but unfortunately, until we can get
> this trend of technology being developed inaccessibly reversed, we must live
> with that reality.
> As far as articles, that's part of research. You do your best to narrow down
> the material you get back by using good search terminology, by categorizing,
> by reading the abstract, but at one point you have to just read the
> articles. No one article is going to give you all the information your need,
> that's why you use so many citations at the end of the day, because one part
> of one paper may be of relevance, but the other twenty pages aren't. Good
> research takes time, and the better you get at it, the better you become at
> using that time more efficiently.
> As far as PDFs, I've been suggesting to students to ask for Adobe Pro from
> VR or to purchase it if possible. If you take the time to learn some
> accessibility remediation techniques with Adobe, many tutorials are
> available online, you can tag your own pdfs and fix reading order and
> navigation. It won't be perfect, but at least it'll make them legible.
> Kurzweil 1000 is also incredibly useful. If it's 2 AM and the paper is due
> in six hours, not that I've ever been there, you can save pdfs to your pc,
> run them through Kurzweil and that way the articles become legible if not
> perfect.
> Last, not all databases are created equal. Depending on your subject, you
> may want to filter through subjects when choosing databases, for the
> humanities I  found EPSCO databases to be really accessible, Jstor,
> PsychInfo, the Oxford databases, and quite a few others were very good. And
> some won't be. There are so many tips and tricks to conducting research, so
> I strongly suggest seeing if a college does those research workshops, and
> just taking the time to figure out what works for you and what doesn't.
> Unfortunately, there isn't a universal answer when it comes to
> accessibility. We must advocate for manufacturers and universities to become
> responsible for only procuring and implementing accessible learning tools,
> but that's a battle that has to be fought outside the research library!
> Thanks.
> Mary
> 
> 
>> On 8/25/14, justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> It just depends on what I am looking for; I take pieces parts of 
>> several articles, and just put them together into a research paper.
>> It helps to no something about your topic.  If you have no knowledge 
>> about a topic, get a book from nls to start you off, then fine your
> articles.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sofia 
>> Gallo via nabs-l
>> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 7:33 AM
>> To: Helga Schreiber; National Association of Blind Students mailing 
>> list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] research techniques and assistance
>> 
>> I also have to read a lot of the article to see if it's relevant but I 
>> thought this was true for everyone?
>> 
>> Sofia
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Aug 25, 2014, at 4:10 AM, Helga Schreiber via nabs-l 
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all! I have the same questions as Ashley. For me, research is not 
>>> so easy as well!! Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks  so much and God 
>>> bless!!  :-)
>>> 
>>> Helga Schreiber
>>> 
>>> Fundraiser Coordinator for Phi Theta Kappa, Alpha Delta Iota chapter.
>>> Member of National Federation of the Blind and Florida Association of 
>>> Blind Students.
>>> Member of the International Networkers Team (INT).
>>> Independent Entrepreneur of the Company 4Life Research.
>>> Phone:  (561) 706-5950
>>> Email: helga.schreiber26 at gmail.com
>>> Skype: helga.schreiber26
>>> 4Life Website: http://helgaschreiber.my4life.com/1/default.aspx
>>> INT Website: http://int4life.com/
>>> 
>>> "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that 
>>> whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John
>>> 3:16 Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Aug 25, 2014, at 3:17 AM, Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l 
>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi all,
>>>> 
>>>> Its been my experience that research is very challenging. Have you 
>>>> run into these issues?
>>>> 
>>>> Not all databases are fully accessible, although that has been 
>>>> better in the past couple years.
>>>> For instance, academic search complete and other Search complete 
>>>> databases do not let you change the combo box from the default and 
>>>> to read "or". This means it would look for search terms A and B or 
>>>> search term C.
>>>> 
>>>> Other challenges I've had are evaluating if the article is relevant.
>>>> I do read abstracts first and think through it. It seems like I read 
>>>> most of an article only to realize its not relevant.
>>>> Also, some articlesare pdfs with words smashed together; I end up 
>>>> asking a reader to read them.
>>>> 
>>>> What assistance have you had with research? All school libraries 
>>>> have reference librarians at a certain desk. Do you just ask them 
>>>> where to look? Have you needed or wanted more help learning the 
>>>> databases and electronic references? Has the librarians worked  1 on
>>>> 1 with you? At the community college and my university, Marymount, 
>>>> they did assist me a little privately to get me started. They gave 
>>>> me specific instructions on what to click on and which boxes to 
>>>> check to get what I needed. I needed to limit to full text, for 
>>>> instance; also if I needed recent articles, I was taught how to 
>>>> write in
> the date range.
>>>> 
>>>> These references seem inaccessible. Was that your experience?
>>>> 
>>>> a.. Encyclopedia Britanica
>>>> b.. Credo reference
>>>> c.. Gale biography in context
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Also, books are not accessible and libraries have lots of them.
>>>> How do you direct readers to find what you need? I've tried asking 
>>>> for headings and table of contents. This does not always work. Is 
>>>> skimming relevant chapters the best thing?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks.
>>>> Ashley
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> 
> 
> --
> Mary Fernandez
> "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what
> you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
> --
> Maya Angelou
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Mary Fernandez
> "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what
> you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
> --
> Maya Angelou
> 
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