[nabs-l] research techniques and assistance

Mon Aug 25 17:49:44 UTC 2014

Hi  Mary,

Glad you think it’s a good topic. I have tried most of what you said. Great 
points on accessibility.
I have run into access issues with ebooks and databases. Its been my 
experience as well that
psychinfo and oxford  databases are accessible.

I've been in elective classes now.
But in undergrad, we never had class days at the library like you mentioned. 
I suppose it was just the classes I took.
I also have not found research workshops at the university, although I'll be 
on the lookout for that.

I have openbook not kurzweil, so can someone tell me how to run pdfs through 
that?
What do you get when purchasing the whole adobe pro suite? I thought most 
adobe products were not accessible, or that's what I heard.
So, what accessibility would I gain other than the ability to convert to 
text?

You said,

"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."
Yes, I agree. I have used right click keystroke which has saved me many 
times.

Toward that end, I have some questions. I use jaws, and always need some 
tricks for webpages.
My questions:
1. What is the command to  open menues with on mouse over links?
2. How do you set jaws not to keep saying heading level something? isn't 
there a way to use tones instead?
3. Can you label unlabeled graphics? I know you can do that with text links.
4. How do you set up jaws to describe colors?
5. I always have to arrow or page down past links and clutter in absense of 
a skip navigation link.
I try h for heading to get to the main text or insert enter. Sometimes that 
does not work.
Any tips on that? what keys to press to get to the text?

Thanks.
You've used google scholar? for which subjects? I did not think that was 
very accessible last I tried.

I feel I refined my research skills over the years, but it still can be 
frustrating. I've used various key words.
The librarian suggested trying the thesaurus in some of the epsco databases 
for new keywords.
She was quite helpful, but I feel like we just got started when she had to 
go. she can only spend so much time on a one to one appointment. She was 
generous though, and we probably spent a little less than an hour together.
I've also used the reference desk and asked those librarians who have been 
pretty helpful, although they cannot be as specific as working privately 
with someone.

What I have done first is searched the database and then email myself the 
articles I feel may be of help. I usually read abstracts to see if its 
somewhat relevant. Often, I try hard to schedule research time at the 
library, even without one to one help. This way, I can use the reference 
staff for assistance  since they tell me which databases are relevant to my 
topic to get me started. While they cannot be readers, they have searched 
the catalog for me, which is twenty times faster than me doing it, and gone 
with me to the shelves to pull relevant books and magazines.

Second, Then later, I spend more time looking at articles with jaws, if 
possible. I toss out probably half of them since after reading a few pages 
and seeing their method or where it took place, I realize its not relevant. 
Sometimes the study was done in other countries, other times the study seems 
like such a small sample that its not a good article. Other times, the 
article is just not in a direction I thought it was going to be.
Sometimes, I have to do this with a reader due to accessibility problems.
I suppose this is common. I wondered if it was just me. I try hard and use 
relevant key words.
Do you all read the introduction or method section to determine if its 
relevant? I'm always wondering if there's some way to tell more quickly as 
to not waste time, particularly if I'm reading with someone. I can only pay 
so much, and their voices can only last so long.
In a research paper assignment, I've scheduled multiple readers to help me 
so I can get several hours in; maybe 3 or four  hours.

My third step is reading relevant articles or material and taking notes for 
the paper. Then I go from there.

Justin, I agree with knowing some about the topic. I try to use google if 
possible to get me started.
Like you, I set aside days just for research. I have no intent to write the 
paper then, but just get  a sense of what is out there and what sources to 
look into. Sometimes, magazines and newspapers are best; other times for a 
scholarly paper, databases are good and you limit to peer reviewed texts.
Sometimes, I get ten articles, and maybe only five are relevant once I begin 
reading.
Then I spend more days doing more in depth research which is a combo of 
reading articles and thinking over if it is something I can use as well as 
finding more sources.
Librarians told me to pay attention to names of journals and magazines as 
well as authors. If there is a common
journal that keeps coming up that is useful or common author, they said to 
look up that specific journal, and then search for specific authors or 
volumes of journals if possible.
Justin, you said you save your citations in a separate file. I have started 
doing this too so I can see what citations I've gotten and that helps me 
look for patterns such as common journals.
Do you organize your citations in a particular way? For instance, putting 
common authors together? I was wondering because with so many possible 
sources, like over ten, I find it confusing to see so many citations.
Obviously, in a reference list, I organize them in the right way.
But, I wonder about pleminary organization.

Thanks for any more tips. I don't think your original email went to the list 
do to this new set up. sometimes, I have to write nabs in the to line since 
it goes to the sender with control r by default.

Ashley
-----Original Message----- 
From: Mary Fernandez via nabs-l
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 9:43 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

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