[nabs-l] Fwd: research techniques and assistance
Karl Martin Adam
kmaent1 at gmail.com
Tue Aug 26 01:04:49 UTC 2014
Yes publisher files often have issues like that as much from the
OCR software we need to use them as anything else. I couldn't
live without word search though not to mention being able to stop
on a word I don't know and find out how it's spelled.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "Kirt Manwaring" <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com>,"National
Association of Blind Students mailing list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 15:42:58 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: research techniques and assistance
Kirt and all,
Well, I have found numerous accessibility issues with files from
publishers.
Its in pdf. I have my accessibility settings set.
Still, issues.
Dss will get publisher files for me. How do you use coursesmart?
If you
have to be online all the time, not a good idea for me as
sometimes my wifi
at home is spotty.
The issues with pdfs are the words are smashed together, jaws
says grapic in
the middle of text, and some words are broken up.
I've always prefered human readers because although they make
mistakes on
occasion, they are not monotone and I can get the material with
out the
struggle of understanding a broken worded file.
I could not live without learning ally. but with this, I have to
plan in
advance to have people look up the index
for me for certain topics. Then with the pages, I can go to those
pages on
my daisy recording easily with the go to page function.
Glad electronic text seems to work for you.
Ashley
-----Original Message-----
From: Kirt Manwaring via nabs-l
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 3:12 PM
To: Cindy Bennett ; National Association of Blind Students
mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: research techniques and assistance
Ashley,
I've been gradually moving away from audio text books and towards
electronic text as my preferred format. I love coursesmart.com
because
it's accessible (mostly), easily navigable and those problems
about
using the index in audio books are conveniently absent. Of
course,
previous generations of blind college students often had to wade
through indexes on 8-track audio casettes without the handy
navigation
features we have in BARD or learning ally books these days, so I
suppose it's all relative anyhow.
Best,
Kirt
On 8/25/14, Cindy Bennett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
Hi,
I think that a lot of great suggestions have been given thus
far.
I remember going through a time where the whole idea of research
and
finding references from reputable sources was incredibly aloof
to me.
Even still, one of the things I do when pondering research ideas
is to
talk to other people, especially those specializing in your
topic. If
there is a professor with a specialty in your topic, go to their
office hours even if they aren't your professor. Maybe there is
a grad
student who can help you. Several departments feature the
department's
labs or concentrations and some even list the students in each.
One thing that hasn't been brought up yet is taking advantage of
your
professor's office hours. I have often found this to be helpful.
Often, they will talk about my ideas with me. What do I want to
write
the paper about. If the assignment includes an experiment that I
have
to run, how do I learn about a topic that I want to expound upon
in my
own research? Often, they will start searches with you and may
even
send you links to papers they find helpful.
I do believe that reading an abstract should give you a pretty
good
idea of whether reading the paper is a good use of your time.
This
does take a bit of practice. I think that if you are unable to
understand an abstract, try to Wikipedia some of the terms
surrounding
your topic. Then, if you can't understand abstracts, they
probably
aren't relevant to your topic or worth your time.
I actually really like Google scholar, and many of the articles
brought up are located in databases that my school subscribes
to. I
found it accessible just as Google searches are accessible.
I have not tried out this service, but have heard of Mendeley
which is
a free paper and reference management system. If you use Chrome,
you
can sed papers right to Mendeley if you search them on Scholar.
I recommend that if you are doong research for your field to
start
your own folders of helpful papers on your computer.
I also recommend looking at other papers' references. You can
even
look at the references on Wikipedia. If you find one helpful
paper,
chances are that references to other helpful resources are right
there
in the article. Further, if you are researching a topic that is
covered somewhere in your textbook, looking at the references in
the
chapter can be good, especially if they are referencing a study
they
are using as an example.
Cindy
On 8/25/14, Karl Martin Adam via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
That index problem is one of the many reasons I always use
publisher files or scanned books not audio. Another place you
could go, at least in the humanities where a lot of scholarly
work is published in books not journal articles, is bookshare.
They actually have a very good selection of academic books these
days often including edited collections of relevant articles.
If
your looking at websites, what you really want are pages with
.edu domains--they typically are written by professors
specializing in the area of the content. Also for statistical
information there are many (usually relatively accessible)
government websites--.gov domains.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "Derek Manners" <dmanners at jd16.law.harvard.edu>,"National
Association of Blind Students mailing list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:54:50 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: research techniques and assistance
Derek,
I use my textbook too for general info and an overview of
something. I
usually need a reader for that though because I need to look up
that in the
index and cannot do so with a audio version of the text.
Most of the time though its not in the text or it's a paragraph
so its not
helpful.
Do you use the internet for sources or just to get started? My
concern with
internet is sites are not always authentic
but I've found some with .org domains to be okay at least to get
started.
Thanks for the advice.
Ashley
-----Original Message-----
From: Derek Manners via nabs-l
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 11:11 AM
To: justin williams ; National Association of Blind Students
mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fwd: research techniques and assistance
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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Federation of the Blind of Washington
Affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind
clb5590 at gmail.com
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