What I've Learned In Class So Far

To read and write theses, a solid foundation must be formed. Luckily, for RIT students in the Museum Studies program, the Research Methods class does just that. While we finalize our thesis ideas, read papers for research and learning how to navigate databases, the first weeks of class consisted of how to read and dissect scholarly articles into important parts to know when building a thesis. These parts include Research Questions, Research Methodologies, Evidence presented, Conclusions,

Structures and Citations. These categories are important to reading and analyzing research papers becasue it perfectly sums up the core information presented in the article. Later when writing my own thesis, I can use these to look back on and use as evidence. 

Aside from the research presented in each of the articles, they also exhibit ways in which we can research and write our own. For example, the article “Preserving the Voices of Revolution: Examining the Creation and Preservation of a Subject-Centered Collection of Tweets from the Eighteen Days in Egypt” details step by step how to preserve born digital media which would be a good source for my thesis that is based upon digitization. Detailing how to digitize manuscripts or 3D objects could be one focus of my thesis. On another note, a thesis can be written about public history, such as Kelly's thesis, and could use the article "I Know I’m Home When I Have One:’ The Cultural Significance of the Garbage Plate of Rochester, NY" as a framework. Surveying the community about the panel can be one focus of her thesis. For now, I will continue my research with the help of zotero which was another helpful research tool I learned through this class. 

Bibliography: 

Timothy Arnold and Walker Sampson, “Preserving the Voices of Revolution: Examining the Creation and Preservation of a Subject-Centered Collection of Tweets from the Eighteen Days in Egypt,” The American Archivist, Vol. 77, No. 2, pp. 510-533 (Fall/Winter 2014).

Emily Fekete, “‘I Know I’m Home When I Have One:’ The Cultural Significance of the Garbage Plate of Rochester, NY,” Material Culture, Vol 46, No. 1, pp. 25-43 (2014).