In late September 2017 a book I worked on will be published:
Luo, Lili, Kristine R. Brancolini, and Marie R. Kennedy. 2017 (In press). Enhancing Library and Information Research Skills: A Guidebook for Academic Librarians. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
I’m especially pleased with the writing I did in Chapter 6, on disseminating research findings. The acquisitions editor said the chapter was a goldmine, and yes, flattery will get you everywhere! Here’s a couple of paragraphs from the start of the chapter, in a section titled, Telling Your Story:
Once upon a time you had a great idea for a research project. You honed your idea until it had an actionable research question, then you selected an appropriate methodology, gathered and analyzed data, and arrived at some findings and possible future research. All of those steps make a story waiting to be told. This chapter is designed to help you decide to whom you want to tell your story and where you want to tell it.
You should think of disseminating research results as having a conversation. If you follow along the academic literature surrounding your research topic, you will notice that in the past, a certain author had something to say about your (or similar) topic. Advance a few years and then a new author references that initial author, adding to or challenging the initial idea. Broaden the scope of that idea and add in more time, and there are multiple authors in the literature who have thought about and commented on a topic similar to yours. Those new authors are responding to ideas of the past, modernizing them, and thinking about them more expansively, effectively creating an asynchronous conversation. Now that you have researched in that area, it is your turn to contribute to the conversation.
If you are looking for a handbook on how to get started with or advancing your skills in library research, consider picking up a copy. It’s full of practical advice and positive vibes.
