A Tale of Two Print Sources

It was a dark, chilly Monday night when I first began my research. I was in my Monday night lecture when I had the brilliant idea to go to Main Street to purchase a copy of Vanity Fair to use as a print source for my research paper. I was so excited to go search for the magazine that I could hardly contain it. However, I quickly learned that finding sources for my research paper was going to be much more difficult than I had initially expected…

After my class let out at 9 pm, I went to check both 7-11 and Walgreens for the magazine. Now I ask you, do you think I had any luck finding Vanity Fair in either of these stores?

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You guessed it! No magazine on Main Street. But don’t worry folks, I drove to a local grocery store and found myself a copy the very next day. Problem solved!

My research horror story continued as I prepared to find more sources for the Annotated Bibliography. I already had a few strong online sources, but I was in desperate need of another print source. I decided to attempt to request to have a book about Freedom of the Press sent to Morris Library for me from the Library of Congress (impressive, I know). This would be the perfect source to quote with background information on the First Amendment! Within a few minutes, I received an email informing me that the book I had requested would not be published until January 2015…

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By this point, I had more or less assured myself that this project was doomed and I would never find another valuable print source. To be honest, I had given up my search until this past weekend. I bravely returned back to the library’s website to search for another book. True to form, I found a book that had already been checked out. I crossed my fingers and once again requested to have a book shipped to me.

The request took a few days to process, but to my surprise, as of Wednesday November 5, 2014 at 1:44 pm, I finally have a book waiting for me at the library!

Through this research process, I learned that you should definitely give up when the going gets tough…

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Just kidding! The true moral of my overdramatized story is that you guys shouldn’t give up when your search for sources begins to stress you out. I learned that given the right amount of time and patience, you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

 

2 Responses

  1. Emily at |

    Hey Marisa, I can’t believe how many issues you’ve had with getting sources! I definitely would have just given up and hoped for the best if I’d been in this position. I think it’s great that you kept going back to the library and looking for the magazine, it shows how dedicated you are to this project. I love the memes you used, especially the Dwight one! Good luck on your paper!

    Emily

    Reply
  2. RISMA ANDIANI at |

    thank you for sharing

    Reply

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