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?
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 Within a few minutes, I received an email informing me that the book I had requested would not be published until January 2015…
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…
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.
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
thank you for sharing