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Writing 10-96: College Reading and Composition (Spring 2025, Ocena)

Welcome & Session Outcomes

Welcome to the Writing 10 guide for Professor Ocena's Spring 2025 course!

We'll be having a Library Instruction Session on Thursday, April 3, 20205. Below are the learning outcomes for that visit. 

Students will be able to:

  • Recognize the need to connect to the campus VPN to access extensive Library subscription content (and its value/student privilege)
  • Differentiate between a popular or scholarly source of information
  • Derive keywords from a research question and combine them in a search using AND and OR
  • Compare searches before and after using keywords strategically

Session Outline

  1. Introductions & Discussion of the VPN / Access to subscription Library content
    • Overview of the course guide and navigating the Library website
    • Locate at least 2 different ways to get help
  2. Popular & Scholarly Sources
  3. Searching - natural language vs. Boolean-style
  4. Open Search Time
    • Reminder about second visit on Tuesday, April 8.

Research is a Process (Infographic)

Research is an iterative process. Instead of straightforward and linear, it is repetitive and cyclical. As you move through the steps to learn, you should modify and revise your strategies. Don't be afraid to return to an earlier step to reset your process!Research is a Process infographic; follow the long description link for a web accessible version

Long description of "Research is a Process" for web accessibility

Paywalls

Information Privilege & Paywalls

Due to your status as a UC Merced student, your access to information has just increased! You can now access e-books, articles, and databases that the UC Merced Library subscribes to and has purchased. In short, you have information privilege. 

For most individuals searching the web, resources like databases and scholarly journals are behind a paywall and are therefore unavailable with payment. If you have ever been asked to pay for an information source on the web, you have experienced a paywall.

While academic libraries, like the University of California Libraries, are actively working to make research open and freely available to anyone, we still purchase many information resources needed by our students and faculty. Our current information environment is one where many resources are costly and limited to those who pay for them.

Vending machine named the titles of the movie -- Paywall: The Business of Scholarship. Titles available for loan are the names of publishers including Elsevier, Wiley, SpringerNature, Taylor and Francis and Sage. Open Access is included. The credits for the movie are listed at the bottom of the machine.

Image from Wikimedia. Movie poster for Paywall: The Business of Scholarship, directed by Jason Schmitt

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