AFR 299: Caribbean Cultural Expressions & the Diaspora: Home

2021 submissions are open!

These awards were created to reward students who take the time to develop a thoughtful, methodical, and scholarly approach to the research needed for their papers and projects, as well as to encourage students to develop good research techniques.

Find out more at the Student Library Research Awards site

I hope this guide will provide some useful starting places for your research. I'm available and happy to consult with you about any part of the research process, from finding and evaluating sources to understanding how to cite them. You can email me (kstorz@wellesley.edu), make a Zoom appointment on my calendar (bit.ly/storzappt), or contact me via chat (under my profile on this page) — whatever works for you! If I'm not currently on chat, you can also use the main library chat to reach a librarian. 

Karen​ Storz, Research & Instruction Librarian

Here are some criteria to keep in mind when choosing and using both print and online sources:

• Accuracy - What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced? Does the author cite their sources and are the sources legitimate?
• Authority - Who wrote the source? Is the author credible? What are the author's credentials (educational background, past writing, experience) in this area? Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Who published the source? Is the publisher scholarly (university press, scholarly associations)? Commercial? Government agency? Is the source self-published (“vanity”press)? For online information, check the domain of the document — what institution publishes this document?
• Objectivity - Does the author have a bias, political or commercial or persuasive?
• Currency - Is this information new or based on outdated sources? Can you tell how current it is? How up-to-date are the links (if any)?
• Audience - Who is the information written for: a specific readership, level of expertise, or age/grade level? Is the audience focus appropriate for a research paper?