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Fall 2024 INT 51: Build California with Prof. Sookiassian

This guide will support the Fall 2024 INT 51 Class with Prof. Edwin Sookiassian.

Background Information/Context

Understanding the Context

Background research provides us the outline for what we know and don't know about our industry. This will guide your plan for finding better solutions based on the cultural, social, and economic situation the company is currently in. Addiitionaly, company histories help us understand why certain communities are not active participants or common targets for recruitment and retention. To find innovate solutions to this issue, we need to know the context of this problem, or in other words:

  • What do we already know?

  • What do we need to know more about or understand better?

  • What are the concepts, events, people, places, etc. that are involved? Those can be your keywords!

  • How are these concepts related to one another and/or my issue?

 

Role for Sources How to Use Them Kinds of Sources That Can Have That Role 
Background Writers rely on these sources for general factual information. For instance, a writer could use background information to introduce a setting, situation, or problem in the research paper.

Usually secondary sources and tertiary sources but basically, just anything other than journal articles that report original research. Some examples: literature review articles, non-fiction books and biographies (secondary) and field guides and Wikipedia (tertiary).
Exhibits or Evidence Writers interpret and analyze sources like these in the same way they are used as exhibits and evidence in a museum or court. Usually primary sources. Some examples: newspaper articles from the time in question, works of literature or art, and research articles.
Argument Writers engage with these sources that they agree with or disagree with. The sources are usually written by scholars in their field. For instance, writers often include sources that describe earlier work that is specifically relevant to their own research question and their thesis (what they consider to be the answer to that question). Usually primary and secondary sources. Some examples of primary sources: research articles in the sciences and humanities and recordings of performances in the arts. Some examples of secondary sources: commentaries and criticisms, such as those that appear in literature reviews, textbooks, and blogs that comment on research.
Method or Theory Writers follow the key terms, concepts, or manner of working that are explained in these sources. That is, they pay attention to and use the relevant work of others before them to carry out their own work and then describe it in the research paper.

Often secondary sources. Some examples: literature reviews, textbooks, and blogs that comment on research.

(Table from Ohio State University Libraries’ Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research by Teaching & Learning)

Resources for Background Information

Use Wikipedia to:

  • Get references on a topic at the bottom of the article
  • Learn more general information about a topic including events, timelines, and important people
  • Explore how one topic is connected to another through links on the article

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