Adobe Connect Lessons Learned

Some professors use Adobe Connect to create a live class session.  These experiences are great as they provide a virtual classroom environment where we can all verbally ask questions, see the reaction of our professor and fellow class mates, and the professor can talk through power points, or 'board work.'  After twenty minutes of setting up the class, I learned three key lessons:
 When I wasn't talking I was sure to mute my mic, otherwise, the mic will pick up me sneezing, shifting in my seat, and other ambient noise.

I had to use headphones otherwise the computer's mic would pick up the classroom conversation and create a wicked echo.

Sometimes I inadvertently muted the speaker, which prevented me from hearing the class.  After that I simply scanned the speaker icon (upper left hand corner) whenever I stopped hearing the conversation.

Citations: APSA Style

A lot of the professors hand out the APSA Style Manual for Political Students.  I don't find it to be terribly helpful for anything beyond the most basic of citations.  The APSA is based off of the Chicago Manual Style, which can be found here:

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/contents.html

The above link provides an easy to use, search-able, on-line manual of the Chicago style.

 Below is an abbreviated document from Texas A&M that nicely summarizes the format.  I did not find anything of use in the fifteen seconds I scanned the APSA website listed at the bottom of this document.

News Assets

Don't forget that UNO pays for us to have a NY Times Pass; all that is required is your UNO email address:
http://www.nytimes.com/passes/

Reading Current Periodicals

Sometimes Prof's will ask us to report on an issue covered in a current periodical.  While you can use the date range in the database search engine to limit it to this month, it is still a cumbersome method.

Instead, I look at the list on the periodicals web page, which is found on the UNO main library web page under the title "All Journals A-Z."  The periodicals web page allows you to browse the collection alphabetically by title, which may take a while, or allows you to enter a partial or complete title at the search prompt.  When I entered "political science" and selected "match all words" I found a link to current issues of American Political Science Review, hosted at Cambridge Journals Online: http://leo.lib.unomaha.edu/login?url=http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_PSR.  The design of the link allows the Cambridge web site to validate your access through the UNO Library.

The search may yield a number of locations that host the periodical you are looking for, so you will need to look at the date range listed below the hyperlink to make sure it covers your period of interest.

Don't Forget The Writing Center

As a distance education education students we can use the Writing Center even tho we are not physically on campus. During the Fall and Spring semesters, you start by emailing the Writing Center with your paper attached, be sure to identify that you are a distance education student. Your paper will be assigned to one of the writing consultants who will make comments and return it to you. There's usually about a 48 hour turn around; however, during the busiest times late in the semester, you might have to wait a little longer. You can also just call the center at 402-554-2946 and make arrangements with their office assistant.  They typically do not provide these services during the summer.

For more information, stop by the UNO Writing Center website!

Parking On Campus

Since we hardly go to campus, if we ever do get the chance, we certainly don't pick up all the tricks the regular students get the first week.

There is free parking available during fall and spring semesters at the Crossroads Mall Parking Garage.  It is on the west side of 72nd, just north of Dodge.  The bus to campus leaves from the Southeast corner (you should see the buses waiting when you drive into the garage from the south side).

Three metered lots: East of the library, North of the Milo Bail Student Center and North of the Eppley Administration Building.

After 12:30pm, the surface level of the East Garage turns into a pay lot for $2.

You can also call Parking Services 402-554-7275 and request a visitor parking pass by mail.  I have not used this option, and I don't know if they will check to see if you are a student, but they probably do.

Night permits are good for parking in lots after 2:30pm.

Visit the UNO Parking Website.

Literary Review

Some of the professors have told me to complete a literary review.  I didn't know what that was.  Apparently that's what you do as a starting point for your Masters Thesis.  Two references were great at helping me figure this out

The first is right to the point, University of California at Santa Cruz:


1. Introduction
Not to be confused with a book review, a literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

2. Components Similar to primary research, development of the literature review requires four stages:

• Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues?
• Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored
• Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic
• Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature

Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review
• Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely)
• Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research

In assessing each piece, consideration should be given to:

• Provenance—What are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)?
• Objectivity—Is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?
• Persuasiveness—Which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?
• Value—Are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

3. Definition and Use/Purpose A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration
• Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort
• Point the way forward for further research
• Place one's original work (in the case of theses or dissertations) in the context of existing literature

The literature review itself, however, does not present new primary scholarship.

The second is UNC Chapel Hill:

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/

And don't forget to visit the UNO Writing Center.

Researching

Fellow Students,
I had a little realization about all of the resources we have at our fingertips that are just a little less obvious since we are on-line rather than on-campus.

The first, and best, resource we have is the UNO Criss Library:  https://library.unomaha.edu/

The easiest resource to use is the search box that you'll find in the upper right quadrant (circled in red) of the page labeled "Find items at UNO Criss Library".  You can use to search the on-line databases, and e-books in addition to the on campus resources that are available for Inter-Library Loan.
A more selective search can be found by using the advanced search features on the particular database webpages, their links are located in the bottom left quadrant (circled in blue) on the link labeled "Top Databases for Finding Articles".  For domestic or world issues, I prefer the scholarly journals offered on JSTOR, and I find its advanced search more user friendly than the others.  For foreign issues, I find Wiley to be most effective at finding content.  You can specify the time ranges, select fields of journals or specify the exact journal, and even if it doesn't have the journal (some of those more miniscule topics) it will give you the citation so you can use one of the other on-line databases on the Criss Library website to find what you need.  I have yet to run out of journals or resources.

These sources will also quickly provide the you with citation for the bibliography for your papers.  "My Library Account" for the books that you check out of the Criss Library, and the various journal search engines have citation creation options when downloading the documents.

In the bottom middle of the page (and to the right of the big blue circle) you'll find a "Distance Education" link which provides you with some great additional resources aimed at us.

The second resource we have is local universities and colleges.  Virtually all are open to the public, and many are willing to give you a 'local resident' card which allows you to check out some of the resources available at their library.

The third best resource is the community library.

Combining those last two is Inter-Library Loan, which I have used to pull books from around the country.  As an on-line student we have priority for ILL requests submitted to UNO, so if you persue this option, be sure to mention your status.  This process is slow, but it beats buying the book (sometimes Amazon Prime overnight and Kindle are expensive life savers).

If you have time there are a lot of resources on the Criss Library website to help us better understand all of the resources available, I've just covered a few.  If you have found other great resources, or have a quick tip that will save someone time, please speak up by clicking on the word "comments" at the bottom of this post.

Chris