Week One-The information Search process

Last year in my professional communications in biology course, we were assigned to write a literature review on any topic related to science. Finding a topic was not too difficult, but understanding the topic was a challenge. The field of science I chose to research was nanotechnology and its applications to medicine.

As Kuhlthau describes in her article, I definitely experienced a “dip” in confidence during the exploration portion of my information seeking process. This happened when I began searching “nanotechnology” and “nanoparticles” into databases from WSUV and finding all sorts of studies examining the structures and uses of nanoparticles in specific illness treatments. Because the peer reviewed papers were so dense and filled with advanced scientific terms, I felt very confused and lost. The more studies I viewed the more uncertain I felt about my topic and the gap in my lack of understanding grew.

In terms of the principle of uncertainty, I felt I was in the redundancy corollary. I was bombarded with too much unique information and not enough redundancy in my early stages of research, which led to frustration and anxiety about my assignment.

The way I was able to move into the stage of formulation and beyond, was due to the zone of intervention. I needed advice and assistance, both from my instructor and from online resources. My instructor gave me contact information about a student in a previous year who had researched nanotechnology. I got in contact with him and he shared some useful links and videos with me that helped me grasp the fundamentals of the topic. I would not have been able to understand nanotechnology on my own had it not been from the aid I got from my fellow peers, my instructor, and websites like YouTube.

I thought this article was very interesting in that it incorporated and analyzed the emotional aspect in the research process. I have always had anxious feelings whenever assigned to write long papers because I would worry about not finding enough useful and easy-to-read sources. It makes me feel better that what I was experiencing was not an unusual thing. Many people feel frustration and uncertainty in the early research timeline. In the future, I will know not to stress out too much if I do not know which topic I want to research or if I do not understand my topic because there are plenty of resources available for me to help me progress and accomplish my task.