What is Scholarship?

What is Scholarship?

Scholarship is all about a profound discontent, about a quest to discover more, about a

burning desire to solve society’s problems and make a better world.  - William Badke

Here is an image of a

conversation. Imagine several

scholars in a room:

This is very important:

• Scholars do not work in isolation but in a community of other scholars.
• One scholar publishes research, and other scholars discuss it, evaluate it, even criticize it.
• This generates a history of discussions (in print and in person) which amount to a conversation.

Scholarly conversation is important because:

• It helps improve quality (findings are retested, views are challenged, evidence is checked)
• It leads to advances in solving research problems
• It gives strength to disciplines by solidifyng their knowledge bases as reliable

Let's see how the value of information

can influence us:

Commercial value: You may not be able to

afford to have it.

Many academic publishers price their resources

so highly that only large institutions get them.

The open access movement is trying to

provide some resources for free.

When we speak of commercial value we have to pay attention to intellectual property and copyright:

If someone publishes original information, it belongs to the author to sell or give away. Using it in plagiarism without acknowledgement, or using restricted content without paying, is intellectual theft.

An author has the right to control the distribution of his or her information (copyright).

Fifth Principle:

Scholarship as Conversation

As a means of education, influence or advancement, information has great value:

• Libraries
• Textbooks
• The Internet
• Position papers
• Scientific studies

There are several ways we can assess

the value of information. Dimensions of value include:

• As a commodity to buy or sell
• As a means of education
• As a means of influencing people
• As a means to bring progress

For scholars, every subject discipline

has a significant knowledge base:

• The knowledge base grows slowly through research. It builds upon earlier work.
• Scholars protect their knowledge base against poor research and untested ideas.

Scholars converse through:

• Publications - books and journal articles that refer to earlier studies and interact with them
• Conferences where scholars in a discipline discuss and debate issues
• Academic or professional social media

Third principle:

Information has value

Research is more than summarizing facts.

Some guidelines:

• Start with a question or a thesis (a thesis is an initial answer to a question).
• If you can answer the question by looking something up, it is not research.
• Genuine research is problem-solving. It seeks an answer beyond the existing facts

Here is a model for genuine research:

No "research" project has value if it simply discovers what is already known.

Research at its heart is a quest, an inquiry, a problem-solving task.

Some examples:

• What is the most effective way to combat climate change - regulation or carbon taxes?
• Is global free trade actually of economic benefit for the poorest producers of goods?
• To what extent is the movie, The DaVinci Code, an acurate depiction of history?

Fourth Principle:

Research as Inquiry

Every piece of information has its own history of development.

It didn't suddenly appear like magic.

The process of creation tells us

a lot about the quality and nature of the information itself.

Second Principle:

Information creation as a process.

All such questions demand a lot of analysis on your part to answer.

Searching for information requires planning and strategy at every stage.

Ask yourself:

• Did this piece of information come out of solid research, or is it just opinion?
• What were the processes of quality control - peer review, evaluation by an editor, self published/posted with no external evaluator present?

Some beginning researchers make serious errors regarding how to think about information searching:

• They search for a topic rather than seeking results that will deal with their question.
• They assume that, once they've searched, they have to live with the results.

There are two contexts:

The author:

What is her/his setting: e.g. an academic discipline, an official position, a role as an eyewitness?

The receiver:

Do I believe this? Would I rely on this? Is it relevant to my information need? Why or why not?

The information receiver must construct authority

as well:

Authority describes the degree to which we find a piece of information reliable, believable, trustworthy.

Information comes out of a context and receiver of information lives in a context.

Authority is constructed because we, as users, have to give information its authority by evaluating it for quality and relevance.

Six concepts for successful scholarship:

1. Authority is constructed and contextual

- What information do I trust, and why?

2. Information Creation as a Process

- How it was created tells a lot about its value.

3. Information has value

- Financially and in its benefit for humanity

4. Research as Inquiry

- Not compiling what is known but finding what is not known

5. Scholarship as conversation

- Many voices shape our findings

6. Searching as strategic exploration

- Plan and strategize at every stage

Even if the author is an expert:

• Is the author biased or showing improper motives?
• Was the information created with the appropriate research?
• Is this information relevant to my information need?

Today's academic databases offer

a much better experience:

• Focus on searching for resources that meet the needs of your research question
• Figure out the advanced features of databases and use them, e.g.:

Sometimes the choice of where to publish is

an important part of the creation process:

• Does a journal article have more importance than a website?
• Does an ugly website imply that the content is bad?
• Does the format tell you anything about the audience for the information - journal article, magazine, website?

The decisions we make about authority are important.

If we reject the authority of a piece of information, we need sound reasons, not just our own opinions.

First Principle:

Authority is Constructed and Contextual

Principle Six:

Searching as Strategic Exploration

Authority is in the eye of the receiver.

If you do not accept a piece of information as reliable or necessary

for your information need, it loses its authority.

Searching for information is rarely a one-step process.

You need to use advanced search engine features to narrow and refine your results down to the ones you actually need.

If trying one process fails, step back and try a different approach.

Strategy is the key to success in searching.

Describing Scholarship

The Association of College and Research Libraries has developed a "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education."

We will use its central concepts to describe the task of the scholar in today's world.