77 Contributing to the Conversation
As a college student, whenever you complete an academic assignment, be it a research paper, a speech, or any other assignment in which you gather and synthesize information on a topic, you are participating in what is called a scholarly conversation. The term scholarly conversation describes the existing body of knowledge about a topic. This body of knowledge may include published books, presentations, research articles, conferences, discussions, online resources, and more. Your assignments are a way to add your own voice to the scholarly conversation—by reviewing what research has been done, drawing connections and conclusions from published information, and adding your own experiences, opinions, and ideas about what previous research has shown.
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Concept Review Exercise: The Conversation
Sources
This section includes material from the source book, Introduction to College Research, as well as the following:
Image: “Speech Bubble” by Freepik, adapted by Aloha Sargent, from Flaticon.com
“Inform Your Thinking: Episode 1 – Research is a Conversation” by Oklahoma State University Libraries is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Original material by book author Sarah Burkhead Whittle.
Describes the existing body of knowledge about a topic.
