This semester I am enrolled in the Research in Library and Information Studies course….the dreaded 709 (so thought by many). By the end of this course we are expected to have prepared a significant piece of writing called the capstone project. Since the longest paper I have every written, to my memory, is about 2000 words, and this excludes the big Encyclopedia Project I am working on, the capstone project is a bit daunting.

Since I have been working on the Encyclopedia Project for six years now, a large writing project is not too intimidating, I have the self-possession enough to know that it can be done…one step at a time. I have established my topic, that being the health information seeking behaviors of parishioners in a  small Episcopal parish. I am working on the literature review. I have found that the more that I find the more articles may be found by combing the list of references at the end of each paper and I have found quite a number of relevant articles, all of which I plan to read…well…as much as I can read before I think enough is enough. I have yet to search the Dissertations Abstracts database.

I am working on my research instrument for the series of unstructured interviews.

There is lots to read and learn from the materials that Dr. Chelton has posted on Blackboard. All that I have read so far has been very helpful.

I have picked a topic that required the participation of the IRB and I am learning how to use IRBNet, the online version of the IRB.  It helps one to organize all the documents and streamlines the process required if one is using human subjects. I suppose that I could have selected a topic that does no require the involvement of the IRB, but I feared that if I did  not tackle this thing that I am afraid of, that is, a project involving the IRB, that I would never venture forth. So here I am…plodding along, and slooooowly progressing.