Resources

Research and resource tips

Using the web for resources and analysis

The internet is an amazing resource both for examples of language usage and for analysis and commentary on language. The global reach of the web means that you can gain access to languages and users across the world in ways that would have been prohibitively expensive only a few decades ago. You want to see an English-language newspaper in Japan, or an advert for a club night in Sydney, or a children’s rhyme in Melanesian English, or a conversation in a West African creole? It’s all just a few clicks away. Equally, you will find more analysis and theorising about language on the web than could be contained within the walls of any University library.

However, the web has developed faster than our critical reading skills. It used to be simple to recognise valid and high-quality work: it was published in serious books and journals that had gone through a process of editing and approval by qualified people. Easy access to the web now means that self-appointed hobbyists, journalists, politicians, amateur commentators, bloggers, creative writers, the unqualified and the ignorant all have equal space to set forth their views. This is very democratic but rather useless for the serious student of language who aspires to disciplined thinking and exploration.

As a rough rule: Assume that 90% of the material on the web is not to be trusted. This is probably an exaggeration, but remembering it will ensure you are never caught off-guard. Secondly, you should look not only for how interesting or persuasive facts are, but you should look really closely at their provenance. For example, an essay posted by Professor I.M. Serious at Major University is likely (though not definitely) to be a reasonably well-argued and proper piece of research or comment. This is because Prof Serious has put his name to it and his professional reputation is on the line. Whereas Timmy Twit writing on his Eye-No-Langwidge blog is probably (though not definitely) producing unsupported and wildly inaccurate nonsense. Timmy Twit might have a college degree and might be a creative writer, but he is not to be trusted.

Another way of proceeding (and this applies to traditional paper as well as web resources) is to assume everything you read is probably wrong. Then, if you can’t think of a reason why it is wrong, you can go on with the assumption that – at least for the moment – it is probably ok.

Another question to ask of web-postings is: why is this material here? Is it to make a personal or partisan point, or does it aim to contribute to a debate? If the website looks very slick, who has funded it? Who supports it? Who is advertising there? What is the agenda behind the ‘information’ you are being presented with? Remember, nothing is neutral, and there is no such thing as an objective fact when it comes to language study.

Finally, you will find many sites offering essays ‘guaranteed’ to get you high grades, or collections of essays that you can copy and pass off as your own. It goes without saying that this is unethical, but you should also be aware that you are probably a better thinker and writer than the contributors to these sites, and your teacher will know it. Anyway, what is the point in stealing someone else’s thoughts. Are you really such a pathetic example of a person? You’re a chimp.

Academic publications

If you are attached to a big university or college library, there is nothing better than sitting amongst the stacks skimming through a pile of books and journals. You need to learn how to gut such texts for useful material – you are not reading a novel, after all. You are probably studying alongside many other students on the same programme, and of course this means that everyone will be after the same books as you. Aside from getting to the library earlier in the course than anyone else, it is always a good idea to broaden your search for material. For example, most libraries are organised so that similar material sits on the same shelves, so find the book you need, and then read the books up to a metre in either direction. You will chance upon relevant material that was not on your reading list, your thinking will be stimulated, and your teacher will be impressed.

If your local library is not extensive, or you are not attached to an institution at all, most libraries these days see themselves as portals to a world of electronic knowledge. Your librarian will be pleased to help you discover their electronic resources in the form of journals, books, archives and other material.

You must also discover Google Scholar (scholar.google.com and national variations). Use the advanced search options to find online books and articles from keywords in the title, author, or in the body of the text. Refine your search by specifying, say, arts and humanities research, or limit your sweep to the last couple of years. Very often, you will be able to click through to the articles themselves. If not, your college or librarian will be able to give you special access passwords to allow you to access other content. Failing this, the abstract and references of the article are often freely available, and they alone might give you enough material to use, or to decide whether to track the article down further.

Lastly, it is always worth searching for key people in the field. Almost all academic researchers in English language studies have a webpage at their college departments, and they usually list their publications. Go and see what they have been working on recently. You will often be able to download articles directly from these pages. As a last resort, you can always email the person to ask for a copy: remember to be polite, say who you are and why you are interested in their work. Most academics are delighted to be approached in this way, though you should take silence as a sign of busyness with their own students, rather than rudeness.

Course templates and assessment suggestions

The flexi-text style of the RELI books presents a range of different options if the textbook is being used as a week-by-week course book, or equivalent. The book has been designed to allow for a very general course led by an experienced course-leader perhaps with relatively inexperienced class tutors; or in support of a more closely-directed and guided pedagogy with an course-leader who wants to bring in their own research work and expertise. The book allows for many different shades of teaching style and organisation.

Running through the textbook material by topical strand presents a logical progression through the linguistic rank scale, starting off with the smallest unit structures of the English language and moving up the scale to the broader areas of study (strands 1–5). Strands 6–13 then develop and expand upon these foundational areas.

• Course One and Course Two
• Course Three, Course Four and Course Five