4 A Learning Bundle

The extractivist approach to research has students seeking out proof for a hypothesis; and fishing for supportive data. This extractivist approach limits learning and exploits authors.

In using this approach over the decades, students always ask why they weren’t taught this in school before. While reading 10 articles seems daunting at first, they quickly realize that all 10 articles are not quality articles. They ask if they can swap out a lower-quality article for another one. This is one of the key benefits of this approach. Researchers can see, early on, if an article is useful or not. Also, it reveals that somewhere along their educational journey, they’ve been taught they can’t swap out one article for another. This limits their learning. Instead, I tell students that 10 articles are assigned knowing that perhaps only six will survive vetting. One good article should lead researchers to examine that article’s references where they will find other quality contributions to their learning.

Here’s a quick tip. I typically demonstrate building a learning bundle using Google Scholar. I type in one of their suggestions into the search bar and use what is generated for a conversation on ways to decide what to include in the learning bundle.  Google Scholar includes the journal title, date of publication, number of other authors that have cited the article, as well as how the search terms appear within the text. Google Scholar offers a “cite” key, by clicking on it, six different forms of citation are available. A quick copy of the citation, some formatting adjustments, and the citation can be easily pasted into a word document learning bundle.

I typically require APA citation formatting for my courses. While building the learning bundle, I also teach APA, MLA, and Chicago citation styles. The students learn the formats and prepare their learning bundle. Students are typically surprised at how easy it is to build a learning bundle this way. Some educators suggest that Google Scholar uses incorrect formatting. This is why I suggest students double check each citation using Purdue’s OWL site. Other educators suggest that using Google Scholar in this way is cheating. However, tools change in education. I see this as just a new tool. Like calculators, slide rules, or word processors, it’s just the latest tool.

Making their way through their reading list or learning bundle, students are encouraged to find a strange computer on which to conduct another search of their search terms. Computer systems today house an algorithm that seeks to find more of what we have selected previously. This feeds a bias. Seeking out a computer that does not know us, gives us the chance to check our research results.

Finally, as students make their way through their learning bundle, they become fans of certain authors and begin to seek out other information from that author. They ask if they can include the author’s other works in their learning bundle even if they don’t quote that article directly. I warn them that other educators will penalize them for including references that are not used in their papers. But then tell them that I have four such works included in all my learning bundles as these authors are foundational to how I do research. They are included in each learning bundle because, without these authors, my work would be very different. Only citing the works used in a paper is also extractivist. It limits the student to only quotations or data rather than epistemologies. This exclusion limits the lens of research methods and perpetuates constructs of confirmation bias. To avoid being accused of “padding” their references, I instruct students to use the required number of references, then add these foundational references in a separate section and label them accordingly.

One of the most common stumbling blocks for students is the works cited. This is a section of a paper where errors can quickly accumulate and sabotage otherwise good work. Double checking references, formats, dates, and correcting for alterations ensures the learning bundle is formatted correctly and remains error free.