Autumn is Here!

I hope you are having a replenishing week, and that you are able to carve out at least the five hours of concentrated/dedicated time for your thesis work. This is the time when nature announces a kind of “shift” in the air, and it call us to “settle in”. The season is a time to celebrate the changing of the light, and the hues of transition. I love the late-September-into-early-October turn. Such a potent feeling comes upon us when it comes to the mood and tenor of Autumn – a time of reflection. Fall has always been my favorite season, perhaps because of the sense of passing time, and the refracted light which signals to me pause, take stock, and savor moments.

I am so glad we were able to make our way into the library this week and spend some time with Craig Anderson. As you might have discovered, there is a lot to know (“tricks of the trade”) when it comes to searching databases and finding pertinent research for your ongoing work. Craig gave us an initial glimpse of how to navigate the online portal of our Learning Commons, but there really is so much more beyond what we were able to touch upon in our workshop time. Please remember that you can always work directly with reference librarians to find the scholarship or reference material needed to further develop your MA thesis project. And you can use the online chatbox to send basic inquiries. In addition, you can contact our Kean librarians directly, or in person, to set up more customized support for your research process. Also remember that the reading/research process starts off with a broader lens at the beginning phase of thesis development – your “discovery and invention” phase. It then necessarily narrows at some point, and your own Literature Review starts to come into focus. Next week I will be discussing in more detail what a Literature Review entails, in the specific context of your MA thesis.