Jaimie – Expanding the Body of Knowledge

Thus far in my studies, it has been difficult for me to truly understand how to significantly add to the body of knowledge. I have many ideas, but finding one that is fresh and vastly different from studies that I’ve read has become a task for me.

For conducting research in general, I like to start by going to the OU library’s website and searching for books on my general topic. From there, I use the databases to help me find articles and studies on the topic. Here are two on the ones I go to first. This website is directly linked to the library. But the cool thing about it is that it searches multiple databases at one time. It sorts through J-Store and Article First. The second database is Communication and Mass Media Complete.

Expanding the body of knowledge is very important because we can’t sit around and dig in the same holes for something new to emerge. Technology is on our side, and when it progresses, scholarly research must progress also. In fact, expanding the body of knowledge is so important, that mass communication scholars host conferences every year to share the new things they’ve learned. AEJMC is one of the conferences whose purpose is to share research information. I recently submitted a paper to this conference along with two other colleagues.

Two of the pros to expanding the body of knowledge are that if you run out of areas to research, you can attempt to shift your research into a new paradigm. Doing this can give you a fresh perspective for conceiving and carrying out research ideas.

Secondly, technology provides a new area of research for almost all theories. Looking to technological advances for inspiration might be helpful. Here’s an example of how technology is helping the mass communication industry.

A con to expanding the body of knowledge is that you want to have a new idea. This can be hard to come by after reading so many articles with great ideas. You have innovative but also draw from other scholars’ mistakes and shortcomings. Patience is key! But in the end, you will find a new area to explore and share with the world.