The "final" reports

I've created links from the "Reference works" page to the final versions of everybody's report on the preliminary exploration of a reference work. As a way of finishing with them, what I'd like you to do over the next few days is to read through as many as you can (focusing on ones you haven't read before, of course), and send me (not hunt3336@stu.ca, but hunt@stu.ca) an email saying which one or two -- or, if you really feel strongly, three -- you find most useful (not best writing, not best formatted: useful in providing information and insight), and, in a sentence or two, why. At least one should be one you didn't read and comment on earlier; and, of course, none should be your own. This will have nothing to do with anybody's mark (except that I'll count the email as a task completed); but I'll use the ranking, and the explanations, as a way of providing feedback for everyone. Which ones work best, and why?

Do this by next Friday; I'll assemble responses and rank the reports over the weekend.

The "short" questions

Having been engaged in considering, and answering, some of those questions, it seems to me everyone should be in a position to reflect productively on a couple or three things.

• What makes a question answerable? (or not)
• What makes a question (or its answer) valuable?
• How do you decide when you actually have an answer?

For Wednesday's class, read all the responses to the questions you were randomly assigned, and all the responses to any two or three other questions. Look especially for contradictions (where people answered a question in conflicting ways), and for especially illuminating or useful answers.

Beginning on Wednesday, too, I want to start reflecting on research strategies, so as you read answers, be watching how people went about finding them (and what kinds of answers different strategies turned up).