Initial Guide to Sources

Identify and talk with someone who can guide your inquiries in their initial unformed stage by providing you with leads to key people to read and contact. You do this so as to avoid finding out late in the project that there was a key person or article that you should have known about weeks before.

You may notice a tendency to procrastinate on making contact with an Initial Guide. Perhaps this is related to a feeling that other people's work threatens your originality. This feeling is not helpful—part of developing your own approach is to connect with others in your area. Therefore, make contact with possible Initial Guides and make an appointment for a meeting early on in the project, preferably before session 4 (in a 14-session course). Afterwards, reflect on what you learned by preparing a brief verbal report to give when you next meet with your advisor or peers.

Note: Making contact with an Initial Guide to Sources is different from getting guidance on your direction from a peer after Sharing your ideas or drafts. It is also different from interviewing someone, which makes sense later, under Phase F.

(See Phase B)