Introduction: This paper presents the results of an experiment in using participatory research methods in a classroom among ten students taking an advanced master's level course in library and information science. The project goals were motivated by the course content, an advanced course in research using official government documents. Method: Ten graduate students taking an advanced course in towards a Master of Library and Information Science, collaborated as a group on the research project in the area of government policies. Data of the collaborative aspect of the project was collected through oral student feedback and classroom observation. Results: Through the combination of collaborative online work and the use of both print and digital resources, the students identified the evidence for statements made by the late Senator Edward Kennedy in a number of speeches in 1980. Conclusion: Two emerging theories of scholarship and research in digital environments provide a theoretical justification for the need to social scholarship. The first is 'critical information studies" and the second is "digital methods".