The Research Process

When you include a quotation from a source in your own writing, you should introduce the quote and give background information on the author or source with a ______. Choose the best answer.

signal phrase

Which factors would help determine the expertise of an author? Select all that apply.

the author being cited in many other articles on the topic the author's professional background

Popular sources can be useful for which kinds of information? Select all that apply.

accessible interpretations of complex subjects current information

Alicia is doing a research project on the causes and effects of climate change. Her research question is "What will be the effects of receding glaciers in the northern hemisphere?" Which source would be relevant and appropriate for this question?

an article by NASA climatologists presenting peer-reviewed research data on coastal glaciers in Greenland

The consequences for patchwriting can be _____ the consequences for plagiarism.

just as severe as

Which of these choices are considered popular sources? Select all that apply.

newspaper article magazine article

Why did I not enjoy standardized testing?

not a debatable issue

You are working on a research paper, and your research question is: How does nutrition affect sports performance? Which of the following would be good research terms? Select all that apply.

nutrition AND sports "sports performance"

A speech, document, or other artifact that was written, created, or recorded during the time period relevant to the topic you are exploring and researching is a (primary/secondary) source.

primary

When evaluating an author's expertise, consider the author's educational and ______ credentials.

professional

What are the best testing methods?

too general

Which of the following topics is narrow enough for an eight-page research paper?

causes and treatments of anorexia nervosa

Which of the following is not a primary source?

textbook section

A professor has assigned a research paper on the topic of mental illness and homelessness. The students are given these instructions: Conduct research both in the library and on the internet. Be sure to follow all steps of the research process. Use only scholarly sources. Which sources would be appropriate for this research paper? Select all that apply.

doctoral dissertation on the prevalence of mental illness among persons experiencing homelessness. journal article from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology entitled "Mental Illness Rampant Among the Homeless"

Which characteristics indicate an author with a high level of expertise? Select all that apply.

educational credentials previous publications affiliated with a respected institution

Dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, and annuals are ______ sources.

general information

A source might be questionable if you can't ______. Select all that apply.

identify the author and sponsor of a publication verify the credentials of the author trace the origins of the information

Projects created in an academic setting often require the use of scholarly sources because these sources ______.

provide the depth of knowledge necessary for academic projects

Which of the following are primary sources that could relate to this research question: What were the causes of the Vietnam War?

A diary of a South Vietnamese soldier written while he was being trained by American soldiers A 1961 letter written by former North Vietnam president Ho Chi Minh, in which he condemned South Vietnam and its allies A 1964 speech explaining the U.S. involvement in the war by the then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara

Which of the following is the best definition of a paraphrase?

A paraphrase restates a text's main ideas and supporting details using a writer's own words and sentence structure.

Which of the following would be an appropriate secondary source to use as support for your topic?

Article entitled, "Research Brief: Childhood Bullying Linked to Adult Psychiatric Disorders," on stopbullying.gov

Which of the following are possible secondary sources for a research project on obesity? Select all that apply.

Newspaper article on obesity Journal article about current research into obesity

Jackson is doing a research paper on celebrity in culture and is looking for popular sources. Which of these choices are popular sources he could use? Select all that apply.

Vogue, a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 23 different national and regional editions Us Weekly, a news and lifestyle magazine with a readership of nearly 2 million

Your research question is "What can be done to solve the problem of childhood obesity in the United States?" Which choice is most likely to be an unbiased and/or trustworthy source for this research question?

article on childhood obesity published in the Journal of Adolescent Psychology

The types of sources required for a given project often depend on your purpose and your ______.

audience

The purpose of evaluating sources for bias is to ______.

be aware of the biases your sources contain

When writing a summary of a text, a writer ______.

condenses the original text, restating only the most significant points

Which factors would help determine the expertise of an author? Select all that apply.

the author's professional background the author being cited in many other articles on the topic

Which of these choices are considered scholarly sources? Select all that apply.

an article from the Modern Law Review journal an excerpt from a doctoral dissertation published by the University of Arizona

Good sources are both relevant (because they provide information related to your project) and ______ (because they meet the academic and/or professional expectations for the kind of project you are working on).

appropriate

Which sources would most likely be relevant and appropriate for the research question "What are the opposing viewpoints of the proposed changes to US immigration laws?" Select all that apply.

article on NBC News website titled "Aiming to build opposition, foes liken immigration changes to 'Obamacare,'" written by a political reporter interview with a lawyer representing a group of business owners opposed to the immigration-law changes editorial in a local newspaper explaining both the advantages and the disadvantages of the proposed changes

The general term for an entity that financially supports a website is ______.

sponsor

Which statements about evaluating a source's reliability are true? Select all that apply.

If a website is sponsored by a respected higher-education institution, that website is most likely reliable. If an article appears to be minimally biased and the expertise of an author has been established, that source is most likely reliable. A website sponsored by a corporation with the purpose of selling something might contain bias and be unreliable.

It is a golden era of dystopian fiction, television, and film, from The Hunger Games to The Man in the High Castle. These stories speak to us now: perhaps they tell us something about our own anxious, fearful age. But this genre is hardly new: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's 1984, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and countless others, going back centuries to Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1826) or Thomas Moore's Utopia (1516), suggest that these parallel nightmare worlds have always spoken to—and fascinated—us (Ousborne 15).

It is an incredible time for fictional dystopias, in television, fiction, and film. Examples go from The Hunger Games to The Man in the High Castle. These tales tell us something about the present: perhaps they express truths about our fearful, anxious time. But fictional dystopias are not a recent development: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's 1984, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and innumerable others, going back hundreds of years to Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1826) or Thomas Moore's Utopia (1516), indicate that these nightmare alternative worlds have always spoken to—and intrigued—us.

In the late 1940s, most American crime films could be divided into two distinctive categories, with two different points of view. The first category was film noir, which focused on the perspective of the criminal, the outsider, the trapped antihero, or the private investigator; the second was labeled procedural drama, which shifted the perspective to the professional police force, the FBI, and other respectable institutions charged with maintaining public order (Ousborne 13).

Ousborne notes that in the years after World War II, crime films usually fit into two general categories: film noir, which focused on villains and antiheroes, or the procedural dramas, which focused on public law enforcement agencies (13).

Which publications are examples of scholarly sources? Select all that apply.

Studies in Latin American Popular Culture the American Journal of Clinical Pathology

You are reviewing possible sources for a paper on cybercrime. Which qualifications suggest a sufficient level of expertise in a potential source? Select all that apply.

The author has ten years of experience as an investigator of online scams. There are positive articles about the source in other trustworthy publications. It is a scholarly publication.

A student is writing a paper on the effects of lead in municipal water systems. Which characteristic indicates that a potential source may be trustworthy for this project?

The author is a reputable journalist who presents and cites data from primary sources in a blog post.

Which of the following is an effective quote from a source?

The legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said, "Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit" (20).

Which of the following is an effective quotation from a source?

The novelist Graham Greene described his motive for writing as a "desire to reduce a chaos of experience to some sort of order, and a hungry curiosity" (12).

Choose the examples that most effectively use a signal phrase to introduce source material. Select all that apply.

The novelist and critic Henry James writes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, "[H]e virtually offers the most vivid reflection of New England life that has found its way into literature" (103). The novelist Henry James thought Nathaniel Hawthorne offered a powerful and memorable view of life in New England.

Which of the following describe keyword search terms? Select all that apply.

They are used in library databases for finding sources. They are a small group of individual words and phrases. They are focused on a topic's key elements.

What functions do signal phrases have when you include information from sources in your writing? Select all that apply.

They can include background information to establish context and credibility. They introduce a quotation.

Which of the following would be an appropriate use of a general information source for an academic research paper on the American presidency? Select all that apply.

To find out the specific Electoral College vote counts of the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections To research and brainstorm about presidents and the American presidency since 1952

A student is working on a research project about a building that was built shortly before the American Civil War, which ended in 1865. Which of the following would be appropriate secondary sources for the project? Select all that apply.

A 2016 book by a contemporary author about architectural styles of the nineteenth centuries A 2019 magazine article about the history of the building and its current status as a national historic landmark

Read the following passage on the history of crime films, and then answer the question below: In the late 1940s, most American crime films could be divided into two distinctive categories, with two different points of view. The first category was film noir, which focused on the perspective of the criminal, the outsider, the trapped antihero, or the private investigator; the second was labeled procedural drama, which shifted the perspective to the professional police force, the FBI, and other respectable institutions charged with maintaining public order (Ousborne 13). Which of the following is the best paraphrase of this passage?

Both film noir and procedural dramas flourished as the two main types of crime film in the decade after World War II. Movies In the former category presented the stories—and viewpoints—of hunted criminals and struggling antiheroes. In contrast, movies in the latter category highlighted respectable, impersonal public institutions that maintained law and order (Ousborne 13).

Read this passage and the summary of it. Which choice best describes the summary? Passage: One hundred and eleven individuals have served on the Supreme Court. Most have been wealthy, white males between the ages of 41 and 60, with Protestant backgrounds. Although the Constitution is silent with regard to qualifications, all have been lawyers and many were federal judges, were state judges, or had their own legal practice just prior to nomination. Seven had served as attorney general, and several others had held other high executive offices such as secretary of state. Eight had served in Congress; three had been state governors. Their number has even included a former president, William Howard Taft. Source: Losco and Baker. American Government 2013-2014. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2012, pp. 63, 64, 298, 306, 373, & 380. Copyright ©2012 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Summary: There have been one hundred and eleven individuals who have served on the Supreme Court. Most of the justices have been wealthy, white males aged 41 to 60 who came from Protestant backgrounds. While the Constitution does not state the appropriate qualifications for a Suprem

It is an unsuccessful attempt because the wording and sentence structure used are too similar to the original.

Read this example of source material integrated into a text that argues that laptop computers need to be easier for consumers to use. What is the student writer's reason for using the integrated material? After Healy describes consumers' perceptions of repairing laptops as "tedious and time-consuming," he accuses the industry of an inability to manufacture machines that are truly user-friendly (213).

To support the thesis

The topic for a research project is "Human effects on the landscape and the environment." Which of the following would be effective research questions for that topic? Select all that apply.

What specific steps can our community take to protect its parks, forests, and underdeveloped areas? How can urban and suburban development in our town be made more sustainable and environmentally friendly? How can we measure the economic benefits of hydraulic fracking against its costs to the environment, and then decide whether it should be allowed?

When should writers use a direct quotation from a source?

When writers want to use a source's exact language to support their claims

Choose the example below that most effectively uses signal phrase(s) to introduce source material.

While some argue that morality is complicated, the influential American novelist Theodore Dreiser disagrees: "The sum and substance of literary as well as social morality may be expressed in three words—tell the truth" (581).

Willy Loman seems like the main character in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Certainly, when Miller wrote the play, he explicitly imagined Willy as a tragic hero, revised for the modern world. The sad and doomed arc of Willy's character is powerful—emotionally, intellectually, and aesthetically. But what if we shift our perspective? How does the meaning of the play change if we view Biff Loman as the real protagonist of Death of a Salesman, not his doomed father? For one thing, the tragic ending of the play becomes much more hopeful (Ousborne 250).

Willy Loman appears to be the protagonist of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. No doubt, when the playwright wrote the play, he overtly conceived Willy as a tragic hero, updated for contemporary times. The tragic arc of Willy's character affects the audience's emotions and thoughts powerfully. However, what if we change our viewpoint? How does the significance of the play get altered if we view Biff Loman as the true main character of Death of a Salesman, not his suicidal father? If we do, the sad conclusion of the play becomes more optimistic (Ousborne 250).

You are doing a project on civil disobedience using this research question: "What were the origins of the idea of using civil disobedience as a form of protest?" Which sources would be good choices for this project? Select all that apply.

the famous nineteenth-century writer and activist Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" a personal letter containing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s reflections on using civil disobedience as a form of protest

When evaluating a source for trustworthiness, it would be helpful to consider which factors? Select all that apply.

the source's references to other credible sources the credentials of the author the sponsor of the source or website

General information sources are often used ______.

to find preliminary information about a topic, issue, or person

A student is writing an evaluation of a work of art using criteria set forth by an expert art critic. Why would the student writer integrate information about the critic's criteria into the evaluation?

to support the thesis

Which is the best standardized test for individuals who wish to major in sports management at state universities in the Southwest?

too specific

Which of these choices are characteristics of scholarly sources? Select all that apply.

typically peer-reviewed for accuracy include bibliographic information written by academics and expert professionals

Which sources could you usually assume to have expertise? Select all that apply.

university publication scholarly journal

Projects created for a seminar in an academic setting typically assume that the audience is ______, and therefore scholarly sources are usually preferred.

well informed

If you are unsure about whether or not you are plagiarizing, what would be one course of action you could take?

when in doubt, use quotation marks

Mark Twain famously held the Scottish novelist Walter Scott responsible for the US Civil War. In the nineteenth century, America was part of a movement toward "liberty, humanity, and progress" (33). Then, writes Twain, "comes Sir Walter Scott with his enchantments, and by his single might checks this wave of progress, and even turns it back; sets the world in love with dreams and phantoms; with decayed and swinish forms of religion; with decayed and degraded systems of government" (33).

writes Twain

Is standardized testing a good idea?

yes or no question