2/19 research assignment
Citing is the process of giving credit to the sources you used to write your paper. This is important for a number of reasons:
1) Citations give credit to the original creator of the work. If you don't do this, you could be plagiarizing 2) Citations support your argument by backing up your information with reliable resources 3) Citations show the reader exactly where your information came from
When combining two search terms, which boolean operator will give you the largest set of search results?
AND OR NOT
Academic Journals
Academic journals are collections of articles written by scholars in the field (often professors). A journal board carefully reviews submitted articles, checking them for accuracy and quality Journal articles provide researchers with cutting edge, reliable information in all fields of research. Your research isn't complete without looking for scholarly journal articles!
CRAAP is a list of questions that you can use to carefully evaluate the resources you find. It will help you think through the process of determining the quality of a source.
Authority: the source of the information Who is the author and publisher of the resource? What are th author's credentials or organizational affiliations? Is the author qualified to write on this topic? If it's a website, what is the url of the source? (com, edu, gov, org) Accuracy: the reliability of the content Where does the information come from? Is the information supported by evidence (cited)? Has the resource been peer reviewed? Purpose: the reason the information exists Who is the intended audience? The general public or academics? Is the information intended to inform, entertain, or sell? Is this a first-hand account of an event or research? Does the author have vested interested in the topic? Is their a possible bias?
Books
Books offer lengthy, detailed discussions of a topic. They help to put your research in context and often provide great summaries of the research done in the area. NCC Library books are available in both print and electronic formats. Not enough time to read the whole book? Consider reading the chapter(s) that clearly relate to your topic
Which of the following is NOT a reason for citing your sources?
Citations allow you to back up your argument by letting the reader know where your information came from Creating citations makes all of your sources trustworthy & reliable Citations give credit to the original creator of the work Citing your sources can help to avoid plagiarism when quoting or using ideas from other authors creating citations WILL NOT make all of your sources trustworthy. It is up to you to evaluate your research and select the best, most trustworthy sources for use in your assignment
Structure of a Scholarly Article Your professor may ask you use only scholarly research articles. The following image outlines the major elements to look for in a research article:
Date published Title 1) Author(s) and author affiliation: Who wrote the article? Where are they from? What are their credentials? 2) Abstract: A brief synopsis of what the article's about. It's a good idea to read this first to see if the article relates to your research. 3) References or Works Cited: This is a list of all the resources the author(s) used to inform their research
Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs
Does the information related to your topic or answer your question? Who is the intended audience of the resource? Is the information appropriate for college-level research? Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is the one to use?
A Variety of Information Sources Your research assignments will require you to use a variety of resources. Different in purpose and scope, each of these information sources can be valuable for your research:
Encyclopedias Books Magazines Academic Journals
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedias offer short overviews of the major themes and concepts in an area. Encyclopedias can be general, covering a wide range of topics, or subject-specific. Encyclopedias are great for looking up background information on a topic. They can also be helpful in finding keywords to use in more advanced searching
Popular and Scholarly Sources It's important to be able to differentiate between popular and scholarly sources when evaluating your information:
Example: Wired Magazine International Journal of Middle East Studies Audience: Everybody,the general public Scholars and academics Topics: Articles cover a wide range of topics Articles are narrowly focused, discipline-specific Author(s): Paid journalists and writers Unpaid scholars, often professors Language: Easy-to-read Difficult. Full of discipline-specific vocabulary Citations: Very rarely Includes citations and lists of references Cost: $15.00 yearly (12 Issues) $609.00 yearly (4 Issues)
Want to learn more about current social issues? The library has a number of useful resources that can help you think about possible research ideas:
Explore the updated online encyclopedia from Britannica with hundreds of thousands of articles, biographies, videos, images, and web content. A great place to do some background research on potential topics. Credo Reference is an online reference collection. It contains over 900 online encyclopedias, subject dictionaries, biographies, and study tools. Instead of always relying on Wikipedia, try using Credo for even more reliable information!
When using an online citation creation tool:
Just copy and paste, citation creation tools are always 100% correct Make sure you select APA formatting for all of your citations Double-check the created citations for possible errors Let the reader know what tool you used to create your citations
What citation format is used by all courses at NCC?
MLA (Modern Language Association) APA (American Psychological Association) Chicago or Turabian Different disciplines and courses at NCC use different citation formats
While each citation style is different, they all contain standard elements that can be used to identify the resource:
MLA Citation Example (Book): Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York, Ballantine Books, 2009 MLA In-Text Citation (Angelou 14). APA Citation Example (Book): Angelou, M. (2009). I know why the caged bird sings. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks. APA In-Text Citation (Angelou, 2009, p. 14).
Which resource type is best for research?
Magazines and other popular sources Academic journal articles Books and encyclopedias There is no "best" resource. They are all useful depending on your research needs
Magazines
Magazines provide articles and visuals covering a wide range of topics. Articles are typically written by journalists and are meant for the general public. These resources offer up-to-date discussions on current events and popular culture. Less scholarly than academic research journals, magazine articles tend to be easy to read.
What is the best approach for learning how to cite your sources properly?
Memorize all of the possible citation syles so you can properly cite in each one Stick with the citation style that you know best and use it for all of your course assignments When creating citations, go to a reputable resource that can help you cite your information Ask your professor to create your citations for you
If you are having trouble finding the resources you need, you may need to narrow or broaden your topic. Consider the following examples:
Narrowing your topic Is your topic too broad? Is your searching giving you too much information? Too many search results? Is it too hard to cover your topic in detail? Example:I want to write a paper on "fashion." This topic is clearly too broad will need to be narrowed down: Broadening Your Topic Is your topic too narrow? Is your searching giving you back too little information? Too few search results? Is your topic too new? Is it something that has yet to be researched in the academic literature? Example: I want to write a paper on "how legalizing marijuana would affect crime rates in the United States."
A key difference between Scholarly Journals and Popular Magazines is
Popular Magazines are made available in both print and electronic format. Scholarly Journals are only available in print. Scholarly Journal articles are primarily written for academics and professionals. Popular magazines are meant for the general public. All Scholarly Journals are free to the public. Popular Magazines will usually have a yearly subscription fee. Popular magazines will always cite their information. Scholarly journals rarely cite or list their references
When searching for books and articles on the library webpage, it is important to:
Stay consistent with your search. It would help if you kept using the same keywords in all of your searches, no matter what the results are Always use the most general search terms possible. This will give you the largest list of search results. Try different sets of keywords. You can try both general and more specific searches based on your results. Always search by typing whole sentences.
What must be done before accessing library articles and ebooks from off campus?
Students can search Google for all of the articles and book that they need All students must pay a fee to gain access to library resources off campus When off campus, students will need to sign in to the library through MyCommnet Call the library. We can send our robots to deliver the books and articles to your house
One major indicator that an article might not be scholarly or peer-reviewed is
The article has a long, complex title The article has multiple authors The article does not contain any citations or references The article does not include any pictures or graphs
Using Boolean Searching A more advanced search technique, Boolean searching combines the operators AND, OR, and NOT to narrow or broaden the search:
Using "and " will limit your search results to resources that contain BOTH terms Using "or" will increase your search results to resources that contain EITHER term/both Using "not" will limit your search results to resources that contain ONLY the first term and not the second
A key difference between academic journal articles and most resources found on the web (Google) is:
Web resources cover all areas of interest. Scholar journal articles only cover topics in the Sciences. Many scholarly journal articles have been peer-reviewed and carefully checked for quality. A majority of web resources are not peer-reviewed and are often untrustworthy. Web resources are available from anywhere. Academic journal articles must be accessed in the Library building Scholarly journal articles rarely include citations and references. Web resources will typically include a work cited or reference page
In which of the following cases would you need to create a citation? *
When copying, word for the word, the sentence of a book When using images from a website When you write in your own words what is being said in a magazine article All of the above
Currency: the timeliness of the information
When was the information published or posted? Has the Information been revised or updated? Does your topic require up-to-date information?
Accuracy: the reliability of the content
Where does the information come from? Is the information supported by evidence (cited)? Has the resource been peer reviewed?
Authority: the source of the information
Who is the author and publisher of the resource? What are th author's credentials or organizational affiliations? Is the author qualified to write on this topic? If it's a website, what is the url of the source? (com, edu, gov, org)
Purpose: the reason the information exists
Who is the intended audience? The general public or academics? Is the information intended to inform, entertain, or sell? Is this a first-hand account of an event or research? Does the author have vested interested in the topic? Is their a possible bias?
When opening an online journal article, the article's abstract:
gives the reader a general overview of the article's contents. should be ignored. Readers should immediately go to the full article. gives the reader recommendations for related resources. contains any images or graphs used in the article. The article's abstract gives the reader a general overview of the article's contents. Reading the abstract can give you a good idea of whether or not the resource fits your research needs
Citation Style
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html MLA APA Chicago Purdue OWL
