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How to Research a Paper or Project

How to Research a Paper or Project. The research process follows a step by step pattern. Plan the project Select and refine your topic Find sources/locations Evaluate your sources Organize your findings Present your findings. “Getting Started” skills. Plan the project

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How to Research a Paper or Project

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  1. How to Research a Paper or Project

  2. The research process follows a step by step pattern Plan the project Select and refine your topic Find sources/locations Evaluate your sources Organize your findings Present your findings

  3. “Getting Started” skills • Plan the project • Select and refine your topic • Find sources/locations

  4. Time Management http:core.lib.purdue.edu/plan4.htm

  5. Understanding Your Assignment • Format of the project (research paper, oral presentation, design . . .) • Length • Audience • Assessment criteria • Citation style (APA, MLA . . .)

  6. Coming up with a topic • Your interests • Talk to instructor and classmates about your topic • Pose your topic as a question to be answered or a problem to be solved • Brainstorm ideas for a topic • Come up with keywords • Consider using broader & narrower terms

  7. Search Strategy 101 • Play with your topic • Sub-divisions of your topic? • Ideas to cluster? • Questions to answer? • Problems to solve? • Creative stuff to include?

  8. Search Strategy Penn State University Libraries. (2005). Retrieved August 22, 2005, from http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infolit/andyou/mod1/idea3.htm

  9. Looking for Information • Check the library for: • Books, magazines, a/v chosen especially for you • Websites • Databases • Other libraries • Human expertise

  10. Looking for Information • Check the world wide web for: • The Invisible Web (beyond google) • Online databases • Current information (online newspapers, articles, studies. . .) • The Library’s Best of the Web pages

  11. Going Beyond Google • Holland College Library has licensed several databases that provide access to full text articles and current information: • CINAHLPlus with Full-text • Pubmed • MedlinePlus • Academic Search Elite • ScienceDirect Health & Life Sciences • Cochrane Library

  12. Use subject-based dictionariesfor definitions of concepts and terms within the context of a specialized field.

  13. Use statistics to substantiate your position, and to support your claims.

  14. Use subject-based encyclopedias to provide overviews before you search for specific journal articles.

  15. Use periodicals and journals for articles on current issues or past research, literature reviews, and professional practices and developments.

  16. Use newspaper articlesfor current perspectives on issues.

  17. Use government publicationsfor information produced by the Canadian government and government agencies.

  18. Taking Notes • Avoid plagiarism • Read the information, think, then put what you’ve read in your own words • Avoid cutting and pasting • Identify direct quotes • Document your sources as you take notes

  19. Taking Notes • Create descriptive headings / subtopics • Use index cards or paper that can easily be reorganized • Keep the notes short • Add personal comments http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/notes.shtml

  20. Begin Writing • defined your topic • kept your research focused • read critically • absorbed the useful information

  21. Cite Sources Appropriately • Use the APA style of citing sources in the text. • Use the APA style of listing sources at the end of your paper

  22. Why Use APA Format? • Allows readers to cross-reference your sources easily • Provides consistent format within a discipline • Gives you credibility as a writer • Protects yourself from plagiarism

  23. APA Reference Style: Three Main Concerns • Parenthetical Citations • In-Text Citations • Reference Page

  24. When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations? • When summarizing facts and ideas from a source • Summarizing means to take ideas from a large passage of another source and condense them, using your own words • When paraphrasing a source • Paraphrasing means to use the ideas from another source but change the phrasing into your own words

  25. When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations? • When quoting any words that are not your own • Quoting means to repeat another source word for word, using quotation marks

  26. Reference List • A list of every source that you make reference to in your essay. • Provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any sources cited in your essay. • Each retrievable source cited in the essay must appear on the reference page, and vice versa.

  27. References Anderson, D. (2001, August 3). Statement by Environment Minister David Anderson on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved July 24, 2004, from http://www.ec.gc.ca/Press/2001/010803_s_e.htm Blicq, R. (2001). Guidelines for report writing. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (1995). The craft of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Harris, R. (2001). The plagiarism handbook. Los Angeles: Pyrczak. Health Canada. (2004). West Nile virus. Retrieved July 19, 2004, from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/westnile/index.html Jollimore, M. (2004, June 21). Fuel’s gold: Why Canada’s athletes pay so much attention to what they eat. Time, 163(25), 52-61. Reitman, J. (2004). The Baghdad follies. Rolling Stone, 952/953, 110-117.

  28. References Anderson, D. (2001, August 3). Statement by Environment Minister David Anderson on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved July 24, 2004, from http://www.ec.gc.ca/Press/2001/010803_s_e.htm Blicq, R. (2001). Guidelines for report writing. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (1995). The craft of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Harris, R. (2001). The plagiarism handbook. Los Angeles: Pyrczak. Health Canada. (2004). West Nile virus. Retrieved July 19, 2004, from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/westnile/index.html Jollimore, M. (2004, June 21). Fuel’s gold: Why Canada’s athletes pay so much attention to what they eat. Time, 163(25), 52-61. Reitman, J. (2004). The Baghdad follies. Rolling Stone, 952/953, 110-117.

  29. References: Some Examples • BookShay, J. (1994). Achilles in Vietnam: Combat trauma and the undoing of character. New York: Touchstone. • Article in a MagazineKlein, J. (1998, October 5). Dizzy days. The New Yorker, 40-45.

  30. References: Some Examples • Web pagePoland, D. (1998, October 26). The hot button. Roughcut. Retrieved October 28, 1998 from http://www.roughcut.com • Online Database Edwards, C., & Crockett, R. (2007, April 16). New Music Phones—Without the i. Business Week, Retrieved August 10, 2007, from Academic Search Elite database.

  31. References: Some Examples • A newspaper articleTommasini, A. (1998, October 27). Master teachers whose artistry glows in private. New York Times, p. B2. • A source with no known authorCigarette sales fall 30% as California tax rises. (1999, September 14). New York Times, p. A17.

  32. Where Do I Find APA Format? • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. • www.apastyle.org • Composition textbooks • Landmark Citations http://citationmachine.net/

  33. Automatic Citation Generators Landmarks Citation Machine KnightCite Citation Maker Citation Wizard

  34. Landmarks Citation Machine

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