Research and Documentation: Finding a Suitable Topic, Keeping a Bibliography, and Avoiding Plagiarism

1. Research

2. RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION • Finding a suitable topic/question for a research paper • Keeping a working bibliography • Avoiding plagiarism • Citing sources correctly

3. FINDING A GOOD RESEARCH TOPIC OR QUESTION • Is it interesting to you? Do you want to know the answer to your question? • Are there ample sources of information of the kind required in your assignment? • Does it fit the size/length of the paper and time given? • Will your research lead to a defensible conclusion? Avoid topics that depend on belief or prejudice. • Is the topic specific/ narrow enough? A topic that is too broad (e.g. How will the Internet affect business?) will be hard to manage.

4. DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY • Begin your research with comprehensive sources (encyclopedias, dictionaries, or bibliographies) to learn background information, keywords, authorities. • Focus your research by locating scholarly journals, periodicals, and organizations that discuss your topic.

5. FINDING SOURCES • Library sources - use keywords (words that name or describe your research topic) to search the online or card catalog. • Internet sources- use keywords to search internet search engines and subject directories for sources .

6. LIBRARY SOURCES • Librarians can suggest specialized databases or indexes for finding books, periodicals, and non-print reference sources. • Your library can request through Interlibrary loan sources they do not have.

7. INTERNET SOURCES • Search engines (Alta Vista, Google, et al.) use keywords or combinations of keywords to locate relevant material. • Subject directories (Librarians’ Index to the Internet, Library of Congress) offer categories that link to related web sites.

8. EVALUATING SOURCES • Ask the following questions of all your sources to determine their credibility: • Is the source reliable and expert? • Is the treatment balanced and unbiased? • Is the information the current? • Is the evidence sufficient and consistent?

9. KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SOURCES • When you are doing your research, you will consult many sources: books, periodicals, the Internet, etc. Keep track of them by writing down everything you will need in order to cite the source as you do your research. • Trying to recall/locate source details later is difficult.

10. THESIS STATEMENT • Once you have done most of your research, you will have an idea of the thesis of your paper. • Your Thesis Statement tells what you want to say about the topic you have chosen. • It guides the structure of your argument as you outline your paper.

11. CITATIONS AND PLAGIARISM • Now that you have your research sources, you must use citations to give credit where it is due. • All of the following information on plagiarism comes from a website devoted to preventing plagiarism. For more details go to: http://www.turnitin.com/static/home.html

12. WHAT IS PLAGIARISM? • According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, plagiarism means: • Passing off words and ideas as your own when they come from another. • Using another person’s work without giving him or her credit. • Presenting an idea as new and original when it comes from an existing source.

13. PLAGIARISM IS… • Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks. • Changing some words, but leaving the bulk of the text intact without giving credit. • Deriving the majority of your paper’s words and/or ideas from the work of another. • Borrowing words without citing the source. • Using and developing ideas generated by the work of another without giving him or her credit.

14. PLAGIARISM • When you plagiarize you damage your reputation and risk losing the respect of your peers and teachers. • “The penalties for plagiarism can be surprisingly severe, ranging from failure of classes and expulsion from academic institutions to heavy fines and jail time!” * • Giving the original researcher/writer credit shows that you are honest, you have done your homework and you have more credibility for your ideas as they are based on solid research. • Your proper citations help other researchers find information they need. • Quote taken from www.turnitin.com website.

15. WAYS TO AVOID PLAGIARISM • Always cite references fully and correctly. • Always give credit to your sources. • Learn how to paraphrase correctly. • Stay alert for where ideas originated - you or another? • Make sure who said what is clear. • When you are writing a paper, there will be a mixture of your ideas and ideas from your research. For every idea you borrow, you should have two of your own. The paper is mostly your ideas supported by your research.

16. WHEN IS A CITATION REQUIRED? * • When you quote a source. • When you paraphrase a source. • When you use someone’s idea. • When you refer to another person’s work. • Whenever you have based your ideas on someone else’s ideas/research. • Full list above taken directly from www.turnitin.com website.

17. IN-TEXT CITATIONS • Include inside the parenthetical citation any information the reader needs to find the citation on the Works Cited page. • Author’s last name OR • Abbreviated title (if there is no author) • Page number(s) NOTE: These details should be on your index cards.

18. PRACTICE AT PARAPHRASING AND USING CITATIONS The following slides will help you see exactly how to avoid plagiarism by learning how to paraphrase and use citations correctly.

19. PARAPHRASE vs. PLAGIARISM • Paraphrase the following passage, quoted from Robert Taft’s Artists and Illustrators of the Old West: 1850-1900 (New York: Scribner’s 1953), pp. 131-132 • Then, compare your paraphrase with those that follow.

20. ARTISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS OF THE OLD WEST Pictures of Custer’s Last Stand have not often been the subject of serious consideration. The student of art, if he has ever condescended to look at such pictures, politely sniffs the tainted air because, it is true, few of such pictures have any artistic merit. There are, however, some exceptions as will be subsequently pointed out. The professional historian, since such pictures must be figments of the imagination, relegates them to the limbo of worthless things. It remains, therefore, for the interested busybody who has nothing else to do to consider their worth, if worth they have. As historical documents,

21. ARTISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS OF THE OLD WEST (con’t) Pictures of Custer’s Last Stand are admittedly worthless, but any product of man’s endeavor which has attracted the attention of millions of his fellows must certainly have some worth. Such pictures have kindled imagination and speculation, have developed observation and criticism, and have renewed and aroused interest in our past. In any well-rounded system of history, then, the consideration of such pictures has a place, even if a humble one. Are they not closer and more vital to our American way of life than is Chinese art or the primitive master?

22. UNACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE #1 Pictures of Custer’s Last Stand have not often been the subject of serious consideration. True, few of such pictures have any artistic merit. Since they must be figments of the imagination, the historian relegates them to the junk heap. As historical documents, pictures of Custer’s Last Stand may be worthless, but anythingwhich has attracted the attention of millions must certainly have some worth. Such pictures have kindled imagination and renewed interest in our history. In the study of American history, then, the consideration of such pictures has a place,albeit not a major one. At least they are more important to our way of life than is Chinese art or that of the primitive masters.

23. UNACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE #1 As you can see, though the passage has been abbreviated, whole patches of language (blue) come direct from the original without quotation marks or documentation to indicate that borrowing has taken place.

24. UNACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE #2 According to Robert Taft, art historian, paintings of Custer’s Last Stand tend not to be taken seriously: They aren’t good art, nor - since no one lived to paint from memory - are they good history. Even though such pictures may have little value as historical documents, any product of man’s endeavor which has attracted the attention of millions of his fellows must certainly have some worth. Popular paintings like these, at least, spark interest in American history. Therefore, historians ought to make room in their instruction for such paintings, which are clearly closer and more vital to our American way of life than is Chinese art or the primitive master.

25. UNACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE #2 • Improved. A more true paraphrase here (it’s easier to do when you are shortening the text considerably), though long verbatim passages (blue) still remain. • Blue sections should be in quotation marks. • Documentation here is acceptable - use of the author’s name in the first sentence makes it easier to see the extent of the paraphrase.

26. ACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE According to Robert Taft, art historian, paintings of Custer’s Last Stand tend not to be taken seriously: they aren’t good art, nor - since no one lived to paint from memory - are they good history. Even though such pictures may have little value as historical documents, anything so well known must be worth something. At least popular paintings like these have sparked interest in American history. Therefore, historians ought to make room in their instruction for such paintings, which are at least American.

27. PRACTICE EXAMPLE’S SUMMARY POINTS • Acceptable documentation requires quotation marks to indicate direct, verbatim borrowing from the original. • Use quotation marks even if the borrowed portion is only a distinctive word or phrase. • Changing one or two words in a borrowed sentence is not legitimate. Use your own language.

28. GUIDELINES FOR INCORPORATING QUOTATIONS • Quote accurately. • Avoid long quotations. Quote only the portion of the original work that you need, incorporating it into one of your own sentences, using quotation marks to set it off. • Use introductory tags: • According to Jean Piaget, developmental psychologist, “Children are not short adults.” • Aristotle argued precisely the opposite: “Men are like children.”

29. GUIDELINES FOR INCORPORATING QUOTATIONS (con’t) • Explain what the quotations mean: • Daniel Boorstin has called the interview a “pseudo-event,” artificial news, in which things happen not of their own volition. • Adapt quotations to fit your needs–make sure it fits into your sentence logically and grammatically. • Indicate additions with square brackets [ ] and deletions with an three spaced periods called an ellipsis (…). • Document your source with a parenthetical citation.

30. USING PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS • Standard name and page reference: • “Marketers concluded that the sale of billions of dollars worth of products hinged…on fears, anxieties” (Packard 48). • When the author’s name appears in your text, cite only the page number: • Packard claims that “The potency of television… became indisputable in the early fifties” (137).

31. USING PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS, cont’d. • With two or three authors: • According to Young, Becker, and Pike, “The writer can choose to view… as part of a larger network” (122). • With three or more authors: • “Nothing is what it seems” (Elbring et al. 54). • “et al.” means “and others.”

32. USING PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS, cont’d. • When you cite two or more sources by the same author, use a short version of the title to distinguish between the sources: • “We are what we buy” (Packard, Persuaders 212).

33. USING PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS, cont’d. • Electronic sources with an author, title, and page numbers use the same format as print sources.

34. USING PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS, cont’d. • Electronic sources with paragraph, screen, or section numbers use par., pars., screen, sec., or secs. as appropriate. • “A fractured narrative isn’t all bad” (Schmidt, par. 2). • According to Schmidt, “Waiting might be worth it” (screen 4).

35. USING PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS, cont’d. • Electronic sources without authors, page, screen, or paragraph numbers use the an abbreviated name of the source in parenthetical citation. • “Damage estimates top $5 billion” (Investment Today).