How to Research a Paper or Project The research process follows a step by step pattern

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
• Select and refine your topic
• Find sources/locations

Time Management

• http:core.lib.purdue.edu/plan4.htm

Understanding Your Assignment

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

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

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?

Search Strategy

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

Looking for Information

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

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

• 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

• Use subject-based dictionaries for definitions of concepts and terms within the context of a specialized field.

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

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

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

• Use newspaper articles for current perspectives on issues.

• Use government publications for information produced by the Canadian government and government agencies.

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

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

Begin Writing

• defined your topic
• kept your research focused
• read critically
• absorbed the useful information

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

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

APA Reference Style: Three Main Concerns

• Parenthetical Citations
• In-Text Citations
• Reference Page

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

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

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.

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.

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.

References: Some Examples

• Book Shay, J. (1994). Achilles in Vietnam: Combat trauma and the undoing of character. New York: Touchstone.
• Article in a Magazine Klein, J. (1998, October 5). Dizzy days. The New Yorker, 40-45.

References: Some Examples

• Web page Poland, 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.

References: Some Examples

• A newspaper article Tommasini, A. (1998, October 27). Master teachers whose artistry glows in private. New York Times, p. B2.
• A source with no known author Cigarette sales fall 30% as California tax rises. (1999, September 14). New York Times, p. A17.

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/

Automatic Citation Generators

• Landmarks Citation Machine
• KnightCite Citation Maker
• Citation Wizard

• Landmarks Citation Machine