FINDING YOUR SOURCES I-Search Paper

Today’s Objective Today we are going to show you how to find the best sources for your paper We will go over: 1- The 2 types of sources you should use in your paper. 2-Where you can find those sources 3- How to run a good search that will allow you to find the sources you need 4- How to determine if those sources are credible and good sources for your paper.

Two Kinds of Source Material ~Primary Sources: information “straight from the horses mouth”  original documents such as letters, diaries, legislative bills, laboratory studies, eyewitness accounts ~Secondary Sources: information other have written on the topic  commentaries on primary sources (another sources opinion or interpretation of a primary source) **secondary sources are great sources to help you find primary sources like studies and reports because they often cite them!!! **Watch out for bias!

Review: Can a source be Primary and Secondary?? Yes!! ***whether a source is primary or secondary depends on your topic 1)Topic: Company’s Chance for Financial Success – source: information and opinions of writers discussing the company in books and periodicals **secondary source 2)Topic: Evaluation of the Accuracy of the Forecasts about a Company source: information and opinions of writers discussing the company in books and periodicals **primary source

Review: I-Search vs. Research ~in traditional research papers most of the investigation takes place in the library where the writer is primarily engaged in reading secondary research ~in the I-Search paper, half or more of your research comes from primary sources –sources you will personally interview and observe

Where can I find great, reliable sources? EVERYWHERE!! Writtern Sources:  Library Sources: JSTOR, SIRS / Proquest, etc  Google Scholar  Newspapers: NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, SFgate, Sacramento Bee, Chicago Tribune  Other ideas??? Media Sources (podcasts, documentaries, vlogs, etc.):  iTunes, NPR  60 minutes  PBS (Frontline, Charlie Rose, etc).  Other ideas????

How do I find the right materials on those sites? You must run a strong search!!  Using the right terms in your search can help you to find the best articles. **Use an ‘Exploring Concepts’ exercise (like the ones we’ve done previously this week)

Exploring Key Concepts 1. Brainstorm words or phrases related to your topic  example: Topic- Bullying “bully,” “mean girls,” “teasing,” “intimidation,” “gangs,” “picked on,” “drama,” “cruel,” “fights,” “spreading rumors,” “cyber bullying,” etc. 2. Now sort these words according to formality. (use the chart below)  Which words would a researcher use when writing about the problem of bullying? These are formal words.  Which words do you and your friends use to talk about bullies and bullying? These are informal.

Example :  Start your searches by using the formal vocabulary words related to your topic

Searching Tips What does using “ ” do to your search?  It’s the difference between searching-- mean girls and “mean girls”  mean girls = will give you any article using the words mean and/or girls  “mean girls” = will give you articles that actually use the words ‘mean girls’ in the article. What does using * do to a word you search?  It will give you all the variations of a word  if you search the word ‘different’ you will get articles that use that word  if you search ‘diff*’ then you will get articles with different, difference, differentiation, and all forms of that word.

Surveying the Text Use the questions below to help you survey articles 1. Note the title and headings for the article. What are the major issues about your topic that this article seems to address? 2. Read the first sentence of each paragraph in the article. Now what do you think the article will be about? 3. Who are the authors? Do the authors seem qualified to write about your topic? Why or why not? 4. Where and when was this article published?

Asking Questions Questions about my topic that I hope to answer by reading the articles I chose:

Final Tips **Look at every article you read like we’ve done previously in class (or mentioned online): 1. Is it a ‘credible’ article? 2. What makes this the author qualified to speak about this topic? 3. What is the author’s thesis/claim? 4. What arguments / evidence does he/she use to support his thesis? 5. How does this text connect to the other sources your using for this paper?