Bountiful High Guide to Research

Helpful Tips for Research (Finding & Evaluating Sources) Avoiding Plagiarism Citing Sources

What are you researching? At this point, you should have selected an issue to argue, and you might have formed a claim. Chances are you are going to be looking for evidence (reasons, facts, statistics, examples, anecdotes, definitions, and expert opinions) to support your claims and also refute counterclaims.

library resources Use the Library Website to access the online catalog. You can search for books & library sources

Databases (A database is a digital collection of information) Databases are a closed source, so they are more scholarly and more credible than most websites! Use Utah’s Online Library- (formerly Pioneer)

Utah’s Online Library Onlinelibrary.uen.org The Reference Section of Utah’s Online Library has a number of great databases. If you are researching a national topic, I suggest using EBSCO: High School, Gale Reference Collection 9-12, and possibly World Book Encyclopedia. EBSCO links you to a number of different databases you can pick and choose from to help you locate information. I would choose to search all databases, so you don’t have to keep doing different searches. It also lets you filter for scholarly journals.

Gale Onlinelibrary.uen.org Gale Reference Collection has a number of really cool links. Infotrac Newstand lets you search newspaper articles from all over the world. Infotrac Student Edition is their standard magazine database, like EBSCO. Global Issues in Context leads you to information about current problems and debates in the world today. Opposing Viewpoints in Context shows you arguments and differing viewpoints about the arguments. This site organizes debates by subject, so much of the research is already done for you.

Utah’s Newspapers Onlinelibrary.uen.org For local, current information, search the newspapers in the Utah Resouces section: Deseret News Salt Lake Tribune Utah’s Local Newspapers can get you links to the Clipper, Standard Examiner, WSU Signpost, and Hilltop Times.

Search engines to use Research search engines General search engines A search engine will help you find information on the World Wide Web. General search engines Research search engines Google Scholar RefSeek.com Microsoft Academic *These search engines are designed specifically for research and filter out non- academic sites. Your teachers would most likely prefer information from databases, but these are better than general search engines. Google Bing Yahoo *These sites are designed for general online searches and do not filter out non-academic sources. Many teachers do not want you to use these for research. *Top matches are advertisements, paid sources, and Wikipedia.

How do you know if a source is valid? If it’s a book- look at the date, the author, & bias If it’s a database- it will be credible but still search for bias If it’s a website- look at the URL and check for information about the date, the author, and bias. Use standard, nonscholarly websites with caution!

Is it credible? Use the CRAAP Test C.R.A.A.P. is an easy device, or mnemonic, to help you remember the following evaluation criteria: C - Currency R - Relevancy A - Accuracy A - Authority P - Purpose

Ask yourself: Currency When was it written and/or updated? Do the links work? Relevancy Does the information tie in with your research issue? Accuracy Is this information correct? Does it come from a credible source? Does it sound too absurd to be true? Can you confirm the same information w/ 2 other sources? Authority Who wrote this? Is he/she an expert? (Look them up) Purpose Why was this site/information written? Persuade? Inform? Entertain? Make money?

Research tip: use Boolean operators AND OR NOT Research tip: use Boolean operators

AND narrows your search. Sat and cheating Only records with both terms will be found (the purple area).

OR broadens your search. Act or cheating The entire image should be highlighted.

NOT narrows your search NOT narrows your search. Use NOT when you want to exclude a keyword from your search. ACT not CHEATING CHEATING ACT Here just the left hand side should be shown. Minus Symbol (-) ACT -CHEATING

Research tip: USE Quotation Marks Quotation marks are used around phrases. By using quotations marks, you are telling the computer to only bring back pages with the terms you typed in the exact order you typed them. Example: “health care reform” instead of health AND care AND reform Put example in color and have “health care reform” come in and then health and care and reform appear later.

Research tip: Use Truncation Educat* will find: Education Educate Educated Educating Truncation means to chop off. When you truncate you chop off the end of the word, so the computer can search for multiple endings. For example, your research question includes the keyword education. You can truncate education, so that the computer will find all of the word ending variations. Animated gif would be great here.

Research tip: Be Very Specific on search engines The web is virtually limitless so you need to be very specific ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Data Base is a closed source with less options so you may want to be more broad if you having a hard time finding information Be more broad on data base searches

Research Tip: Taking Notes There are a lot of effective note-taking methods out there. Find one that works for you. Keep track of your sources. At the very least, write down the author’s name, the title of the article, the name of the web site, the date it was published, and the date you found the source. You will have to use that information later to create a Works Cited page. Write down the most important information you can find that helps you prove your point and refute the ideas of your opponents. Nondigital High Tech 3 x 5 Cards Microsoft One Note Keep info in a notebook Google Doc Print and highlight articles

Research tip: Be careful not to plagiarize! Follow the 3 word rule—if you’re using more than three of the author’s words (excluding names), you’re probably plagiarizing. Read a paragraph, look away, and write down a note from memory. Put direct quotes in quotation marks to avoid plagiarism. Use in-text citations to give credit to your sources: According to ___________, ______________________. There are all sorts of plagiarism checkers out there now. People get kicked out of college for plagiarism or lose credibility (Melania Trump/Michelle Obama, Joe Biden/Neil Kinnock 1987).

Works Cited/Listing Sources (Links on media Center Web Site) Easybib.com is a web site that helps students build their own works cited pages in MLA and other formats. Sometimes they need a few minor changes (punctuation mainly) to comply with the formatting, but it does most of the heavy work for you.  Citationmachine.net is another website specializing in creating citations for you. Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is considered an authority on formatting and can help you find and format source information. Use the navigation bar on the left to select APA or MLA guidelines. The Weber State Writing Center has some great downloadable handouts of MLA, APA, and Turabain formats. They can be found under the Writing Center Handouts section.