Research Vocabulary

Almanac A publication of useful, interesting facts. Some things that are included in an almanac are the world’s most spoken language or how many steps does it take to the top of the Eiffel Tower

Archives Materials that have been preserved Examples include: Historical Documents Public Records Institutional files

Bibliography An alphabetical list of all the sources you used to find your information This list comes after your paper or project. An example would be Pitterman, Cara E. I Love Derek Jeter and Other Analysis on Why the Yankees Are the Best Baseball Team Ever. Shortstop Publishing, Inc.: New York, NY. 1996. Pg. 2–35.

Biographical Dictionary This is a great resource that gives you short profiles of famous people, like inventors, presidents, rock stars, writers, and comedians

Caption An explanatory sentence that goes beneath or above a picture, diagram, or photograph It details something that the reader wouldn’t derive just from looking at the visual, like the place or date it was taken (if it's a photo), who or what is in it (if it's a picture), or dimensions (if it's a diagram of a structure).

Cite Quote (a passage, book, or author) as evidence for or justification of an argument or statement, esp. in a scholarly work.

Dewey Decimal System 000–099 is General Information, like reference books. 100–199 is Philosophy and Psychology 200–299 is Religion 300–399 is Social Sciences 400–499 is Language. 500–599 is Natural Science and Math 600–699 is Technology 700–799 is Arts 800–899 is Literature 900–999 is Geography and History Melvil Dewey came up this crazy idea that books should be sorted by subject and assigned numbers so that librarians could easily access what they were looking for

Keywords Using keywords is evidence that you've mastered the art of researching because these are the words that help you find resources related to your topic at the library or on the Internet. 

Paraphrase Express the meaning of (the writer or speaker or something written or spoken) using different words, esp. to achieve greater clarity.

Plagiarism Plainly stated, plagiarism is literary theft. Stealing another person's words and pretending those words are your own is a serious offense. Changing only the words of an original source is NOT sufficient to prevent plagiarism. You must cite a source whenever you borrow ideas as well as words. . For example, you could borrow liberally from the following without fear of plagiarism: Compilations of readily available information, such as the phone book Works published by the U.S. government (i.e. the Constitution) Facts that are not the result of original research (such as the fact that there are fifty U.S. states, or that carrots contain Vitamin A)

Primary Sources Items, such as letters, official documents, photographs, statistical records, interviews, and manuscripts from the actual time you're studying are considered primary sources. These lend a little something extra to your research. You can find primary sources in an archive. You'll also find them in museums and reproduced on the Web.

Search Engine An Internet site, like Yahoo! or Google, that lets you surf the Web by typing in keywords and leading you to pertinent Web sites. Be choosy about the sites you use — don't settle for the first Web site on the list. You can't always trust the information just because it's widely viewed, so check your facts.

Thesis A statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved: "can you support your thesis?".

Credible Resources This is a source that has been tried and proven by people who are experts in the field. You can usually find the credible source online with the suffix of .org, .edu, and .gov