Academic Research “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11 Academic research requires a higher standard. Big issue for colleges. Professors won’t accept sources that aren’t appropriate for higher level analysis. You won’t be doing “reports” You will be expected to know your way around the free web, databases, google scholar, jstore, etc. if your professors don’t require it, ask for your money back.

Research vs. Academic Research What is the difference? Here’s an example. These students are doing a report, but you’ll get the picture.

What DO college professors look for in student writing? Ask students what they think they’ll be graded on when they write papers.

College Faculty Survey Priorities for evaluating research papers: citations (form and use) use of direct quotes appearance of paper quality of writing synthesis of material evaluation of sources grammar overall grasp of subject organization precision of focus thesis statement logical summary paragraph development spelling and punctuation bibliography (quantity) Goodin, M. E. (1991, Fall). The Transferability of Library Research Skills from High School to College. School Library Media Quarterly, 20(1).

Using Wikipedia for Academic Research Can wikipedia be used strategically? Ethically? Look at: overview for your own background knowledge, get search terms, follow links in references DO NOT CITE DIRECTLY FROM WIKIPEDIA

Developing search terms Write down your initial topic as a phrase, a sentence or a question. My Topic: Corporate Farming Question: How does corporate farming impact the quality of food we eat? (may change question as I begin my research) Example: before looking at a secondary source like wikipedia, encyclopedia or some other source of an overview, do these steps.

Developing search terms Use wikipedia, a database, an encyclopedia or video to find keywords and phrases and begin to plan your research Main idea words  | Which words represent the main ideas of your topic? Synonyms | List synonyms of your keywords Related terms | List important ideas that are related to your keywords Context | Are there important people, places, events or time periods to help place your topic in context?

Using the Free Web “Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him.” Ernest Hemingway, 1954

Currency? Relevance? Authority? Accuracy? Purpose? The CRAAP Test Currency? Relevance? Authority? Accuracy? Purpose? Currency – timeliness – does it matter in every case? Relevance – is it important for your research topic? Authority – Who produced it and what are their credentials? Accuracy – Is the info correct and can it be verified? Purpose – fact, opinion, propaganda – what’s the bias? Everything has some bias, unless it’s raw data

Finding Academic Sources Day 2

Review Academic research requires a higher standard. Use Wikipedia only as a starting place. Get the big picture, references and important names and places Don’t forget the CRAAP test (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, purpose)

Don’t waste time with Google Basic Search When accessing sites on the “free web” via Google, Bing or some other search engine: always use advanced search. In fact, ALWAYS use advanced search on databases, search tools, etc.

Google Advanced Search Click on the gear thingy to get to Advanced Search

Use it to NARROW your Search Put a search phrase here Put several words related to your topic here Narrow here by reading level, domain, etc. Experiment with different search terms!

Why use Databases? Easy to search (ALWAYS USE ADVANCED SEARCH) Vetted, high quality information Citations done for you! BTW – Check out EasyBib app

Databases NTPS Libraries: http://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us SIRS Researcher, Proquest, eLibrary Timberland Library: www.trlib.org Databases and web resources SPSC: http://www.spscc.ctc.edu/library Electronic Reference, databases, eReserves WWU: http://library.wwu.edu/ Reference databases, library guides Databases do some of the work for you. D752374541

“If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton The motto of Google scholar. Just scholarly papers: journals, theses, dissertations, published works by academics

What to look for in google scholar. Use ADVANCED SEARCH What to look for in google scholar. Use ADVANCED SEARCH! Most often these are just abstracts or summaries, except the PDFs are usually the full article.