Using the Web  For your graduation project you were able to select the topic that you were interested in, so that should make writing your paper a little easier. You also are very lucky that you get to do research and include it in your paper so you don’t have to make up seven pages worth of ideas yourself. The writing should be in your own words, of course! If you have good research it makes writing a good paper much, much easier.

Using the Web  Your graduation project paper must be a RESEARCH PAPER and that you must consult the articles, reports and books written by others who are a specialist in your subject area. You get a better grade on your paper if you use lots of up to date, accurate and authoritative sources and cite them in MLA style.

Using the Web This is a section of the graduation project rubric, or scoring guide used to grade your paper.

Using the Web  Primary Sources-First Hand Information  Interview an expert  Create a survey on your topic  Journal or Log of your experiences  Photographs or video of an event

Using the Web  Secondary Sources  Usually books or journal articles  Provide “second hand” information  Analyze and interpret data

Using the Web  Good research makes it easier to write a paper and good research can be done on the internet.  Law of Least Effort says that people naturally flock towards the information that is easiest to obtain, but not what is most accurate. We have to pull ourselves away from this natural tendency type our topic into Google and go.

Using the Web  Believe it or not, the state of NC $PAYS$ for you to have access to collections of research articles and book entries called databases. You can save the articles to your flash drive, Z drive or digital locker, them to yourself or print them out with the MLA citation attached. They are written by journalists, researchers, doctors, and other specialists.

Using the Web  Where have they been all of your life?  From the school’s homepage click on Library Media Center

Using the Web  The website link at the very top is to NC Wise Owl.

Using the Web Click the Student Research Tab and enter “wiseowl” when you are prompted for a password.

Using the Web  Brainstorm the keywords related to your topic question. Think of it in broad and narrow ways.  What are the benefits of a community garden?  Community garden  Garden  Gardening  Plants

Using the Web

Hit narrow results by subject in order to get some suggestions for more precise hits. Pick United States to narrow down to 221 articles.

Using the Web Click on an articles title for an abstract or short summary. Let’s talk about why this is a great article. It was tenth on the list. Hit “Find More Like This” when you find a good one.

Using the Web Click on an articles title for an abstract or short summary. It was tenth on the list. Hit “Find More Like This” when you find a good one.

Using the Web See options to print, or save the article. I suggest you print or the PDF full text if it is available and don’t forget to select that you want an MLA citation.

Using the Web  Still need the internet?  Here are some tricks:  site:.edu (returns only websites with.edu)  site:.edu cake decorating would return search results from educational websites about cake decorating  site:.edu alligators would return search results from educational websites about alligators

Using the Web

 -.com (does not have any websites with.com)  -.com fishing would bring back results with no.com websites. Be careful to avoid websites that end in.co.au or.co.uk or similar endings. These are company websites from other countries.  -.com bee-keeping would bring back results with no.com websites.

Using the Web

 Website evaluation criteria  When you view a website and are considering using it as a source, ask yourself these questions.  Is it authoritative?  Who wrote it and how do you know this? Was it by the National Geographic, NASA, a University or other known organization? Can you look up the author’s name? Have they written anything else?

Using the Web  Is it objective?  Is this website an advertisement or written by someone who is paid to give you a certain type of information about a product?  Is it timely?  How long ago was this written? If you are researching something in the field of medicine or technology the most up to date information is best.

Using the Web  Is it accurate?  Do you see the same information in more than one authoritative and timely place?

Using the Web  To cite a website in MLA style you will need:  Author Name  Article Name  Website Name  Publisher  Date Published  Date Accessed  Web Address (If required by your teacher)  Last Name, First Name. “Website article.” Website. Publisher, Date Published. Web. Date accessed.  All of this information may not be available, but try to find as much as you can.