1. English 110: Using Sources The Craft of Research pp. 75-113

2. What you can get from sources Ideas for topics, research problems, arguments to oppose, qualify, or supplement (pre-research) Claims to corroborate or challenge yours: can be used as support and to add nuance or qualification to your thesis, but don’t in themselves play the role of evidence Data to use as evidence to defend your claims: must be reported accurately and interpreted credibly (analytically linked to your reasoning) Models for how to organize your paper, for what sort of arguments to make, and for what counts as evidence Other sources mentioned in footnotes, a bibliography, or an index (pages 76, 92-94, 88)

3. Types of sources Primary: the object of study itself (literary texts, movies, people; for example, the poem Dulce et Decorum Est) Secondary: written studies about the object being investigated (biography of Wilfred Owen, author of the poem) Tertiary: summaries of, syntheses of, or introductions to secondary studies (encyclopedias, specialized dictionaries, textbooks, book reviews, most of what you find on the Internet) (page 76)

4. Is a source reliable (i.e., authoritative)? Is it published by a reputable press (typically, an academic press, e.g., Cambridge University Press)? Is it peer-reviewed? (Usually can count on this for books published by an academic press or essays in a scholarly journal) Does it possess a bibliography and footnotes or endnotes? Is the author a reputable scholar? Is the study current? Did the study originate in print (that is, not on the Internet)? If you have any doubt about a source, ask me! (pages 76-77, 83-84)

5. Locating sources On reserve: the sources I’ve put on reserve at the Good library Reference sources: in addition to general reference works like The Encyclopedia Britannica, look for specialized encyclopedias and bibliographies (for overviews of the topic and finding secondary sources): e.g., Contemporary Literary Criticism Library catalog Browse shelf neighbors Library of Congress subject headings Interlibrary loan: you can almost always get that key book or article, if you plan ahead. Go to World Catalog to do this. EBSCO (but frequently NOT the best place to start) Wikipedia and Google: to get ideas, or to get the general “lay of the land” for a topic—but not as essential sources Research librarian (pages 79-83)

6. Other places to find sources WORLDCAT searches: on the library homepage, the link “World Catalog” near the bottom of the “Library Quick Links” on the left of the page Notre Dame library: an alternative to WORLDCAT, since you can actually check books out of ND –Online catalog: http://catalog.library.nd.edu/ –Driving directions on Blackboard under “Course Documents” –You may obtain check-out privileges with an ALI card: see http://www.goshen.edu/library/ALI_Recip_Borrowing.htm Source trails It’s nice to share: use “Communication” on Moodle to email the entire class if a source is checked out

7. What not to say to yourself when going through your sources “I don’t need to take notes, since I’ve photocopied the article and checked out the book.” “I only need to pay attention to the parts that seem to agree with my argument.” “I only need to skim through the source until I find a sentence that I can plug into my paper somewhere.” (pages 90-91)

8. Taking notes on sources Summarize the argument, reasons, and evidence Write a quick evaluation of how well the argument is demonstrated and how significant it is Note the usefulness of any aspect of the study (argument, data, organization, etc) for your project Record all bibliographic information Clearly distinguish in your notes verbatim quotation, paraphrase, and summary Do all of this using bibliographic software—EndNote—on GC lab computers (and available for purchase) With such notes, each stage of designing and drafting your paper will be practically and psychologically easier (page 98)

9. What is genuine research? Research is: searching for, sifting through, and synthesizing relevant secondary sources in order to help solve a particular problem that is worth solving Research isn’t: finding three somewhat related sources and figuring out a way to rope them together Research isn’t: plugging in largely unnecessary bits and pieces of various sources into what is mostly just your own reflections on a topic

10. Some grade considerations “A” Papers: define a research problem suitable to a 2250-word essay and supply a persuasive, accurate, well-written defense of a solution “C” Papers: define a problem, but one perhaps too vaguely worded or too large for a 2250-word paper, or supply a defense of a solution that has inaccurate or inadequate evidence or poor logic “F” Papers: do not define a true research problem; or, do not offer appropriate research in support of a solution; or, do not have any manifest relation to the chosen topic.

11. Have a Happy Day!