RESOURCESSEARCH STRATEGIES
MANAGING YOUR SOURCES& APA CITATION STYLE
31 JAN, 2 & 3 FEB 2011 DAVE CURREY, INSTRUCTOR; LIZ DOBSON, LIBRARIAN
Research Skills
GS 140
Your research proposal (Assignment 7 – due week 14)
What is your proposed research problem?What has been written by others on this topic?
How will data be collected in your proposed study?
Introduction: your “statement of the research problem” or “thesis” that is clear, specific, practical.
Literature Review: discussion of publications on the topic –)
Statement of methods/design that will be used to collect your data (quantitative &/or qualitative…)
Research Skills for…
Statement of your research problem (“choose a research topic” - Assignment 2)
Write a literature review/ bibliography with annotations (Assignment 3)
Annotated bibliography example of a citation + note
McIvor, S.D. (1995). Aboriginal women’s rights as “existing rights”.
Canadian Woman Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme 2/3, 34-38.
This article discusses recent constitutional legislation as it affects
the human rights of aboriginal women in Canada: the Constitution
Act (1982), its amendment in 1983, and amendments to the Indian
Act (1985). It also discusses the implications for aboriginal women
of the Supreme Court of Canada’s interpretation of the Constitution
Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991)
Annotated bibliography example of a citation + note
McIvor, S.D. (1995). Aboriginal women’s rights as “existing rights”. Canadian
Woman Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme 2/3, 34-38.
This article discusses recent constitutional legislation as it affects the
human rights of aboriginal women in Canada: the Constitution Act (1982),
its amendment in 1983, and amendments to the Indian Act (1985).This
legislation reverses prior laws that denied Indian status to aboriginal
women who married non-aboriginal men. On the basis of the Supreme
Court of Canada’s interpretation of the Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow
(1991), McIvor argues that the Act recognizes fundamental human rights
& existing aboriginal rights, granting to aboriginal women full participation
in the aboriginal right to self-government.
Your research question…
…
Which of these two research questions is probably better? Make sure your research question is practical. That is: can you find publications on your topic?
Literature review……
library.centennialcollege.ca
Distance Access
Start your research
► Get background information – Internet, encyclopedias, books…
► Get research reports & tune into the issues and debates - electronic databases (‘e-resources’) for journal & newspaper articles, Internet (selected sites)…
Need to revise your topic?
Once you have done some searching, you may find that you will need to revise your
topic
Possible Reasons: You can’t find publications on your topic Your topic is discussed, but not in the way you
expected Your topic is too general – you discover that it has too
many aspects (‘sub-topics’) to handle in one essay You see a lot of material on a related aspect that you
find more interesting and/or more practical
Google Scholar – for academic journal articles on the Internet
Google Books – for e-books on the Internet
Personal contacts…
Research help……
Purdue University Library – Online Writing Lab (OWL) website on APA style…
PLAGIARISMAbout
Your essay normally includes 3 types of material…
1. Your ideas
2. Your summaries of others’ ideas and facts
3. Quotations from your sources
(MLA Handbook, 2009)
From: Centennial College Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Policy
E-resources in the library (journal & newspaper articles, & specialized databases) …
…
About databases & journal articles…
Databases:Licensed electronic
resources - many let you search tens of thousands of articles at one time
Journals: Published in issues
regularly (weekly, monthly, etc.)
Each issue contains several articles (essays) by different authors
About databases & the Internet – what’s the
difference…? Internet Quality varies widely Inherent commercial bias Huge Limited user search tools
Databases (E-resources)
More academic info, more consistent reliable quality
Commercial free Big Precision tools for searching
43
Is there already a literature review published on your topic?
You might be lucky?
Develop your own literature review
Searching for articles on your topic
Sample record in a database – Note: FIELDS
Manage your results…
print, email, save, etc…
Sample APA style citation from
Business Source Complete database (EBSCO Vendor)
Sample search for full text scholarly articles in a database…
ORBoolean operator that collects
ANDBoolean operator that
combines…
LIMIT tools – e.g. fields
LIMIT tools – e.g. Scholarly (peer reviewed journals)
59
More LIMIT tools available to you…
EXPANDER tools – e.g. thesaurus
EXPANDER tools – e.g. multiple database searching
EXPANDER tools – e.g. truncation *
Saving your searches…
Managing your results…
Go to Folder…
Books (print & electronic) & videos in the Library…
…
Websites……
Is Media Awareness Network a reliable
website?
Media literacy……
Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University (Chester, Pennsylvania) – a 10-minute av program, Evaluate Web Pages
http://www3.widener.edu/Academics/Libraries/Wolfgram_Memorial_Library/Evaluate_Web_Pages/659/
Ithaca College Library (Ithaca, New York)Website evaluation exerciseshttp://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think7.html