Research, Sources and Citations

Engage Your Sources

Scan before you read. How closely related to my topic is this? Is this source too basic or overly complex? What could this source add to my overall balance of sources?

Dont reject sources that disagree with your perspective PROVE THEM WRONG

Engage Your Sources (2)

Read with an open, not empty, mind. Ask: Why? So what? What is clear, what is confusing? How does the source affirm or challenge your ideas? What proof does it use? How does it make your think, feel or believe? How could you use this in your writing? background, key facts, important ideas, opposing perspectives, examples Check footnotes, references and appendices for further leads.

Rate Source Reliability and Depth

Scholarly Books and Articles Trade Books and Journal Articles Government Resources Reviewed Official Online Documents Reference Works and Textbooks

News and Topical Stories from Quality Sources Popular Magazine Stories Business and Nonprofit Publications
List Server Discussions, Blog Articles Unregulated Web Material

Tabloid Articles (print and web)

Evaluate Your Sources

Credible Author Reliable Publication Unbiased Discussion Current Information Accurate Information Full, Logical Support Quality Writing and Design Relationship with Other Sources

Create a Working Bibliography

Book Mackey, Sandra. The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein. New York: W.W. Norton, 2002. 953.82 Author presents case for America not to destroy Hussein. A lot of historical info. on Iraq Periodical Cortright, David and George A. Lopez. Are Sanctions Just? The Problematic Case of Iraq. Journal of International Affairs 52:2 (Spring, 1999): 735-755. Bound periodicals Quality academic source with good discussion of the political and moral issues involved in the sanctions. Internet Capaccio, George. Suffer the Little Children. Iraq Action Coalition. 12 March 2002. http://iraqaction.org/suffer.html Details of efforts of relief workers in Iraq.

Develop an Effective Note-Taking System

Be selective use your thesis statement to guide you What supports it? What opposes it? What puzzles you? What surprises you? Develop accurate, complete records Engage your sources Avoid unintended plagiarism

Drafting a Paper with Documented Research

A poor paper A list of facts or unsupported opinions Several different sources are lumped together with no plan Sources are absent or the sources dominate and the writer disappears Plagiarism A strong paper Centers on the writers ideas, advanced through thoughtful engagement with and crediting of sources

Organizing and Synthesizing Your Findings

Develop Your Ideas Refocus on your thesis statement. Study the evidence. Develop sound conclusions through analysis and synthesis. This is your paper. Use sources to support it, not dominate it.

Developing Your First Draft

Write Systematically 1. Develop a detailed outline, including supporting evidence. 2. Arrange your notes in precise order. 3. Write methodically, following your thesis, outline and notes. 4. Cite your sources as you write. Write Freely 1. Review your working thesis statement and notes. Then set them aside. 2. If you need to, jot down a brief outline. 3. Write away get all your research-based thinking down on paper. 4. Go back to your research notes, develop your draft further, and integrate your citations.

Integrate Source Material Carefully

The Right Reasons Support your points with facts, statistics and details. Give credibility to your point with an experts supporting statement. Bring your point to life with an example, observation, or illustration. Address a counterargument or alternative.

Integrate Source Material Carefully (2)

Quotation Restraint Restrict yourself for maximum impact. Key statements by authorities. Well-phrased claims and conclusions. Passages where careful word-by-word analysis and interpretation are crucial to your argument. QUOTATIONS MUST PULL THEIR WEIGHT

Integrate All Sources Thoughtfully

1. State and explain your idea, creating a context for the source. 2. Identify and introduce the source, linking it to your discussion. 3. Summarize, paraphrase, or quote the source, providing a citation in the appropriate spot. 4. Use the source by explaining, expanding or refuting it. 5. When appropriate, refer back to a source to further develop the idea it contains.

Sample passage
writers ideas attributive phrase paraphrase, quotation or summary Citation commentary The motivation and urgency to create and improve hybridelectric technology comes from a range of complex forces. Some of these forces are economic, others environmental, and still others social. In Societal lifestyle cost of cars with alternative fuels/engines, Joan Ogden, Robert Williams, and Eric Larson argue that *c+ontinued reliance on current transportation fuels and technologies poses serious oil supply insecurity, climate change, and urban air pollution risks (7). Because of the nonrenewable nature of fossil fuels as well as their negative side effects, the transportation industry is confronted with making the most radical changes since the introduction of the internal-combustion automobile more than one hundred years ago. Hybrid-electric vehicles are on response to this pressure.

conclusion

Final Tips
Keep the focus on your own thoughts. This should not be a series of references to other sources. Present your own ideas honestly and clearly. Consider others ideas but analyze them as they relate to your personal perspective.

Dont try to include everything you have learned. Select the most relevant and powerful information to support your thesis.
Avoid over using one source. Avoid too many direct quotations. No plagiarism.

Research Essay
8 10 pages, Times New Roman 12-point type, double-spaced No title page Thesis Statement in your introductory paragraph Topic Sentences in your paragraphs Fully cited Bibliography (5 or more sources from the top of the pyramid) Conclusion

Chicago Manual of Style

http://library.yonsei.ac.kr/main/sub.do?menu Code=0205 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/71 7/01/