Chapter 1: Choose a Research Topic

Transcription

1 Chapte 1: Choose a Reseach Topic This chapte coves: Topic 1: Libay Reseach Basics Topic 2: Get to Know the Libay Topic 3: Seaching Online Databases Successful eseach begins with knowing the basics. Roaming aound the libay o sufing the Web is not the best use of you eseach time. Successful libay eseach equies that you: Choose suitable eseach topics. Decide what type of infomation is needed and then locate it. Citically evaluate the infomation found. Give cedit to the infomation youfound. Buying a new ca, looking fo a job, o witing a pape fo a histoy class? How can these tasks possibly be elated? All equie eseach! Most of us make hundeds of decisions evey day. When making those decisions we usually do some eseach - ask fiends fo thei opinions o expeiences, suf the web fo infomation, o maybe even ead published infomation fo facts and figues. We usually follow cetain steps in gatheing infomation to make decisions: We ecognize that we need infomation. We identify infomation souces and then locate some infomation. We decide if the infomation is useful and suitable. We use the infomation to make a decision. Doing libay eseach follows simila steps. This chapte will intoduce you to the basic steps of libay eseach. f you follow these steps, you libay eseach time will be moe effective, less time consuming, and moe ewading. The libay eseach pocess is pesented hee as a step-by-step method. Howeve, you will find that it's usually a ecuing pocess. As you pogess into you eseach and gathe infomation, you will find you may need to go back and efine you topic and then locate new mateials. Things to do: Read this chapte. (Do all the online execises and Test Youself pactice questions.) Take Quiz 1 Submit Assignment 1 Chapte 1, Page 3

2 Topic 1: Libay Reseach Basics What You'll Lean: Libay Reseach Steps Step 1: Choose a topic Step 2: Find infomation Step 3: Evaluate infomation Step 4: Give cedit to souces Step 1: Choose a Topic Key Points: Choose a suitable topic o Undestand the assignment o Avoid oveused topics o Choose a topic that inteests you o Wok with a topic fom anothe class o Souces fo topic ideas State you topic as a question dentify main concepts as keywods Develop altenate keywods (synonyms) Test the topic (pe-eseach) Choose a suitable topic Finding an appopiate topic fo eseach is the fist step, and sometimes the toughest pat of doing good eseach. A suitable eseach topic will be one that suits the assignment equiements, the time available, o the scope of the poblem to be solved. Undestand the assignment. Befoe beginning you eseach, make sue you know exactly what is equied and what you pofesso has asked you to do. You pofessos will usually povide detailed instuctions explaining what you will be witing about, what infomation to include, and how the pape should be fomatted. Even if you've been given a topic, you will need to give it focus. Following the assignment instuctions will keep you fom wasting time and enegy. Make sue you undestand these specifics about the assignment: What type of pesentation o pape is equied? Ae you witing an agumentative essay, expessing you opinion, analyzing facts you've gatheed, gatheing souces fo a bibliogaphy, o giving a speech? How long is the pesentation? Ae you witing a 5-6 page pape o a bibliogaphy, o giving a 5 minute speech? How many and what kind of souces ae equied? Can these souces be books, aticles fom popula magazines o newspapes, Web sites, o ae aticles fom scholaly souces equied? What fomat is equied fo you witing assignment? MLA, APA, o anothe? What ae the due dates? Chapte 1, Page 4

3 Ty to avoid oveused topic ideas. Topics like abotion, gun contol, teen pegnancy, assisted suicide, o athlete dug abuse ae often chosen by students and tend to be oveused. f you must use these oveused topics ty to think of some pespective on the topic that may be unique. Choose a topic that inteests you. Pesonal inteest makes eseach moe enjoyable and if it is of inteest to you, you'll pobably do a bette job of witing. f possible, wok with a topic you ae aleady eseaching fo anothe class. This may save you some time and allow you to exploe diffeent aspects of the same topic. Fo the assignments you will do in this class, you can use a topic that you ae witing about in you English 1010 class, o anothe class you ae taking this semeste. O, use some of the ideas on finding a topic suggested above. Souces fo topic ideas. Knowing whee to look fo ideas will help you find an inteesting subject. Hee ae some suggestions on whee to look fo topic ideas: a a a a a Encyclopedias and textbooks. Encyclopedias and textbooks can be souces of ideas and ae excellent backgound souces. 10,000 deas fo Tem Papes, Pojects, Repots & Speeches Check fo this book in the libay Refeence aea. t has -, '...,... ' thousands of listings of oiginal eseach topics. The call numbe is Ref. LB L35. Opposing Viewpoints Books Seach the libay catalog to locate books focused on cuent and contovesial issues. Seach by keywod fo opposing viewpoints o cuent contovesies to see a list of ove 100 books fom the Opposing Viewpoints Seies, coveing specific issues in a po/con fomat. Popula magazines and newspapes These ae good souces of cuent and contovesial topics. Look in the Seials aea of the libay fo ecent issues of popula peiodicals and newspapes such as Time, Psychology Today, U.S. News & Wold Repot, the Salt Lake Tibune, o the New Yok Times fo ideas! Aticle Databases Topic ideas fo cuent events and contovesial issues can be found in seveal SUU aticle indexes. On the Libay homepage, click Find Aticles, then unde Multi-Subject ndexes look in these aticle indexes: CQ Reseache Topics and aticles on cuent and contovesial issues such as the Wa in aq, govenment sececy, domestic violence, and many moe. Aticles include summaies, pos and cons, and bibliogaphies. SRS Knowledge Souce Click SRS Knowledge Souce in the middle of the page, then SRS Reseache fo topics on leading issues. State You topic as a question Chapte 1, Page 5

4 Afte you've identified a topic, you'll need to ask youself what is it you want to know and how can it best be descibed? Stating you topic as a question has seveal advantages: 1. A clealy stated question helps you detemine if the topic is too boad o too naow. 2. Witing a topic question will help you to state the pupose of you pape and help you focus you eseach. Fo example, if you ae inteested in witing about, violence and pofanity in movies you could ask questions such as, Ae Hollywood movie-atings too lenient? Should video companies be allowed to sanitize o clean up videos? Does movie violence and pofanity affect audiences? Fo additional infomation and help on witing eseach questions, see the online suppot site fo Diana Hacke's book, A Wite's Refeence, Choose Reseach Execises, Reseaching (geneal), then Reseach questions. Boadening a eseach topic f you wite about an obscue peson, event, o subject, you may find the topic too naow and you may not find enough infomation to do you eseach. Fo example, if you wanted to wite about "the effects of spuce beetle invasions on logging in Utah" you may find that only a few aticles have been published. The topic may be too new and souces, especially scholaly souces, may not yet exist. You then might want to boaden you topic so that you find moe souces. Fo example: "futue of the logging industy in Utah", o "effects of insect invasions on the Westen logging industy" This expands the scope of the topic so that you might find moe elevant and scholaly infomation. Naowing a eseach topic Many students pick topics that ae too boad in scope. Dug abuse, fo example, is a majo social issue today. Thousands of books and aticles have been witten descibing the histoy and factos contibuting to dug abuse. A topic such as, "dug abuse and athletics" would be too geneal and boad fo a shot pape of 5-10 pages. t would be necessay to naow the focus of the topic to some aspect of dug abuse. Fo example: "dug abuse and school athletes" Chapte 1, Page 6

5 Ty to avoid oveused topic ideas. Topics like abotion, gun contol, teen pegnancy, assisted suicide, o athlete dug abuse ae often chosen by students and tend to be oveused. f you must use these oveused topics ty to think of some pespective on the topic that may be unique. Choose a topic that inteests you. Pesonal inteest makes eseach moe enjoyable and if it is of inteest to you, you'll pobably do a bette job of witing. f possible, wok with a topic you ae aleady eseaching fo anothe class. This may save you some time and allow you to exploe diffeent aspects of the same topic. Fo the assignments you will do in this class, you can use a topic that you ae witing about in you English 1010 class, o anothe class you ae taking this semeste. O, use some of the ideas on finding a topic suggested above. Souces fo topic ideas. Knowing whee to look fo ideas will help you inteesting subject. Hee ae some suggestions on whee to look fo topic find an ideas: o Encyclopedias and textbooks. Encyclopedias and textbooks can be souces of ideas and ae excellent backgound souces. 10,000 ideas t-.'u1 ;,.-..;"t... ";y...!1' _.--.._ o 10,000 deas fo Tem Papes, Pojects, Repots & Speeches...' :;,"n n Check fo this book in the libay Refeence aea. t has ,..... thousands of listings of oiginal eseach topics. The call numbe is Ref. LB L35. o Opposing Viewpoints Books Seach the libay catalog to locate books focused on cuent and contovesial issues. Seach by keywod fo opposing viewpoints o cuent contovesies to see a list of ove 100 books fom the Opposing Viewpoints Seies, coveing specific issues in a po/con fomat. o Popula magazines and newspapes ae good souces of cuent and contovesial topics. Look in the Seials aea of the libay fo ecent issues of popula peiodicals and newspapes such as Time, Psychology Today, U.S. News & Wold Repot, the Salt Lake Tibune, o the New Yok Times fo ideas! These o Aticle Databases Topic ideas fo cuent events and contovesial issues can be found in seveal SUU aticle indexes. On the Libay homepage, click Find Aticles, then unde Multi-Subject ndexes look in these aticle indexes: CQ Reseache Topics and aticles on cuent and contovesial issues such as the Wa in aq, govenment sececy, domestic violence, and many moe. Aticles include summaies, pos and cons, and bibliogaphies. SRS Knowledge Souce Click SRS Knowledge Souce in the middle of the page, then SRS Reseache fo topics on leading issues. State You topic as a question Chapte 1, Page 5

6 This topic could be naowed even futhe. Fo example: "dug abuse and high school athletics", o "dug abuse and college athletics", o "dug abuse and pofessional athletics" Hee ae some stategies you might conside to naow the scope of a eseach question: 1. Time: focus the time of the topic you ae consideing - this yea, the last few yeas, the futue. 2. Place: focus the location of you topic to a paticula location - the U.S., Utah, Russia. 3. Population: focus on a specific population - gende, age, occupation, ethnic goup, education, species. 4. Viewpoint: focus on a paticula point of view of the topic - social, medical, legal, ethical, biological, economic, psychological, political. dentify main concepts as keywods Pepae fo seaching by identifying the cental concepts in you eseach question. Compute databases ae not pogammed to undestand the natual language we use with each othe. They can't guess what you mean and ae easily confused by ambiguous tems. Theefoe it's necessay to claify what you will be looking fo by focusing on the main o essential concepts in you topic question. These main concepts ae called keywods. Fo example, if you wee consideing the topic of "violence in movies" you might choose a Topic: violence in movies Topic question: Ae the Hollywood movie atings too wan viewes of excessive violence? Keywods: Hollywood, movies, ating, violence See if you can identify the keywods in this Flash example: CliCk on the wods below to highlight the keywods o concepts in this eseach question. Then, click "submit" to compae you esponsa with ous. Shouldl1 woied laboutilelectonicilpivacyl 1«sUbmit»1 Develop altenative keywods (synonyms) Chapte 1, Page 7

7 Ealie we discussed naowing and boadening a eseach question. You can also boaden o naow you seach vocabulay by choosing synonyms o elated tems fo the keywods you've chosen. This could help you find additional and diffeent types of souces. Fo example, Keywods: Hollywood movies ating violence synonyms: film industy film anking fighting motion- DVD evaluation hostility, pictue videos! bloodshed butality Tip: To find synonyms fo you keywods you can use a thesauus o if you ae using Micosoft Wod, it has a build-in thesauus. n VlS Wod just click on the wod fo which you want a synonym, click the ight mouse button and choose Synonyms. Test the topic (pe-eseach) Test you topic by using the main concepts o keywods you've identified as seach tems in the SUU Libay Catalog, a SUU aticle database, o even in a Web seach. This type of pe-eseach can tell you if you topic is too geneal o too specific. Hee's an example: Ceate seach statements: Combine the keywods you've identified fo you topic (use Boolean connectos between the keywods - AND, OR) to seach seveal infomation databases. Fo example, a good seach statement fo the movie atings topic above would be - movie atings AND violence. Pe-eseach fo books using the libay catalog: Use seach statements to seach the SUU Libay catalog fo books on you topic. Ty to find 5-20 books on you topic. f you can't, change you seach statement to boaden o naow you seach until you can. Pe-eseach fo aticles using the Academic Seach Pemie database: Use you seach statements to seach the Academic Seach Pemie aticle database fo aticles on you topic. You should find aticles on you topic. f you can't, change you seach statement to boaden o naow you seach until you can. Witing a topic question and selecting keywods and altenate keywods will help you to state the pupose of you pape and help you focus you eseach. Late in the eseach pocess you will tun you eseach question into a eseach statement which will be the topic of you eseach. Fo example, this is how you topic may develop and evolve fom you initial idea to a final eseach topic: nitial topic: daining Lake Powell Topic question: What would be the economic impact of daining Lake Powell? Topic statement: Daining Lake Powell would have a negative impact on the Utah economy. Final pape topic: The mpact of Daining Lake Powell on Local Utah Economies. Once you've chosen and tested you topic, you ae eady to take the next step, finding infomation on you eseach topic! Chapte 1, Page 8

8 JSt Ylusell Pactice what you've leaned! Whee would be a good place to look fo ideas fo a topic? encyclopedias popula magazines and newspapes.cq Reseache index all of these choices Step 2: Find nfomation Key Points Select infomation souces o Making sense of infomation o Popula and scholaly souces o Pimay and seconday souces Locate and etieve infomation Stay oganized - keep a eseach log Select infomation souces Making Sense of nfomation When you need infomation, whee do you go? You choice of infomation souce will influence the kind of infomation you find. t is impotant to undestand how infomation is poduced and how infomation about a topic o event changes ove time. When some event happens, the fist infomation about it shows up on the news - ntenet, television, and the adio. As time passes, this infomation gets epackaged in diffeent types of esouces, and coveage becomes moe detailed and analytical. Fo example, a news event (like the beakup of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003) is epoted on TV, adio and the Web within seconds o minutes of the incident. t can take days o even weeks befoe the event is witten about in popula magazines. nfomation about the event may take 6 months to yeas to appea in scholaly publications. nfomation in books and efeence souces may take yeas. The gaphic below shows the geneal infomation cycle timeline fo cuent events : Chapte 1, Page 9

9 lnvisihle Bn.nHkuot & Gm'Cnmcnt Rd:C-n. ncc Co lle:;,; \.,. w,,' new., News pa pcn; :'>tag<lzines Joumah lkjuks PLlhlkations Wn.ks 88fc:ot8 > AY,.'(: J(,.,:t:-." eo/ell! Unfilteed, infomal communications poduced by communities of people who shae an inteest in a common subject o discipline. , pesonal convesations, confeence nvisible papes, unpublished diaies, meeting minutes, phone calls, newslettes, memoanda, ;college and othe souces that may not pass though the usual publishing, boadcasting, and distibution channels.,, Television news is boadcast at egula intevals duing the day, usually moning, : evening, and night, and wheneve impotant news demands that othe pogamming be!boadcast & inteupted. WWW news sites (like CNN.com) ae also becoming an impotant news iwwwnews esouce. They can be accessed at any time; they can povide links to othe infomation! souces on the Web; and they uses to exploe on thei own. Daily publications containing accounts of the day's events and othe featues. Most newspapes ae typically published fo a single city o town (The Spectum), while :Newspapes papes fom the lagest cities (The Salt Lake Tibune) have a moe global eadeship, and othes taget a specialized audience (Wall Steet Jounal)., i Peiodicals aimed at a geneal o nonpofessional audience. Published fequently, (usually weekly o biweekly), they cove eveything fom news and entetainment (Time, : Magazines Rolling Stone), to amateu science (Sky & Telescope), to eceation and hobbies (Runne's Wold)., Peiodical publications (usually monthly o quately), containing scholaship, empiical eseach epots, and/o leaned commentay on subjects of special inteest to a specific academic o pofessional community. Jounals ae a fomal means of communicating ideas in academic scholaship; and publication in jounals is a majo citeion fo JOUnalS pomotion among univesity faculty. Aticles ae pee eviewed o efeeed (sceened) befoe they ae appoved fo publication by pee pofessionals (scholas and/o pactitiones) who evaluate aticles by cetain citeia such as methods of eseach, conclusions, and significance to the eseach aea.. :- Publications of one o moe volumes bound between 2 coves, books can take seveal yeas to ceate and ae not published on a egula schedule. Books often equie a Books poposal, eseach, eflection, synthesis, editing, evision, and pinting. Popula books (e.g. unauthoized celebity biogaphies) can be ushed into poduction because they often aen't caefully eseached and epesent a quick pofit. :Govenment ipublications Refeence woks nfomation fom all levels of all govenments, including state and foeign govenments and integovenmental oganizations like the United Nations, as well as epots of eseach pojects funded by the govenment in all fields. Thee pobably isn't a topic about which govenment has not published. Geneally attempt to summaize topics and/o assist in finding seconday liteatue. The pupose of these souces is to answe shot questions, povide backgound infomation, and help you find othe souces. Refeence woks come in a wild assotment of types on all subjects. Chapte 1, Page 10

10 Popula and scholaly souces nfomation souces come in a vaiety of types, each maked by specific foms and taget audiences. Popula souces ae non-expet souces intended to infom and entetain the geneal public. Magazines like Time and Rolling Stone ae examples. Othe examples of popula souces ae newspapes, television and adio shows, and videos. Scholaly souces ae witten by expets and intended fo an expet audience. These souces ae usually efeeed o pee-eviewed (accepted fo publication based on ecommendations fom ecognized expets in thei fields). Examples of scholaly souces ae scholaly jounals, books, and documentaies. Magazines and jounals ae specific examples of popula and scholaly infomation souces. Click on the questions below to themost impotant chaacteistics of these publication types: Geneal Public Pofessionals in a field Scholas \'Expets" Chapte 1, Page 11

11 Pimay and seconday souces Pimay souces ae oiginal documents, mateials, o data, o anothe souce of evidence witten o ceated duing the time unde study. Pimay souces can be speeches, lettes, inteviews, news pogams, official ecods, novels, at, music, and scholaly jounal aticles epoting NEW eseach findings. Examples ae: The Declaation of ndependence have a Deam -- speech by Matin Luthe King "Cholea and Climate" - a scholaly eseach aticle on global waming Seconday souces intepet, analyze, o comment on pimay souces. Seconday souces can be encyclopedias, books, newspape aticles, eviews, citical essays, jounal aticles, o textbooks. Examples ae: the text of you United States histoy textbook a commentay on Matin Luthe Kings speech, Have a Deam "s Global Waming Hamful to Health?" - a popula aticle on global waming Locate and etieve infomation Hee's a bief list of majo types of infomation esouces mentioned above. Fo most eseach papes, you will need to use a combination of these esouces. Conside the specific attibutes of infomation souces befoe you make you choice Time Day of event 1-3 days Weeks nfomation Souce News epots - Web, TV, adio (KBYU, KSL) Newspapes (Salt Lake Tibune, Spectum) Popula magazines (Time, Newsweek) Months Scholaly jounals Yeas Books, efeence souces (encyclopedias, handbooks) Whee to Find t Advantage Web indexes Web, aticle databases, Libay peiodicals aea Web, aticle databases, Libay peiodicals aea Aticle databases, Libay peiodicals aea Libay catalog Fo some topics the Web could be the only infomation available. Up-to-date. Looks at the topic naowly and specifically. Povides eseach esults and detailed discussions; witten by expets; povides efeences to othe wok. Good souces fo compehensive, indepth teatment of a subject; povides diffeent viewpoints on a topic and can give backgound and histoical infomation, and efeences. Disadvantage Uneliable fo accuacy and authoity. May not be authoitative; can be biased. Not the most up-todate infomation; can be biased. Not useful fo up-todate infomation. Not useful fo up-todate infomation. n ode to locate the esouces mentioned above, you will need to use eseach tools available in the libay and on the libay Web site. Each of the eseach tools listed below can be accessed fom a compute with ntenet access. nstuctions on using these eseach tools will be coveed in Seaching Online Databases, in the section on Using the Libay Web Site fo Reseach, and in the specific pages noted below. Chapte 1, Page 12

12 Libay Catalogs Aticle Databases Web ndexes The SUU Libay Catalog is a seachable database used to find books, dictionaies and encyclopedias, peiodicals, and othe mateials owned by the libay. Details on how to use the libay catalog ae coveed in the next chapte, Find nfomation. Databases used to find aticles fom jounals, magazines, and newspapes. Details on how to use peiodical indexes ae coveed in the next chapte, Find nfomation. ndexes available on the Wold Wide Web used to find Web pages and othe ntenet esouces. Examples include Google, Yahoo, and HotBot. Details on how to seach the ntenet ae coveed in the next chapte, Find nfomation. When seaching fo infomation, be sue to keep a ecod of what eseach tools you seach, and also the keywods o topic wods you use in you seach. This way, you won't foget whee you have aleady seached fo infomation and will avoid epetition in you seach. Stay oganized - keep a eseach log Keep youself oganized thoughout the eseach pocess! You can save time and effot if you keep tack of you eseach. Hee ae a few easons to keep a eseach log: Keep notes of you eseach on index cads, notebook, compute, o whateve woks fo you. Keep tack of the keywods and seach stategies you've used fo finding infomation. You'll find that when you have combinations that give you good infomation in one database, they wok in othes. Keep tack of the indexes and databases you've used. Since indexes and databases ae updated with new infomation fequently, you'll find that you may want to etun and get up-todate infomation. Keep full citation infomation. Make sue when you copy, , o pint aticles o pages fom books that you have saved all the citation infomation fo that souce. Now that you've found infomation on you topic, you ae eady to take the next step, evaluating the infomation you've found on you eseach topic! Test _ell Pactice what you've leaned! n an English Liteatue class, you assignment is to wite a shot pape about one of the chaactes in Gapes of Wath, John Steinbeck's book about the Geat Depession. Which one of the following esouces would be consideed a pimay souce? aticle fom a histoy jounal about the Geat Depession inteview with John Steinbeck book eview of Gapes of Wath citical essay on John Steinbeck's witing Chapte 1, Page 13

13 Step 3: Evaluate nfomation Key Points Choose elevant souces Evaluate infomation souces o Authoity o Accuacy o Cuency Choose Relevant Souces Now that you've found lots of esouces fo you topic, it's time to make sue that what you use is the most accuate, cuent, and appopiate fo you topic. You'll find that you'll usually find much moe infomation that you need. With so much infomation available, you need to evaluate all you souces caefully. Look at you topic statement once again and make sue you ae addessing you topic statement. The books, aticles, and web sites you find should suppot the focus of you eseach. Be citical of the infomation you find and ask youself - what is the pupose of the infomation? Evaluate nfomation Souces Thee ae 3 citeia you need to conside when evaluating you infomation souces. Apply these same citeia to all mateials - whethe pint o electonic: Citeia Consideations iauthoity,, 1 Accuacy s thee an autho? f so, is the autho an expet o has witten othe infomation? s the infomation pee eviewed (eviewed by othe expets in the field)? s the publishe well known? f a website, is it a eputable web site fom a govenment o educational site (web addesses end in.gov o.edu)? s the infomation coect and based on poven facts? Do you find efeences to infomation souces in a bibliogaphy o footnotes? s the pupose to infom, teach, o enlighten, o is it intended to entetain, sell o pesuade? s the infomation objective, acknowledging all points-of-view, o is it biased? Cuency i s the infomation up-to-date and the most cuent available? s the infomation compehensive, meant to give you all the infomation on the subject o does t cove a naow aspect of the topic? Afte applying these citeia to the infomation you use, if you'e still not confident that you've found the most up-to-date and appopiate infomation on you topic, ask a pofessional fo help! Libaians ae available to help you with you eseach - take advantage of this fee sevice. Finally, in the next step, you will lean how to document the souce of infomation you've found. ' Chapte 1, Page 14

14 Test YlUSen Pactice what you've leaned! You ae witing a pape fo you college English class on why Congess should pass legislation to cap medical malpactice lawsuit awads. You instucto wants you to use the most tustwothy and up-to-date infomation available. Conside these souces: 1. Geene, Jay. "Teating Medical Pactice." Moden He alth cae. 10 June 1996: "Bush Plan to Cub Malpactice Awads Advances to Full House." New Yok Times. 7 Ma. 2000: A Moh, James C. "Ameican Medical Malpactice Litigation in Histoical Pespective." JAMA: Jounal of the Ameican Medical Association (2003): Which of these aticles would satisfy the above cuency evaluation citeia? 2 3 Which of these aticles would NOT satisfy the authoity evaluation citeia? 2 3 Step 4: Give Cedit to Souces Key Points Plagiaism and how to avoid it Citation basics The infomation you've seached fo, located, and evaluated so fa in this couse, is boowed fom souces othe than you own. Since it is owned by someone else, the owne o autho must be acknowledged. To give cedit to the autho of the infomation souce - books, aticles, Web souces, etc. - you must accuately document whee the souce can be located. n academic witing, this documentation is called a citation. Failue to povide citations to you souces is an unethical and illegal pactice called plagiaism. Plagiaism and how to avoid it Chapte 1, Page 15

15 Most people wouldn't think of taking someone's backpack o a bicycle left outside the libay. We ecognize these as examples of theft of someone else's popetyl Why then would we even conside using someone else's mateials o ideas in ou eseach? These ae the othe peson's popety, just like an item of physical popety. You must acknowledge the oiginal autho o ceato of infomation. Failue to povide citations to the souce mateial is called plagiaism. Plagiaism is consideed unethical, as well as cheating and stealing, and in many cases is illegal. Accoding to U.S. Copyight Law, any oiginal wok, including books, music, movies, videos, compute pogams, atwok and designs, and patents, is legally potected. This potection extends to both published, unpublished, and electonic woks. A good example is Napste, an ntenet sevice which allowed music loves to download songs in Howeve, copyight challenges foced its closue. The penalties fo plagiaism can be sevee. Most univesity pofessos have methods fo discoveing plagiaized mateial. Also, many colleges and univesities publish thei policies in dealing with plagiaism. At Southen Utah Univesity, all students ae give:! a copy of the SUU Student Handbook, which includes the SUU Policies and Pocedues. Section V. On-Campus Behavio, indicates that, "impope behavio on campus which can esult in disciplinay action include... cheating, fogey, plagiaism o othe use of wok belonging to anothe" These policies ae available on the web at Cite all infomation you find! The best way to avoid plagiaism is to povide citations fo any infomation you use fom books, aticles, govenment documents, inteviews, ntenet souces, softwae, videos, gaphics, o sound ecodings. LM 1010 students please note: n this class you ae expected to do you own wok on quizzes, assignments, and the final examination. f the instucto finds that you have submitted an assignment that duplicates o is clealy copied fom anothe peson, it will be consideed plagiaism and the assignment will be etuned with a failing gade and you will fail the couse. Citation basics When witing a pape, citations ae the acknowledgement that you have taken infomation fom anothe souce. The citation will lead the eade to the exact location whee that souce can be found. Depending on the style of witing equied by you pofesso, these citations ae usually in the fom of footnotes o a bibliogaphy. Footnotes ae usually at the bottom of the page, while a bibliogaphy is usually on the last pages of a witten pape. These bibliogaphies ae efeed to as efeences o woks cited, depending on the witing fomat o style. Why Cite? You acknowledge and identify all the woks of othe people used to suppot you witing. Documenting you souces seves as evidence and poof on the authoity of any statements, ideas, o concepts that you make in you witing. Chapte 1, Page 16

16 You citations lead an inteested eade to the same infomation you found and the oppotunity to find moe infomation about you topic. You can avoid plagiaism by citing all the infomation you use. Basic Citation nfomation Vaious citation fomats ae used in college classes, but they all equie simila infomation about the infomation souce. The vaious styles diffe pimaily in how the elements of the infomation souce (autho, title, publishe) ae aanged in the bibliogaphy. The most commonly used witing style that you will pobably use in college witing ae APA (Ameican Psychological Association), and MLA (Moden Language Association). A discussion of these and othe fequently used fomats is pesented in the Cite nfomation section. A citation in MLA fomat fo an aticle fom a scholaly souce, would look like this... Chen, Wei R., and Jens Midtgaad. "Fowad and Backwad Popagation of Denditic mpulses and Thei Synaptic 'Contol in Mital Cells." Science (1997): Basic infomation fo all witing fomats usually includes autho, title of aticle, title of publication, an'a publication infomation. Style Manuals Specific details on how to cite mateials popely ae available in style manuals. Diffeent style manuals ae used fo diffeent subjects. The fomat used in this class is the VLA style. This is pobably the most common fomat used in college witing, since it is used fo most ats and humanities classes, especially English classes. MLA Handbook fo Wites of Reseach Papes. 6th ed. Joseph Gibaldi. Moden Language Association. Call numbe LB2369.G53. Available in the Main, Reseve and Refeence Collections. The libay keeps style manuals fo many othe college subjects. Copies of many style manuals ae available on Reseve at the Ciculation Desk. Be sue to ask you instucto what citation style is equied fo you assignment. A libaian can also assist you in finding an appopiate style manual. Test Ylusell Pactice what you've leaned! Chapte 1, Page 17

17 1. Whee in the SUU Libay can you find copies of style manuals fo witing? SUU home page Reseve at the Ciculation Desk Special Collections Media Collection 2. t's not necessay to povide citations to aticles fom newspapes. Tue False Develop a plan fo eseach When should you begin you eseach? Don't wait until the last minute - it's impotant to ealize that eseach cannot be done ovenight! The soone you stat you eseach, the moe time you have to wite a successful pape. Some easons to get stated ealy: Reseach takes time! Reseach often involves using many diffeent infomation esouces and may equie seveal visits to the libay o the libay website. Availability! Some mateials may not be immediately available. Requesting aticles and books fom othe libaies can take fom 2 days to 2 weeks, o longe. Checked out mateials! Othe students may need to use the same libay mateials and you'll have to wait until they ae etuned. Need help! You may have poblems finding infomation and may need the help of you pofesso o a libaian. Chapte 1, Page 18