| 1.
Take a trip to the library. Use the electronic catalog or browse
the shelves to look for books on your topic. If you find a book
that is useful, check the bibliography (list of sources) in
the back of that book for other books or articles on that topic.
Also check indexes of periodicals and newspapers. Check with
a librarian if you need help finding sources. |
| 2.
Try to use as many different types of sources as you can, including
books, magazine articles, and internet articles. Don't rely
on just one source for all your information. |
| 3.
Keep a list of all the sources that you use. Include the title
of the source, the author, publisher, and place and date of
publication. This is your preliminary, or draft, bibliography.
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Practical
Issues
Research
Ethics
Parenthetical
Citation
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| Once
your topic has been approved, begin to gather information from
authoritative reference sources: pertinent books, encyclopedias,
and articles in magazines, journals, and magazines. Librarians
will be happy to show you how to use the various research tools
within the library and may suggest other sources of information.
Important new resources are now available to you through electronic
services, which provide many learning and reference tools as
well as access to the Internet, where you can often discover
an abundance of information.
Depending
on the resources available and the length requirements of
your assignment, you may find it necessary to widen or restrict
the scope of your topic.
As
you examine each source, make a separate note of each fact
or quotation you might want to use in your paper. Unless you
are really good at manipulating text with your computer or
laptop, it might be wise to use index cards when preparing
notes. Be sure to identify the source of the information on
the listing (include the author's name and page number on
which the information appears). Try to summarize the information
in your own words (paraphrasing); use quotation marks if you
copy the information exactly. (This rule should apply whether
you are copying a great deal of material or only a phrase.)
Give each listing a simple descriptive heading.
After
reading this guide carefully, we hope you will be able to
write research papers, which will impress everyone including
your teacher. We hope to make you a better writer by the time
you read the last sentence on our website. So go ahead and
enjoy the site!
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