library research. what were going to cover what is research? internet research looking for books...

Library Research

What we’re going to cover

What is research? Internet research Looking for books

Here and at Dominguez Hills Looking for magazine and journal articles

Library Databases

Do you have an assignment to write a research paper but you’re not sure where to start? Begin by carefully reading the assignment requirements. This will help you understand the work you need to do. Ask your teacher about anything you’re not clear about before you get started.

First, let’s think about what we mean when we say “research.”

Research

Gathering information from authoritative sources:

pertinent books, encyclopedias, and articles in magazines, journals, and

magazines.

The research process:1. Have a topic2. Focus on your topic by :

Asking yourself: how much do I know about the topic? Making a list of terms related to the topic Making a list of questions related to the topic.

3. Form your hypothesis or guess answers to the questions you made;

4. If you are ready to find out whether your guesses are correct, then you are ready to start your research.

Approaches to Research

Question: How does divorce affect children?

Topic: Effects on violence on TV on children

Hypothesis: Birth order affects personality

Words to use in searching

Children Children Teens Teenagers

Divorce Broken homes

Relationship of the parts of the topic to each other

Agriculture orFarm* orCrops orOrchards

Pesticides orInsecticides

Soil orGroundwater

Use OR to group synonyms together

Use AND to combine the parts of the topic

Using the * will ask the computer to search for farm, farms, farming, farmers…

To gather information about your research

You have your

topic and you

know what you

do not know In other words you have identified what things you must find out

Resources

Information from the Internet –

The Internet Provides a Good Place to Begin… But… Are published instantly without anyone checking or validating the correct information; Anybody can write a webpage

You yourself must evaluate the authority of the author or the source of information;

Information from the Internet is useful only if it matches what you found from a reliable source.

Guide to evaluating information from the

Internet

Wolfgram Memorial Library at Widener University

Best move:

Use BOOKS first for research

Works of known experts• The publisher validates

the qualification of the writer;

• Consultants study the information in the material

• Editors to check the material before publication.

But which book should I use?

Use the Library Catalog to find books.

TOOLS

Things to consider

Make sure the book you use is recent enough to provide reliable information – in politics and some sciences, things change FAST

You don’t have to rely on the Compton Library only for your books Public libraries are great for some topics You have borrowing privileges at Long Beach

State and Dominguez Hills

Databases

Provide information about and sometimes links to: Newspaper articles – for current events Magazine articles -- for popular opinion Scholarly journal articles -- for academic

analyses

Which databases?

Proquest SIRS CQ Researcher

Putting them all together

Your collection of information from various resources needs to be written …

Writing your paper…

INTRODUCTION

BODY OF THE REPORT

CONCLUSIONS

Work Cited List

Ooops…what is

Plagiarism ?

Work Cited List

This is a listing of all the materials you used to get the information you have included in your research paper.

Visit : http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

Writing the final paper

The first draft

The final draft

EDIT YOUR

PAPER

Good luck!

Created by :

Eleanor Liwanag Sonidoand Anita Colby

Librarians Compton Center library