Download to read offline
Uploaded byNicolette Sosulski
Research presentation for teens (1)
This document provides an introduction to conducting academic research. It discusses evaluating online sources and considering an author's credentials. Boolean logic and search techniques like truncation, wildcards, and quotation marks are explained to refine searches. Different types of authoritative sources that instructors value are outlined, including white papers, conference papers, government websites, and peer-reviewed journal articles. The document gives tips on accessing journal articles through databases and provides resources for properly citing sources.
More Related Content
Similar to Research presentation for teens (1)
Research presentation for teens (1)
- 1. Introduction to Research Laura Wright NicoletteWarisse Sosulski
- 2. The Search You aregoing to be looking for information all over. The web has a lot of great information and has revolutionized the task of the academic project. But beware… http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
- 3. So what wouldyou check • Who is authoring the site? Do they have authority in the area • What are they saying? What other sources say the same thing? Does anybody else say the same thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_bombing_of_t he_People%27s_Republic_of_China_embassy_in _Belgrade • Where is it affiliated—university, agency, etc.? • When was the website last updated • Why would the author say what (s)he does
- 4. Librarian Tricks ofthe Trade Boolean Limits: And Or Not People who like Dogs People who like both People who like Cats People who do not like either (Hamster People, Ferret People, Bird People, Critter Haters, etc.)
- 5. Librarian Tricks ofthe Trade Boolean Limits: AND: Just the Orange—Both have to be true People who like Dogs People who like both People who like Cats People who do not like either
- 6. Librarian Tricks ofthe Trade Boolean Limits: OR: Pink, Orange, Yellow—Either or both true Remember: OR yields MORE! People who like Dogs People who like both People who like Cats People who do not like either
- 7. Librarian Tricks ofthe Trade Boolean Limits: NOT: Just Pink, or Just Yellow People who like Dogs but not Cats People who like Cats but not Dogs NOT is underused but extremely useful For example when one is looking up articles on the Defense industry in March, one can use Defense NOT Basketball
- 8. Librarian Tricks ofthe Trade Truncation and Wildcards To Truncate: to Shorten CIA Operations OR CIA Operatives Can be shortened to common root combination of letters CIA Operat*
- 9. Librarian Tricks ofthe Trade Truncation and Wildcards Wildcards Just like in poker but in searching usually replaced by an asterisk * So once truncated, if you add the wildcard Operat* will find Operative(s), Operation(s), Operate(s)
- 10. Librarian Tricks ofthe Trade Quotation Marks Used to narrow search so that only what is in between the marks only in that order is retrieved Lions and Tigers and Bears Retrieved 8,860,000 on June 28, 2010 at 9:21 a.m. “Lions and Tigers and Bears: Retrieved 142,000 on June 28, 2010 at 9:21 a.m.
- 11. Handle them carefully,for words have more power than atom bombs. --Pearl Strachan Words That Find You Stuff It is all about the words you use—on Google, in the index in the back of the book, in the Yellow Pages, and in those collections of articles called Databases that your teachers and I want you to start using.
- 12. Handle them carefully,for words have more power than atom bombs. --Pearl Strachan Words That Find You Stuff IMPACT Finds answers to questions like • Why was this important? • What was the significance (also itself a good word)? • What were the results of this? • What did this cause to happen?
- 13. Handle them carefully,for words have more power than atom bombs. --Pearl Strachan Words That Find You Stuff DEMOGRAPHICS Finds answers to questions like • What are people there like • What languages do they speak in • How many people were from this place versus that one
- 14. Handle them carefully,for words have more power than atom bombs. --Pearl Strachan Words That Find You Stuff STATISTICS Finds answers to questions like • How many people – – – – Lived Died Were infected Eat McDonalds • How many times – Babe Ruth struck out – It rained in January in Seattle
- 15. Handle them carefully,for words have more power than atom bombs. --Pearl Strachan Words That Find You Stuff TIMELINE Finds answers to questions like • Give me examples of something during this decade/century • Give me steps to how this developed, e.g the computer • I need 5 significant events • I need 4 major battles • I need 8 influential works of art
- 16. Handle them carefully,for words have more power than atom bombs. --Pearl Strachan Words That Find You Stuff HISTORY • Finds answers to questions like • Who was the first? • What were times like back then? • How did this start? • What was the original_____?
- 17. That's right. WhenI was your age, television was called books! Peter Falk (Grandpa) Books: • You may still need to go for books for • Quotes • In-depth analysis of a particular historical event, including battle maps • Factoids about somebody’s life (what were they like as a kid) • Literary analysis
- 18. Figures often beguileme, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.“ --Mark Twain • Datasets (like the census) When you have to find out how many people of a certain age or ethnicity are in a particular geographic region, or how many people responded to a question with the answer A.
- 19. Sources that yourteachers will get geeked about • White Papers A white paper (or "whitepaper") is an authoritative report or guide that often addresses issues and how to solve them. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions. They are often used in politics, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to documents used by businesses as a marketing or sales tool. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper
- 20. Sources that yourteachers will get geeked about • Conference Papers—Academic and or professional, and so useful, but not peer reviewed unless they appear in a peer reviewed journal. Often the first offshoot of a new area of research.
- 21. Sources that yourteachers will get geeked about • Government Informational Web Pages—this can be where the studies funded by your taxes first appear, as well as cool charts and graphs. In almost all cases the URL of the web page they appear on should end in .gov. Excellent examples are the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov ), the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov ), the National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov ), and the Center for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov ). Hint: when searching for things on these sites, try both searching using the site search function or searching in Google with NIH or CDC in the search string, for example.
- 22. Sources that yourteachers will get geeked about • Journal Articles (found in print journals or databases) The be-all, end-all articles for many assignments are the articles from peer reviewed journals, also called refereed journals. What that means is that articles cannot appear in these journals unless a panel or group of people knowledgeable in that field agree that the research contained is valid, authoritative, and contributes to the field of knowledge.
- 23. Sources that yourteachers will get geeked about • Journal Articles can also be trade or professional journals—non-academic but aimed at professionals in the field—business journals, technical and trade journals, etc. These are authoritative, specialized, but not what your teacher is talking about when (s)he says “peer-reviewed.”
- 24. Sources that yourteachers will get geeked about • Journal Articles can also come from general news sources. In this case they are a good index of what may be being discussed or talked about, or may function as a primary source, but they are not what you are looking for for “academic”, “peer reviewed” or “authoritative.”
- 25. So where doyou get those journal articles? • Databases: Online Collections of articles that you can either access from home with your id, with a MeL library card, or in a library. This is what you will be using heavily.
- 26. So where doyou get those journal articles? Go to www.portagelibrary.info and select the catalog Click on Article Search Arrive at the screen where you can either select a database or search for journals in the library e-collection
- 27. So your teachergave you a weird, hard, or IB topic and the PDL has nothing… Waldo Library at Western Michigan University
- 28. So your teachergave you a weird, hard, or IB topic and the PDL has nothing… Google Scholar www.scholar.google.com has only academic sources and patents. You get the citation for the article that you want, and then look back to the library web page’s journal listing.
- 29. And some hintsabout the catalog… Always Use Click Here for More Options When crafting your search, stay away from Subject as a first try. It is too library classification specific. Use General keyword instead, which will look everywhere in the book record
- 30. And some hintsabout the catalog… Find JUST ONE good book on your subject and you might be golden, because you can then use the subject heading that the library has stuck the books under. Then you can find more.
- 31. OMG! Those Citations Citingproperly can drive you to distraction. Here are some places that will help you properly format, whether you are using U Chicago, APA, MLA, or some other style: • The Purdue Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ Look to the right for the formatting and style guides • Diana Hacker http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/ • Knight Cite http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/ • SIRS and other databases on your library web pages also have citation guides.