This document provides guidance to students on researching their topic for an essay on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It discusses finding and evaluating reliable sources, including searching online databases and keywords. Tools like annotation and collaboration platforms are introduced to help students organize sources and discuss their usefulness. Criteria for source reliability like author credentials and date are reviewed. Students are assigned to begin drafting an annotated bibliography with summaries and evaluations of two sources each to support their essays.

1. Unit 7: Researching Your
Topic
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2. Researching Your Topic

3. What you already know
• The texts and videos on Moodle have given you a
general idea about the SDGs. You know:
What the
goals are
Who agreed
to the goals
What the
goals are for
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4. Learning More
• To answer the essay question you are going to have
to know more. Good resources are:
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5. Finding Specific Information
• To write a good essay you are going to need specific
information about two of the SDGs.
• Discuss:
How do you
find sources
for an essay?
Where do you
look?
What do you
search for?
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6. Focusing Your Search
• Watch the screen cast about searching for
information and answer the questions on p. 50.
• Now plan what terms you will search for to find
sources for your essay.
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7. ‘Stormboard’ Collaboration Tool 1
Name your group with
your section number and
group members
Share ideas
for your essay
using the chat
facility
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8. ‘Stormboard’ Collaboration Tool 2
Post links to potentially
useful sources on the board
explaining how it could be
used
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9. ‘Stormboard’ Collaboration Tool 3
When someone posts a link you
can open it up to discuss it.
 What does the source say?
 Do you think it is useful?
 How could you use it in your
essay?
 Is it reliable?
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10. Start Looking
• Use your search terms on page 50.
• Remember to change your search terms to get
more results.
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11. Reliability
• When you write an
essay you want your
reader to believe you.
• This means your
essay needs support
and evidence.
• Your essay is only as
strong as that
support.
Your essay
Your sources
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12. What is reliability?
• Consider an article about smoking.
• Which source is better for an essay and why?
Who wrote it?
Why did they write it?
Who did they write it for?
What is their evidence?
When did they write it?
A smoker
A doctor
A businessman
To sell cigarettes
To inform the public
To entertain
A magazine
The government
A tobacco company
Health surveys
Personal stories
Opinion
1980
2015
2000
If you don’t know
the answer to these
questions you need
to decide if you can
trust the source.
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13. Checking Reliability
• Watch the screencast about checking reliability and
answer the questions on page 51.
• Now check the reliability of the three sources on
page 51.
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14. Referencing (Part 2) – introducing
APA
a. Non-integral
the citation is outside the
structure of your sentence
The advantage of the SDGs is that they will apply to all
countries, not just developing countries (Ford, 2016).
b. Integral
the citation is inside the
structure of your sentence
Ford (2016) points out that the SDGs will apply to all
countries, not just developing ones.
1. In-text citation
Ford, L. (2016, January 19). Sustainable development goals: all you need to
know. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2015/jan/19/sustainable-development-goals-united-nations
2. Reference (used in a list after the essay)
Who
When What
Where

15. Bibliographies
• Definition: a list of all the sources (books, articles,
websites …) that you use when writing your essay.
Bibliography
• Definition: you write some notes about your
sources, usually a summary of the main points and
an evaluation about how relevant a and
reliable/credible they are.
Annotated bibliography
Develop EAP – Bolster & Levrai

16. Example Annotated Bibliography
(p. 55)
Author Liz Ford
Title Sustainable development goals: all you need to know
APA
Reference
Ford, L. (2016, January 19). Sustainable development goals: all you need
to know. The Guardian Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2015/jan/19/sustainable-development-goals-united-
nations
In-text
citation
Ford (2016) or (Ford, 2016)
Main Points
This article explains that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a
new set of goals agreed in 2016 which aim to shape the development of
the world over the next 15 years in a fair and sustainable way. It shows
that the SDGs grew out of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
but have the advantage of being suitable for both developed and
developing countries. The SDGs also go further than the MDGs as they
also cover things like women’s rights.
Reliability
This comes from the Guardian newspaper and was written by Liz Ford,
who is the deputy editor of the global development section of the
newspaper. This is a professional and responsible position in an award-
winning newspaper.
Relevance /
Usefulness
This will be useful in the first part of the essay to explain what the
Sustainable Development Goals are and to compare them to the
Millennium goals. It will help justify the need for the goals. It can connect
well with the information from the UN website about the goals.
Author’s full name –
first name followed by
family name
Integral
and non-
integral
citations
Summary of main
points of the source
Explain how
reliable/credible
the source is
Explain how and
why this source
could be in the
essay.
Title of
the
source
Full reference to
identify the source
in APA style
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17. Annotated Bibliography Assignment
• Read the annotated bibliography ‘brief’ and ‘grade
descriptors’ in the Course Information block in
Moodle.
• Start working on your annotated bibliography and
share ideas in Stormboard.
• Two sources per student. Must be different from
other students in your essay group. Co-ordinate
carefully and share information.
• The template is on Moodle (Essay Writing block).
Develop EAP – Bolster & Levrai