academic research, finding and evaluating sources, primary & secondary sources

1. Academic Research:
Finding &
Evaluating Sources

2. Primary vs. Secondary Research
Primary Research
• Researcher collects
the data
• Primary sources
include:
• Surveys
• Interviews
• Observations
• Experiments
• Original, uninterpreted
documents – novels,
gov’t documents,
newspapers
Secondary Research
• Relies on secondary
sources
• Scholarly sources
• Secondary sources
include:
• Interpretation
• Analysis
• Author opinion

3. Scholarly vs. Popular Sources
Scholarly Sources
• Peer-reviewed
• Experts in the
discipline
• Look for:
• Educational Publishing
Houses
• Scholarly Journals
• Gov’t Documents
Popular Sources
• Edited, but not
scholarly
• Use only highly
reputable popular
sources
• Look for:
• Magazines, Trade Mags.
• Newspapers
• Reputable Websites

4. Traditional Academic Research
• University Library Stacks
• Online Periodical Databases
• Government Publications
• Interviews, Surveys, & Field Research

5. Non-Traditional Research
• The World Wide Web
• Be Selective!
• Look for:
• Highly reputable sites
• .gov’s, some .edu’s, some .org’s
• Avoid:
• Questionable Sites or Publications
• Wikipedia
• Blogs, Chat Room Forums
• Some .org’s, .com’s, .net’s, .info’s
• When in doubt – double-check sources

6. FORMULATING A
RESEARCH PLAN

7. Become an Academic Researcher
• Good writing starts with extensive and
methodical reading. The more books,
articles, and sources we read, the more
authoritatively we may write. And
writing requires active reading, which
involves taking notes, tracking down
references, and observing
contradictions between authors.
• William Kelleher Storey

8. Three Kinds of Questions
• (1) Conceptual Questions – What
should we think?
• (2) Practical Questions – What
should we do?
• (3) Applied Questions – What must
we understand before we know what to
do?

9. Journal: Articulate the
Research Question
• A. I am working on the topic X (stories
about the Battle of the Alamo)
• B. because I want to find out Y (why its
story became a national legend)
• C. so that I can help others understand
Z (how such regional myths have shaped our
national character)

10. Work Toward These Goals
• 1. Ask a question worth answering.
• 2. Find an answer that you can support
with good reasons.
• 3. Find reliable evidence to support
your reasons.
• 4. Draft a report that makes a good
case for your answer.
• 5. Revise that draft until you have
effectively met the first four goals.

11. EVALUATING
SOURCES

12. Where to Begin…
• Focus your interests early
• Work with bibliographies
• Search for books in the library database
• Search for journal articles in the library
databases
• Search online databases like Google
Scholar
• Use reference materials dictionaries,
encyclopedias, textbooks

13. Critically Assess the Source
• Credibility
• Can you trust the source?
• What are the author’s credentials?
• Is there evidence of fairness?
• Are multiple points of view presented?
• Is the author a known or respected
authority in this area?
• Is there organizational support for this
work?

14. Critically Assess the Source
• Accuracy
• Is the information up to date, factual,
detailed, exact, and comprehensive?
• Do the links work?
• Are there obvious grammatical or spelling
errors?

15. Critically Assess the Source
• Reasonableness
• Is the account fair, balanced, objective,
and reasoned?
• Are there any conflicts of interest?
• Follow the money trail…is someone trying
to sell a product or service connected to
this information?
• Is the source free of fallacies or slanted
tone?
• Who is the site’s intended audience?

16. Critically Assess the Source
• Support
• Are supporting sources listed?
• Is there contact information or a way to
ask questions?
• Is corroboration or a bibliography
available?
• Are all claims supported and is
documentation supplied?

17. Keep in Mind…
• Your argument is only as strong as your
weakest source
• Select the most important academic
sources for your topic
• Select scholarly or highly reputable
popular sources

18. The Working Bibliography
• Keep track!
• Organize source material as you research
• Record all bibliographic info
• Cite quotes, paraphrases, and summaries
with author’s last name and page number
(if available)
• Synthesize sources as you go
• Figure out a system that works for you and
stick with it!

19. EVIDENCE-BASED
WRITING

20. What is Evidence-Based Writing?
• Utilizing facts, statistics, data, and
evidence collected through research to
support your thesis and your
argument

21. So, then…
• Evidence is used to support your
conclusions and to convince your reader
that your argument is logical and valid

22. But, keep in mind that…
• Your writing should reflect your
thinking, your conclusion, your
argument
• It is NOT a string of quotes from other
sources
• It IS a judicious use of evidence
gathered in your research to illustrate
and support what you are arguing