Bibliographies & scholarly citations
Definition: lists of works written on a particular topic. They include enough information about each work (author’s name, title, and publication data) so that you can locate the book or article.
It contains abstract overview of work’s content and shows the author of the work has done work for you.
Consider doing field research
Start research around you in the group that you are more familiar with.
Ex: visit local historical society to research aspect of your town’s early history for a composition class
Study campus trends in classroom participation for a sociology class
- Interviewing
Look for an expert who has firsthand knowledge of the subject or personal experience provides an enlightening perspective on the topic
Be clear about purpose and how to conduct it.
Planning effective questions, also avoid yes or no question.
- Surveying opinions
Limit questions and frame them carefully
You could ask yes/no question since they are more quick and easy to answer.
- Visiting &observing
Visit significant place enhances paper in a variety of discipline.
Ex: visit museum of modern art to study American folk art
Visit England Stonehenge to prepare physical anthropology
- Contact organization
Could be both public & private, but use information judiciously because groups tend to promote their own interests, we can’t count on them to present balanced view.
Evaluating sources
Select sources worth your time and attention
Scanning search result.
- Book catalogs: gives a fairly short list of hits. Click it for further info.
- Databases: brief introduction of the books could help you to choose.
- Web search engines: unreliable sites often masquerade as legitimate sources of information
- Check the title, keywords date, sponsor and so on
Previewing sources
Previews source quickly to see whether it lives up to its promise.
- Previewing a book: only parts of the whole book may prove useful.
Ex: Glance through the table of contents
Use index to look up few words related to your topic
If a chapter looks useful, read its opening and closing paragraphs and skim any headings.
- Previewing an article: fairly straightforward.
Ex: consider the publication in which the article is printed.
Focus on headline and opening for newspaper articles
Skim headings at the content that might indicate the article’s focus and scope
- Previewing a website: requires some detective work.
Search enough before locating clues about a site’s reliability.
Ex: look for name of an author or webmaster, assess his or her credibility.
Check for a sponsor name, and consider possible motives organization may have in sponsoring the site.
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