Course: Eng 180
Spring 2008 – Rohner
Librarian: Sean Cordes
Email:
cs-cordes@wiu.edu
Phone: 298-2785
Office Hours: Mon 8-10, Tue 1-2, Wed 1-2
Off-Campus Access Library Internet Resources: If you are off-campus, you will need to enter your student id # or your ecom (email) username and password. If you have problems, call the reference desk at 309-298-2700 or 800-413-6544.
-Invesitagate library research options..
-Choose any controversial topic and argue for or against this issue.
-Discuss how to evaluate sources
-Find at least 3 sources using databases.
- the need to increase funding for art and music programs in schools
- steroid use in baseball
- the USA Patriot Act
- Global Warming
Keywords, keyterms- words people generally believe can be used alone or in combination to find targetted information.
- Funding art and music programs
- Steroids and baseball, steroids and sports, performance enhancing drugs
- The USA Patriot Act
- Global Warming
As a student, you will often be asked to use scholarly journal articles. A scholarly article, as opposed to magazines or news articles, are reviewed by professionals and experts in the field to verify the accuracy of the work. Scholarly articles also have citations, (footnotes, end notes, works cited pages, and bibliographies), that you can use in your own work to follow up further verified information to support your research.
Interlibrary Loan Service
Researchers who need library materials from other libraries are
encouraged to use the WIU Libraries' Interlibrary Loan Department.
Since ILL requests can take 7-10 business days to fill, you are
encouraged to start your research early and place a request as soon as
you know what you need.
Authority
An author can mean a person or
organization. Who is the author of the website? What are the author's
credentials? Is the author an authority on the subject? Is it another student? A
professor? Your next door neighbor? Is the author an organization? What do you
know (or what can you find out) about this organization? What is its purpose?
Validity
Information must be accurate and verifiable before you use it in your own
research or assignments. Is the site well edited? Are there spelling or
grammatical errors? Is it written in a style that you would expect for the topic
and audience? Does the information on the site fit with other information that
you have on the topic? Or are there discrepancies with other sources of
information? Does the author provide a way to verify information on this site?
Are footnotes, citations, or sources provided?
History
Look for both the date of publication and any updates. How often is the page updated and maintained? When was the page
written? Last updated? How current is the information?
The date can help determine whether the site fits your needs. Note that a website written in July 1999 might contain information from about your topic but the information may be to dated. For instance the Oklahoma bombing would be considered terrorism, but this information would not have the same perspective on terrorism as an article written today.
Be aware that "Last updated" may mean any update on the page, including stylistic changes such as different colors or layout - not necessarily changes to content.
Content
Does the information on the website meet your research or information needs? How
detailed is the information - is it basic or advanced? Is the coverage of the
topic complete? Does it leave out important information? Does it offer more than
one perspective? Is the web page part of a longer document? Sometimes you will
need to look at more than one page to get the complete picture. Is there a
bibliography or links to other information on the topic? How were the links
selected? Are the other sources mentioned relevant and credible? How does the
content compare with other resources (books, journal articles, other web pages)
on the same topic?
Purpose
The purpose of the site should be clear. Be aware that some sites present
opinion as fact in order to sell or persuade. Does this site present fact or
opinion? What is the purpose of the site? To inform? To sell? To persuade? Is
the site objective, showing multiple sides of an issue? Bias is not necessarily
reason to reject a source - but be sure that you can identify it. Who is the
intended audience? Advanced researchers in a field? Elementary school students?
Members of a particular organization or viewpoint? If there is advertising on
the page, does this affect the content?
Appearance
What kind of information - textual, visual,
aural - does the page present, and does this add or detract from the page's
usefulness or legibility?
Do image or other media files slow down load time or
navigation through the website? Do the different design components work, or are
images, sound files, etc. unable to display, play, or run?
Does the web page
require specific add-on software in order to read, see, print, or listen to
resources linked on the page? Is that add-on software readily available or must
it be purchased?
Your instructor may
require you to locate information in scholarly journals.
But how can
you easily know the differences between a scholarly journal and a popular
magazine?
Some of
the ways that a research journal typically differs from a popular magazine are:
Author or authority/expertise
Scholarly journal articles
will indicate authors and their academic credentials (degrees, positions,
academic institution), and ways to contact them. Popular magazines may not
always list the author, credentials, contact and other information found in the
scholarly article.
References and bibliographies
Scholarly journal articles will include
footnotes, endnotes, bibliographies, or reference lists to show where the
information in the article came from. Popular magazine
articles rarely do. Popular magazine articles
may attribute sources in a more indirect or less formal manner, or not at all
Focus of the content
Scholarly journal articles focus on research. Popular magazines focus on current
events & topics of general interest, and include lots of ads for consumer
products.
Scholarly articles are written for experts in the field. The writing style of the article may be technical, detailed, and are often long and complex. Scholarly publications do not include a lot of advertisements for consumer products; ads are limited to scholarly or academic products and services
Review Method
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of stealing or using or passing off as someone elses words, phrases, ideas, writings, or creative work as your own, whether you mean to or not.
According to Diana Hacker, editor of The Bedford Handbook, reminds her readers that "[t]hree different acts are considered plagiarism: (1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words" (570).
Basically you have to give authors credit for the work they did. You can avoid plagiarism by always citing your sources, including any and all resources and information found on the Web, via the Internet, or other electronic sources. Citing your sources accomplishes a number of things.
1. It gives the creator of work credit where credit is due.
2. It lets your readers know where you got your information, so they can tell if your sources are reliable.
3. It gives readers ionformation about the resource so they can fint it if they want more information.
Citing Your Sources: Hard Copy, Internet and RefWorks
There are a number of style you can use to cite your work, ask your instructor which they prefer.
Here are some of the most common ones. Diana Hacker’s A Pocket Style Manual features three popular formats: MLA, APA, and Chicago. Of the three listed, APA is the style I recommend for science research papers. For special instructions on how to cite Internet sources, see Hacker’s A Pocket Style Manual, Fourth Edition, pages 174-175. You can, of course, always consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (APA Manual). We have APA Manuals at the Reference Desk. For Internet sources, see pages 268-281. The Reference Staff have created handouts on two of three popular styles, Chicago is currently under revision and is not available.
To manage your citations, you might consider learning how to use RefWorks.
It is citation management software that is compatible with most of the
University Libraries's databases. Contact a librarian to set up a personal
account and begin filling folders with citations. You will find RefWorks on the WIU Libraries list of databases.
Your instructor may want you to use a specific style guide to cite sources in your work. Ask your your instructor to be sure. This list has most style manuals on the Web. But only the print versions of these guides will have all examples for every kind of citation.
APA Style (American Psychological Association)
The American Psychological Association (APA) style is a general and widely used style in the social sciences, education, and other fields.
ASA Style (American sociological Society) The ASA has specific guidelines and styles to follow when writing/researching in sociology.
Chicago Style (University of Chicago Press)
Chicago Manual of Style is intended to help authors prepare books for publication, and is widely used (or adapted) by fields in the humanities and social sciences..
MLA (Modern Language Association)
MLA Style, developed by the Modern Language Association, is a very popular citation style used throughout the humanities.
Turabian's
Turabian's Style is a basic, widely used style for history and many other disciplines.
If you need more help with the library tools
demonstrated today, visit the Library Reference Desk, located
on the main (second) floor of the library. The desk is open Mon-Thurs.
9-9, Fri. 9-5, Sat. 1-5, and Sun 1-5, 6-9 or use the Ask a Librarian page