Research Required

When writing a research paper, the research process can be overwhelming and time consuming. Many writers often find themselves sucked into hour after hour of futile searching. Answering a few key questions in the beginning and creating a solid research plan will help focus your mission and guide you through the process efficiently.

Understand Assignment Guidelines

Forget starting research before you know two things: one — what are your guidelines? and two — what topic will fit those guidelines and requirements?

For instance, a topic such as the benefits of smartphone use for high school students, probably isn’t going to be found in peer-reviewed journals. If incorporating peer-reviewed or academic journal sources is a requirement of your assignment, then pick a topic accordingly. How?

Many topics based in the sciences, for instance, genetically modified food, endangered species, green energy, or organ transplantation, will likely have research in peer-reviewed or academic journals, as well as books and respected websites. Some topics that are considered current event issues will often be written about only in newspapers, magazines, or online. Your instructor may have strict guidelines that prohibit the use of these types of sources. Before you get too far into the research process, make certain your topic will work for the type of research your assignment requires. If peer-reviewed or academic research is required, debating the merits of a smartphone use or the pros and cons of a college playoff system might not work.

Finding Quality Research

Think quality over quantity. If your assignment requires 8 sources, citing 16 isn’t going to double your chances of a better grade. Using too many sources often sends up a red flag that you’ve relied too heavily on source material and not your own ideas. Quality sources — books, peer-reviewed journals, scholarly articles, library databases, and some websites — are usually written and reviewed by experts in the field. Some instructors allow “.edu” or “.gov,” websites, but beware that even some “.org” websites can be misrepresentative.

Wikipedia is an often-cited source — but most likely not allowed for an academic writing assignment. Most instructors oppose its use as a source. In addition, using a dictionary or encyclopedia definition isn’t considered “research” so avoid using definitions in place of research.

The best way to locate quality research comes from other quality research. If you’ve found one good source, look at that source’s citation page at the end of the article. Who has your source referenced? These are often the best sources for your topic.

While you might not be able to use Wiki sources in your paper, it’s often not a bad starting point to find other research. Wikipedia’s reference pages are often quite long and a good place to find further research. The search “Smartphones in School” in Wikipedia had 40 reference sources at the end of the page.

Keywords are King

When searching library databases such as EBSCO or ERIC, vary your search terms. Avoid using the same keyword, for instance, simply the one or two word topic, as you’ll usually get poor results. Database searches are all about keywords, and your best results come from careful consideration of search terms.   

Searching keywords related to your topic, however, will most likely return results that are too broad — and too many. Try to focus in on the main points you want to make. Instead of “Smartphone Use in High School” try searching one main point, such as “Phone Apps used in Education.” Instead of “global warming” try “declining ice sheets” or “atmospheric carbon dioxide.”

Organizing Research

As you spend time sifting through research, it’s essential to keep careful records. You’ll save valuable time if you stay organized and maintain careful records so you don’t have to go back and try to find where all your sources came from. Keep research note cards, photocopy materials, or keep a detailed research journal.

Figure 1: Simple Research Notecard

It’s easy to use index cards for research. Simply jot down the identifying information, such as the article title, author, source, URL if web-based, and don’t forget to make a note of how you plan to use it.

Final Thoughts

Start early and schedule ample time for collecting research. This is often the most time consuming part of the essay process, but it’s also the most crucial, and will set you on course for a research paper you can be proud of.  

Once you’ve selected the best source material, it’s important that you understand the research and incorporate the information effectively. Avoid simply gathering data to dump in between paragraphs. You must incorporate the research, connect it to your main points, and contextualize the information.  

Research Tools: Google Scholar

(This article originally appeared as “The Research Paper” Sept. 2012)

Getting Started with Research

Your instructor has assigned a research paper which will require ten credible sources. You begin your search where everyone does – online. You Google your search term, “Lower Drinking Age,” to find over five million hits. You make it more specific: “Lower Drinking Age to 18,” and get 4 million hits. You pull out your assignment guidelines for some direction, and notice it states, “Ten credible sources, only 3 of which can be websites.”

You’re doomed.

You are at home or work and can’t get to the library. How can you ever find enough sources for your paper if you are not allowed to use all websites? And what does “credible” mean anyway?

Sound familiar?

Finding reliable sources is the single most time-consuming task of writing a research paper. It takes time and patience to locate effective sources that support your argument. So where to start?

Google Scholar

In the initial stages of gathering research, the internet can be a useful tool if used wisely. As you are just beginning to gather information, you want to cast a wide net to understand all the angles of your topic. One great online site to begin is Google Scholar.

Google Scholar can give you access to research across a wide range of disciplines. You’ll find all types of print and web sources: books, journal articles, court documents, dissertations, and even university websites, which are generally the most credible type of web-based source (should always be “edu”).

 

 

 

 
If you search “Lower Drinking Age,” you’ll see a sidebar on the left that offers you a way to narrow the results by type, year, and relevance. On the right is a “My Citations,” link where you can track a researcher’s work (you have to have a Google account for this). The advantage of this tool is if you find a particular researcher who is publishing work in your topic of interest, you can find other relevant publications by the same author.

Once you find some intriguing articles, you can click on the link to read the abstract (description of the article). If you scan over to the right of the link, you may see links to the printed version in a PDF file with the full text. At the bottom of the annotated link, you’ll see a horizontal list of further help, including “Cited,” which shows many times the article has been cited; html, if this type of version is offered, other related articles (which is a good info to have for further research; other versions of the article (which may include more current research), and other types of information related to the article.

Advanced Search

 

If you are on a campus computer, you may also see a link under the link that says, “find at MCC,” (or your local college or university). This means your campus will have that source in one of its libraries or have access to it.

 

 

Take some time in this stage to tweak your search terms and scan the research to find the perfect support for your paper. Take careful notes of the articles and authors you might to use, or if you are able, print out the full link so you’ll have it when you go back to read the full text later. Slowing down and taking these steps will save you time later.

 

 

 

Demystifying College Writing

Writing your first college essay can feel overwhelming. Maybe English class wasn’t your strong point in high school, and now perhaps you have to get through two English Composition classes in college. You’re not familiar with the instructor’s expectations, and sweat starts to trickle from your forehead at the sight of the first writing assignment. Your classmate asks the instructor a question about the guidelines, and is told “It’s in the syllabus.” Ugh. What to do?

College writing expectations might be a little different than what you experienced in high school. What might have garnered you praise and an A+ on your high school papers might barely pass in college. Simply turning in a paper with no punctuation or grammar errors won’t impress a college instructor. They expect you to know how to write an error-free sentence. Five paragraph essays are a common assignment in high school, which is simply an essay organized with an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The five paragraph essay is a great template to learn how to organize an essay, but college writing courses will expect students to write much longer papers, often with more analytical and critical thinking as well as secondary source material. Below is a partial list of college instructors’ desired student outcomes from their writing assignments (from The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing). Knowing exactly what your instructor expects you to learn will help you better understand the assignments:

• Respond to needs of different audiences (a person who is in favor of year-round school would require different reasoning than a person who is against it)
• Respond appropriately to different rhetorical situations (analysis is different than evaluation, which is different than summary)
• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation (you might introduce a thesis earlier for a literary analysis than you would for a policy proposal)
• Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality (persuasive essays require the use of what instructors often refer to as “academic tone,” which is formal and free of slang; a narrative essay often is less formal and more conversational)
• Write in several genres (a composition class might include assignments on narrative writing, literary analysis, personal profiles, argument, or evaluation)

As you can see, college writing instructors might have many different expectations, and learning the academic terms instructors use can be challenging. Also, be aware that most college writing instructors will expect you to write multiple drafts of a writing assignment, collaborating with peers for initial feedback towards revision. Sharing your writing with peers can be stressful if you’ve never done it. I always tell my students to avoid writing about anything they don’t feel comfortable sharing with their peers.

Think Creatively

Most college professors value creative, independent thinkers. Critically thinking about a topic and integrating your own ideas with those of others is not only valued, but expected. In high school you might have gotten by with regurgitating other’s ideas, but in college, you’ll be expected to evaluate, analyze, and synthesize primary and secondary source material, as well as integrate your ideas with these outside sources. Understanding not only how to find reliable sources (not from the internet), but also how to integrate your ideas with other’s is challenging for new students.

Think Outside the Box

image from evilenglish.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a list of essay topics that all instructors keep locked in their head because even thinking about these topics makes their hair fall out. Many even include the list in their syllabus as topics NOT to write about. Even so, students still want to write about them. Why? Because they wrote about them in high school, so they think they know something about them, and it will be easy. I’ll bet you can guess what they are. A few:

• Legalize marijuana
• Lower drinking age
• End childhood obesity

To instructors, these topics, and others that have been written about over and over, are stale. There is nothing new that can be said about them. When college instructors see these paper topics, they immediately assume the student is too lazy to find another, more unique and innovative topic, a topic that has personal resonance. The most creative paper I ever read was from an education major who wrote about how wall paint color in elementary classrooms can enhance student learning. She had peer-reviewed (not internet) research to back it up, and I’d never read anything like it. She was also personally invested in the topic, as she was going into education. Brilliant.

Demystifying college writing is simply a matter of understanding perhaps new and different expectations than what you’re used to. In college, it’s not unusual for instructors to have less explicitly stated guidelines than you might have had in high school, but this also gives the student writer more freedom of expression and room for critical thinking and creativity.

If you have a question about an instructor’s expectations, ask. Your peers probably have the same questions. If you don’t get a satisfactory answer, visit your Writing Center for guidance. But few or broad guidelines might mean the instructor is giving you lots of room for interpretation and wants you to take advantage of the opportunity to be creative. Show them what you can do.

 

What questions or concerns do you have about your current essay? Add your questions to the Comment section below and we’ll post the Q & A at a later date.

Writing Assignments: Getting Started

One of the most common problems with student writing we see here in the Writing Center is actually not with the writing itself. It’s a failure to understand the assignment guidelines. Just this week, the majority of those I’ve helped have either not fully read their instructor’s assignment guidelines or simply not followed them. This is a sure way to get started on the wrong foot and waste a lot of valuable time.

What is Your Purpose?

The assignment should direct your research and set boundaries. Last week here at Writing Center Underground, we talked about beginning your research with considering what type of topic it is. Some topics are better suited to the requirement of peer-reviewed sources. If that isn’t a requirement, then you’ll have more flexibility in terms of source material. Newspapers or websites might be acceptable. You’ll only know this, however, with carefully reading your assignment guidelines.

What is the Product?

Has your instructor asked for a short opinion piece, or a longer in-depth research paper? What is the required number of pages? Are there any restrictions on the topic you can choose? Instructors often have their own list of topics that are overdone (legalize marijuana), too broad (we shouldn’t go to war abroad), too narrow (our school needs to recycle glass) or just too boring (cats make better pets than dogs).

Does your instructor ask that he/she approve the thesis statement? If this is a requirement, don’t skip it. Revising your thesis after you’ve started writing is often difficult. Do you know how your project will be assessed? Instructors often hand out rubrics, or a grade sheet, of how each section or requirement will be assessed. This is a gift. Make sure you study this carefully so there won’t be any surprises.

What is the Process?

How much time do you have to complete each step? It’s important to chart out at least a rough timeline to keep yourself on track, otherwise, it can get overwhelming and you can easily fall behind.

Do you have to turn it in after you’ve completed each step? For instance, is an outline one assignment, an annotated bibliography one assignment, and a first short draft another assignment, each related to the whole?

It’s common for instructors to ask that you write the first draft of an argument paper as an opinion piece, without the use of research. This prevents the writer from taking on the ideas and voice of outside experts that so often can happen when we read too much research in the beginning.

What Types of Sources are Expected?

Primary research involves interviewing subjects, conducting surveys, or making observations. Primary research may not be required for your argument essay, but it’s often acceptable to instructors, as they see it as the student taking initiative and showing interest in their topic.

In the past, it was common for instructors to require only print sources, such as books or academic journals. However, that’s becoming less and less important with the proliferation of credible sources now found online and especially in library databases. If you are allowed web sources, do they need to be .gov or .edu?

Other Considerations

Will you be expected to define who your audience is? For instance, is the audience in agreement with your position, or are they a hostile audience? This will determine many aspects of your paper, including the organization and the type of research you’ll include.

Are there any key words in the assignment guidelines that specifically ask you to evaluate, analyze, or compare and contrast? These key words each ask for the writer to do something different. If you are not familiar with their meaning in regards to your assignment, ask your instructor to clarify. Click this link to read more on these terms.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, understanding assignment guidelines is a key component in a successful final paper. No two assignments are alike, so don’t assume since you’ve written an argument essay in high school that an argument essay in college will require the same components. Schedule enough time in each step of the process to do a thorough job and not rush yourself. Finding credible research is time consuming and always takes longer than students often anticipate. Once you feel confident you understand the guidelines, you have overcome the first hurdle toward a successful paper.

The Research Paper: Beginning Your Search for Research

When assigned a research paper, many students become anxious, as they may be unfamiliar with research basics. Even though your instructor may have given you guidelines to follow, it’s daunting to know where to begin. With the tremendous amount of online resources now available, a student can get lost for days scrolling through information and get bogged down to the point of drowning in TMI: too much information!

So where to begin?

1.    First, consider your topic. Is it a current issue? Is it a more scientific topic? What field of interest is it? A current issue, say, the debate on the college bowl system, isn’t going to be found in peer-reviewed journals. A current issue will be written about in newspapers or magazines, and most likely on some websites. Your instructor may have strict guidelines that prohibit the use of these types of sources.

If you’ve picked a topic based more in the sciences, for instance, genetically modified food or organ transplantation, you’ll probably find research on these topics in peer-reviewed or academic journals, as well as books and respected websites. Current social or ethical topics, like cyberbullying or wind farms, would most likely be found in newspapers or magazines, as they are current issues, but might also be found in academic journals as well and even books.

Before you get too far into the research process, make certain your topic will work for the type of research your assignment requires. If peer-reviewed or academic research is required, debating the merits of a BCS playoff system might not work.

2.    Think quality over quantity. If your assignment requires you to cite 8 sources, citing 16 isn’t going to double your chances of a better grade. Using too many sources may send up a red flag that you’ve relied too heavily on source material and not your own ideas. Quality sources are books, peer-reviewed journals, scholarly articles, most library databases, and some websites. I guide my students to only utilize “.edu” or “.gov,” as even some “.org” websites can be misrepresentative. Wikipedia is hit and miss. Most instructors oppose its use, though some permit limited use for only a bit of historical information. And please, oh please, avoid using a dictionary or encyclopedia definition as a source.

3.    The best way to locate quality research comes from other quality research. If you’ve found one good source, look at that source’s citation page at the end. Who has your source referenced? These are often the best sources for your topic. Still having a love affair with Wikipedia? You might not be able to use Wiki in your paper, but it’s often not a bad starting point to find other research that you can use. Search your topic, then scroll down to Wikipedia’s references. They are often quite long. I searched “Wind Farm” in Wikipedia and 111 sources came up. They also have a “Further Reading” list at the bottom of most pages.

4.    When searching library databases such as EBSCO or ERIC, I often see students repeatedly use the same keyword in different databases and getting the same poor result. Database searches are all about keywords, and your best results come from careful consideration of search terms. Brainstorm a list of possible keywords, either general topics or titles, even synonyms will bring up different results. You might also consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings, which contain the keywords that librarians use when they classify materials. A search of “wind farm” brought up “wind power plants,” and “wind power parks.” If in doubt, ask your librarian. That’s what they’re there for.

5.    As you spend some time sifting through research, it’s important to keep careful records. You’ll save a lot of valuable time if you stay organized and maintain careful records so you don’t have to go back and try to find where all your sources came from. Keep research note cards, photocopy materials, or keep a detailed research journal.

Start early and schedule ample time for collecting research. This is often the most time consuming part of the essay process, but it’s also the most crucial. You can’t write a research paper without research. It’s also important to understand the research and show that you’ve developed insights into the problem or debate. You’re not just compiling data to dump in between your own paragraphs. You must synthesize the research and link this new information to what you already know.

 

 

I Cite: Basic In-Text Citations

When writing a research paper, referring to any works or references requires what is called a parenthetical citation –  parenthetical, meaning in parenthesis, and citation, meaning a word or words taken from a piece of writing. Parenthetical citations are also referred to as “in-text” citations, as they are “in the text” of a paper, as opposed to the end (referred to as a Works Cited, Reference, Bibliography or Works Consulted, depending on the style guide you are following and assignment requirements).

MLA has general guidelines for what goes in parenthetical citations:

·         Information in parenthetical citations depends on the type of source you are citing, whether it is in print form, web form, film, DVD, etc.

·         Parenthetical citations must correspond to the Works Cited page (or Reference page in APA). This means that if a work is cited in the text by an author’s name, that author’s name must appear on the Works Cited page.

In MLA, parenthetical citations usually consist of either an author-page citation, or a page number citation.

Signal Phrases

If the author’s name is mentioned in a signal phrase (also referred to as an author or attributive tag), the parenthetical citation will include only the page number:

Ex. 1

Direct Quote: Herring states, “For the first time, I began to understand the courage and absolute vulnerability it took to put words on a page” (2).

Ex. 2

Paraphrase: In her research, Herring learned how high the emotional stakes are for writers (2).

In both examples above, the author, Herring, is given in the text, so the name will not be in the citation.

If the author’s name is NOT mentioned in a signal phrase, the parenthetical citation will include the author’s last name only and page number:

Direct Quote: The author understands it takes “courage and absolute vulnerability . . . to put words on a page” (Herring 2).

Paraphrase: The emotional stakes are high for writers who compose creative texts (Herring 2).

So the rule for in-text citations is, if the author’s name is given in a signal phrase, only give the page number. If it is not given in a signal phrase, the citation must include the last name only, followed by the page number.

What does this parenthetical citation tell us? We know who the author is, and we know on what page of the book we can find this quote. It doesn’t tell us, however, if it came from a print or web source. We assume it is a book, but only because there is a page number, but this isn’t always the case. We would look alphabetically on the Works Cited page, under “H” for Herring, to learn what type of source the research originated from.

Works Cited Entry:

Herring, Laraine. The Writing Warrior: Discovering the Courage to Free Your True Voice. Boston: Shambhala, 2010. Print.

Non-Print Web Sources

Today, web environments are often a respected source of information, and you may find some quality sources in online-only texts, though online sources must be carefully evaluated. Parenthetical citations for online sources can be tricky, but keep in mind you need basically the same information you would for a print source; however, it is rare that online sources will have page numbers. So what do you put in the parenthetical reference if the source has no page number?

·         First, include the author’s last name.

In-text:

The Purdue OWL is a great online source for students (Jackson).

Works Cited:

Jackson, Tom. “MLA Formatting and Style Guide.” The OWL at Purdue.

17 June 2012. Purdue University Writing Lab. 2 April 2014.

 

But what if there is no author given?

·         Include the title of the article. If the title is very long, you can shorten it.

In-text:
Once the boards are cut to specifications, glue sides to roof (“How to Build”).

Works Cited:

“How to Build a Better Bird House.” eHow. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2005.

What should you NOT list in a parenthetical citation if you have no page numbers?

·         Non-existent page numbers!

Never create page numbers from the browser’s print preview. Only give page numbers if the actual numbers are shown on the text. A PDF file, even though you may open it online, most likely has page numbers. Only when a source has numbered paragraphs or sections, use “par.” (or “pars.”) or “sec.” (or “secs.”) in parentheses: (Smith par. 4). Never make up page, paragraph, or section numbers.

The preferred method to cite a source with no page numbers is to include the name of the author, editor, etc., in a signal phrase. Examples below edited from Purdue Owl:

Ex. 1:

No parenthetical citation:

Garcia stated that Fitzcarraldo is “…a beautiful and terrifying critique of obsession and colonialism.”

Works Cited Entry:

Garcia, Elizabeth. “Herzog: a Life.” Online Film Critics Corner. The Film School of New Hampshire, 2 May 2002. Web. 8 Jan. 2009.

Ex. 2:

No parenthetical citation:

In his article “Allston Gothic,” local historian Forman Jackson demonstrates how completely the neighborhood’s gruesome past has been forgotten by its residents.

Works Cited Entry:

Jackson, Forman. “Allston Gothic.” American Historian. 16 Aug. 2002. Web. 4 May 2009.

In both of these examples from web sources, no page numbers existed, so the author is given in a signal phrase, so no parenthetical citation is necessary. The name of the author corresponds with the Works Cited entry. If there is no author, list by the title; the same rule applies that it must correspond with the Works Cited entry.

No Author

If you have no author or page number to list in a parenthetical reference, you can give the title of the article, as shown below. But as stated earlier, the title in a signal phrase is preferred:

Ex. 1

Big foot is believed to reside in the Pacific Northwest and Canada (“Myths and Folklore”).

Ex. 2

Cable television has become more popular than network television (“Trends in Programming”).
This is only the basic formula for parenthetical citations. For more information, visit Purdue Owl Online Writing Lab at

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

or Bedford St. Martin’s at

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/res5e_ch08_s1-0001.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Long and Short of Abbreviations

To abbreviate, or not to abbreviate? That is the question. The answer? It depends. When writing a research paper, you’ll probably find yourself asking this question sooner or later. As you compile your Works Cited, you’ll most likely find several words that must be abbreviated.

I.e. and e.g?

The abbreviations i.e. and e.g. are each commonly used in research papers. It’s also common to find they have been misused and confused. Both i.e. and e.g. are abbreviated Latin terms; i.e. stands for id est, which means “that is,” or “in other words.” E.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means “for the sake of example.”

It’s easy to remember the correct use of each if you use the beginning letters to help:

 “i” in i.e. = in other words

“e” in e.g. = example given

Joe loves watching old westerns (e.g., High Noon and Stagecoach).

The words following e.g. are examples, so you know that these are just some of the old westerns Joe loves watching

I.g. means in “in other words,” so use it to clarify or add further information:

Joe loves watching The Three Stooges (i.e., Larry, Moe, and Curly).

The words following i.e. provide clarification: they tell you the names of The Three Stooges.

Our pet hamster (i.e., the one Aunt Martha gave us) loves to eat Cheerios. Clarifies which hamster.

Our pet iguana loves vegetation (e.g., grass, leaves, twigs). Gives examples of vegetation.

For these abbreviations, you could also simply write out “for example” or “in other words” in your paper. If in doubt, write it out. Also, most style guides direct you to place a comma after e.g. and i.e., but as mine just did, the spellchecker told me to remove the comma. If you are using MLA documentation style, use a comma after.

Titles of Works

As you write the body of your paper, you may find the need to abbreviate often referred to titles of works. To avoid confusion, immediately after the first use of the title, place the abbreviated title in parenthesis:

In All’s Well That Ends Well (AWW), Shakespeare. . . .

Below are acceptable abbreviations for famous works:

Inf.      Dante, Inferno
FQ       Spencer, The Faerie Queene
GT       Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

Many great writers’ works, as noted above, have accepted abbreviations; however, if you are referencing a work without a commonly known abbreviation, you may devise your own simple abbreviation:

More Guns, Less Crime (MGLC)
The Road to Serfdom (RTS)
The Shadow University: The Betrayal Of Liberty On America’s Campuses (SU)

Works Cited

A Works Cited page will most always include numerous required abbreviations. Below are a few of the most common.

Months

MLA rules dictate that all months be abbreviated on the list of Works Cited – except for May, June and July (because they are short words). Keep in mind that when you abbreviate a word, it must end with a period: Jan., Feb., Mar., etc.

Notice that I have a list of abbreviated months. The list requires me to add a comma after each. Note that I just concluded a sentence with the abbreviation “etc.”; the period that acts as the abbreviation mark also works as a period to end the sentence, so you DO NOT add another period at the end of the sentence. Stylistically, many grammarians suggest to avoid concluding a sentence with an abbreviated word to prevent confusion.

Keep in mind that if you refer to months in the body of your text, you would write out the entire word.

States

According to the MLA Handbook, the trend in abbreviations is to NOT use periods or place spaces between commonly abbreviated words, or words that are capitalized:

Unites States          US
New York                NY
British Columbia   BC
California                CA     

Names

When including personal names, however, you would include a period and a space:

J. R. R. Tolkien
T. S. Eliot
E. B. White

Publication Info

It’s not uncommon find a book with missing publication information. Supply as much of the missing info as you can locate, using square brackets to indicate it did not come from the source:

n.p.                 No place of publication given
n.p.                 No publisher given
n.d.                 No date of publication
n.pag.             No page number given
c.                     circa (for approximate date)

You’re wondering, how do you know what the two n.p. abbreviations represent? If n.p. is inserted before the colon, it means no place. If the n.p. is placed after the colon, it indicates no publisher.

Scholarly Abbreviations Below is a list of a few of the most commonly abbreviated words found on Works Cited or Reference pages, which may or may not be capitalized, depending on their use and placement in the citation:

Anonymous             anon.
Appendix                  app.
Association               asso.
Chapter                     ch. or chap.
Dissertation             diss.
Document                doc.
Foreword                  fwd.
Illustration               illus.
journal                       jour.
Library                       lib.
Limited                      ltd.
Paragraph                 par.
Section                       sec. or sect.
Society                       soc.
University Press       UP
World Wide Web      www

This is only an abbreviated (!) list of abbreviations. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers has an extensive list of other uses, and is one of the go-to source for related questions. If you are using another citations style other than MLA, always refer to that style guide.

 

 

Works Cited: Common Questions Explained

As we near the end of our fall term here at Metropolitan Community College, students are visiting the Writing Centers with lots of MLA questions, especially Works Cited questions. Below we’ve compiled a list of the most common student questions related to Works Cited pages, and attempted to clarify what many students find to be the most complicated and perplexing part of the research writing process.

Q  Where do I put the URL in the Works Cited entry?

A  The newest guidelines from the 7^th edition of the MLA (Modern Language Association) Handbook have removed the URL from web sources. Now writers will include the medium of publication. For web sources you would simply add “Web” at the end of the entry in place of the URL. Book and other types of print medium, such as newspapers or journals, will add “Print.” Other common sources may be Film or DVD. However, ALWAYS follow instructor guidelines, as many still require the inclusion of URLs.

Q  My source doesn’t have an author. Should I list it as “Anonymous”?

A  It’s actually quite common for web sources not to list an author. If the author of the source is unknown, list the source by the first word in the title, disregarding A, An, or The. So as you alphabetize the entries, you would alphabetize by the first word in the title. If the title is more than a few words, use a shortened version of the title in the in-text citation.

Q  My instructor says I need to use a “hanging indent” on my Works Cited page.  What exactly is a hanging indent?

A  A hanging indent is exactly the opposite of a traditional indent. Instead of indenting the first line, with all subsequent lines flush left, the first line of the entry will be flush left, with all subsequent lines indented, regardless of number. The reason for a hanging indent on a Works Cited page is so a reader can easily find the source’s name or title while scanning the Works Cited page.

To easily format for a hanging indent in MS Word, under the “Home” tab, click on the “Paragraph” arrow to open; on the right of the box, you should see “Special” with “none” as the default. Click the arrow beside “none” and “Hanging” should be the last item. If you format the hanging indent before you enter your sources, it will automatically create a hanging indent for each entry.

Q  I have several quotes by the same author but from different texts. How do I account for this on my Works Cited?

A  When conducting research, it’s common to find several different articles by the same expert. On your Works Cited, give the author’s name in the first entry only. Every entry after the first one with the full name, type three hyphens, which stand for the name in the preceding entry.  The three hyphens, like the name, will be followed by a period. Alphabetize all entries by title.

Q  I placed quotation marks around the title of the book I referenced, but the instructor said it should be italicized. I then italicized the title of a journal article, but was told that’s incorrect too! Which is it?

A  This is one of the most confusing rules for most students. If you can just remember that small works – for instance, chapter titles in anthologies – are placed in quotation marks; larger works – like a book or journal – are italicized. So, for instance, the article, “Five Fallacies of Education,” will be in quotation marks, and the journal, Harvard Review will be in italics. A newspaper article will be in quotation marks, and the name of the newspaper italicized. It gets more complicated with websites, but just remember the smaller work is placed in quotations and the larger work in italics.

Other directives from the MLA Handbook:

Italics: books, plays, poems published as books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, journals, web sites, online databases, films, television and radio broadcasts, CDs, albums.

Quotation Marks: articles, essays, stories or poems published within larger works, book chapters, pages in web sites, and individual episodes of television and radio broadcasts.

 (for a complete list, see MLA Handbook for writers of Research Papers 7th Edition)

Q  My instructor said it was okay to interview my supervisor as one of my sources. How would I cite my interview?

A  If you have conducted the interview, begin the entry with the name of the person you have interviewed, the kind of interview, whether it was a Personal interview, Telephone interview, or E-mail interview, and conclude with the date the interview took place.

Ex.:     Karr, John. Personal interview. 14 Oct. 2013.

Final Thoughts

Students often find Works Cited pages to be extremely overwhelming to understand.  Your handbook or Purdue Owl’s website are great resources to utilize as you work through the process. All you need to know is the type of medium you are using, so make sure you have identified the type of source correctly, whether it be a print journal, web site, or library database. It’s always best to compile your Works Cited manually, meaning avoid the automatic citation help in MS Word and NoodleTools Express, which will incorrectly format an entry if the writer fails to insert the correct information.

One last piece of advice: It’s much  easier to compile the Works Cited page as you go, as opposed to waiting until the paper is finished.  Creating the source list as you go will save time in the end, and you’ll have the citation right in front of you for the in-text citations.

To view a sample paper with a Works Cited page, visit Purdue Owl here:  MLA Sample Paper.

 

Evaluating Web Sources: Part II

In last week’s post, we talked about how to begin the research process of your essay. Hopefully, you’ve spent some time in the planning stages and have settled on an essay topic and are ready to begin evaluating the sources you have found. You might have collected research from the library in the form of books or journals, from library databases, such as EBSCO or Opposing Viewpoints, and online sources. You know that most books, journals and library databases are a good place to find credible sources.  But how do you evaluate the credibility of web sources?

The internet can be a wonderful and useful tool to learn more about a topic and a good place to collect research. The web houses a vast amount of information, and web-based research can be as reliable as any print source. And let’s face it – it’s easy. At the touch of a few keys, you have a world of information readily available. However, even though you might find a limitless supply of quality sources online, you can just as easily find sources that are biased, outdated, and outright incorrect. So how does one evaluate web sources?

Who is the Author? 

Many websites list no author, and often are produced by some nameless, faceless voice. One might assume if an author puts his/her name on a webpage or article on a website that it must be credible. But don’t be so sure. Simply having an author name attached to a website or page doesn’t guarantee that person is a credible source. Who is this person? What are his or her qualifications? Many times, the author may be an advocate for one side of an argument, or an employee of a company or business that falls squarely on one side of an issue. Even a “Dr.” or “PhD” behind a name doesn’t necessarily make them a credible source. If an author’s qualifications are not listed, do some digging. Google their name. Work to uncover what their background is. This will save you some frustration and embarrassment in the end.

Who is the Sponsoring Organization? 

When you find a website you’d like to use, is the sponsoring organization clearly stated? Most credible websites clearly state the sponsor of the website. One good rule of thumb is the domain provider, which indicates the type of sponsoring organization. College and university websites are all .edu; nonprofits use .org (though not solely nonprofits); government entities use .gov. Most instructors consider these domains more reliable sources of information than .com or .net domains.

Even though you may find good information on .com or .net, these domain types are less predictable and more often biased. Even though .org are used for nonprofits, that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t find biased information on these websites.

What is the Purpose and Audience?

When you study the website, is it clear what the purpose or function is of the information? Many websites are there to educate the audience, but beware. If they are making some type of argument, leaning to one side of a position, then it may be biased.

Can you discern who the intended audience is? If you find you agree with everything the information conveys, that doesn’t necessarily make it a good resource.  You want unbiased sources who have no stake in your argument. Otherwise, you’ll have a lopsided argument that lacks credibility.

How Current is the Information?

If the website publishes articles, do they list a publication date? If not, scroll down the webpage to the bottom of the screen. Here you should find the “Last Update,” or publication date of the webpage. Many instructors require current research, especially on scientific-related topics. Even research one year old might be outdated in some topics.

If the website offers linked pages, click on those to see the dates listed on the pages. It’s not uncommon to find websites with pages of dead links, which is often a sign the webpage is outdated.

Spending time collecting research is only half the battle; once you find research that fits your topic, it’s imperative you take the time to evaluate all sources before you include them in your argument. You’ll be glad you did.

Students: Have you ever found research that you later learned was not as credible as you originally thought?

Check out the websites below.  Are they credible?

http://www.buydehydratedwater.com/

http://www.dhmo.org/

More help with evaluating online sources can be found at : http://people.wcsu.edu/reitzj/res/evalweb.html