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ENG101 (English Composition) - M. Johnstun

OBJECTIVE.
 The objective of the assignment is to find five sources, four of which are library sources, that support your topic concerning a common misconception about an established group or category of people. This guide will provide you with strategies and resources to finding sources, primarily books and databases.


GETTING STARTED.
Before you get started, it's important to write out your topic and identify the most important words or terms. You'll use these as keywords and search terms when searching for books in the library catalog and for articles in the periodical databases.

The position I am taking for my topic is:


"Most people believe in the stereotype that the only people who play video games are boys, and that girls have no interest in playing video games of any sort. My research shows that not only are girls interested in playing video games, their numbers are increasing and video game designers are more and more interested in girls as gamers."


Based on the topic statement above, what are the most important and unique keywords/terms that you can use in a search?


BOOKS / LIBRARY CATALOG.
Most of the library's books are academic in nature and will provide a thorough analysis of a topic. It's typical that a portion of a book (for example, one or two chapters) will be useful to you, rather than an entire book. For this assignment, books may not be as useful as articles will be, so if you don't find any books on your topic, that's okay.

Enter your search terms above in the library catalog to find books on your topic.


ARTICLES / DATABASES.
The library subscribes to a number of periodical databases that will be useful for your research. You can access millions of articles from thousands of periodicals, including periodicals such as:
  • newspapers, which provide short but timely articles on current events;
  • magazines, which provide more in-depth feature-length articles on current events or timely topics;
  • trade journals, which are written for people in a specific industry; and
  • scholarly or peer-reviewed journals, which are written for people in the academic world--professors, researchers, students, etc.
There are three main databases that are the most useful; I recommend you access them in this order (from most accessible to most difficult). All three can be accessed from the library's articles and databases page.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. The OVRC provides you with more than articles; it includes viewpoint essays, reference essays for background information, and statistics. It provides resources on thousands of controversial topics where there are opposing pro/con positions. This may be useful depending on your topic; it's viewpoint articles are usually limited to frequently argued controversial topics. It's articles are a good starting point, but it's much more limited than the next two databases.

ProQuest Research Library. This ProQuest database includes millions of articles, with an emphasis on newspaper and magazine articles. You can use the Advanced Search feature for more complex searches (such as yours) when searching multiple terms, and you can also use the "Suggested Topics" feature to help you refine your results. You can refer to the ProQuest visual guide for tips and examples on how to use this database effectively.

EBSCO Academic Research Complete. The EBSCO database also includes millions of articles, but there is a greater emphasis on scholarly and peer-reviewed journals. While the look and some of the features are different from the ProQuest database, it works much the same way. You can refer to the EBSCO visual guide for tips and examples on how to use this database effectively.



WEBSITES / INTERNET.
Since you are only allowed to use one website or Internet source, make sure its a good one! Here are a few tools for ensuring you find quality websites:
  • when doing a Google or Bing search, go to the "advanced search" page and do a domain search by limiting it to .edu websites. This limits your results to websites from educational institutions. 
  • use a directory of pre-selected websites like Google Directory or the Internet Public Library for websites organized by category. 

CITATIONS.
Ready to cite your sources? Visit the library's citing sources page for handouts, examples of in-text citations and works cited pages, and sample papers for both the MLA and APA formats.