Research Resources
Get Started with a Free Research Basics Course
There's a lot of digital content out there, and we want to help you get a handle on it.
Where do you start? What do you do? How do you use it? Don’t worry, this course has you covered.
This introductory program was created by JSTOR to help you get familiar with basic research concepts needed for success in school. The course contains three modules, each made up of three short lessons and three sets of practice quizzes. The topics covered are subjects that will help you prepare for college-level research. Each module ends with an assessment to test your knowledge.
The JSTOR librarians who helped create the course hope you learn from the experience and feel ready to research when you’ve finished this program.
Tutorials
This series of video tutorials is an excellent way to break down how to conduct a research project from start to finish. Complete this tutorial (approx. 22 minutes) to learn about various aspects of the research process. You can start with Module 1 and work your way through to Module 5. Alternatively, you can select specific modules to help with your individual needs.
Intro to Research
Module 1: Selecting a Topic
Module 2: Finding Sources
Module 3: Selecting Keywords
Module 4: Identifying Citations
Module 5: Evaluating Sources
Tips
Academic Honesty
Consequences of Plagarism
How Google Search Works
Boolean Search For More Accurate Results
Understanding Primary & Secondary Sources
Creating an Annotated Bibliography
Research Databases
Access The Following Resources Via:
General Knowledge
Note-taking and Research Collection
Most of the articles in Google Scholar come with an abstract, but some are also be available with free full text for everyone. If you don't have access to full-text, here are some things to try to get the full text:
Look for [DOC], [PDF] or [HTML] on the result list. When you see one of these options, just click on it to get the full text.
If you don't see [DOC], [PDF] or [HTML] on the result list, look for All versions--there may be a free full text version there.
If you still have not found the full text, look for Related articles under your article to see if articles on the same topic are available full-text.
Education Research
Science
MLA 9th Edition
Purdue OWL MLA
Writing, Research, & Citing Sources
Properly Formatting A Document
In-Text Citation
Works Cited Page For All Resources
MLA Style Guide
UofA MLA Quick Guide
Using Evidence
Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing
All of these are needed for writing a great research paper or essay.
Quote when an author has stated an idea in a way that can’t be said any better. Paraphrase when you want to clarify or emphasize an idea in your own words. Summarize when you need to condense a large amount of text into a smaller amount.
Remember to ALWAYS use in-text citation for any idea that belongs to someone else even if you are paraphrasing or summarizing.
Source Evaluation
Wikipedia Guide
OPVL Source Evaluation
OPCVL Reference Chart.pdf
Plagiarism Flow Chart
