Primary sources are the original words of a writer in a novel, poem, play, short story, letter, autobiography, speech, report, film, television program, original design, computer program, interview, and so forth.
Secondary sources are works about somebody (biography) or about a creative work (critical evaluation).
Secondary sources include interpretations of novels or paintings, reviews of plays or movies, or biographies. Other secondary evaluations may appear in news reports, magazine articles, and textbooks.
Think of secondary sources as writing about primary sources and about the creators of primary works. In general, you should SUMMARIZE secondary sources, not quote them, unless the wording of the original is especially well phrased. However, do quote primary sources (Lester 62).
Interviewing is a useful method of gathering information. There are undoubtedly many people in your community who can provide valuable information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. Additionally, conducting interviews will help you gain confidence in your communication skills.
Know the name of the person and the subject that you will discuss.
Arrange the interview well in advance of your deadline.
Write out some questions ahead of time (who, what, why, when, where, how).
Write the questions on the left side of a page and the responses on the right.
Be prepared (pens, paper, fully charged audio or video recorder with enough space to record, etc.)
Introduce yourself.
Remind the person why you have come.
Tape the interview if the person has given you permission, but always take notes; your recorder might fail.
Write down the key information, not every word.
Listen actively (pay attention; ask follow-up questions; nod; smile; politely ask for clarification).
Be flexible (rephrase your questions when needed; gently redirect the conversation when it gets off track).
Be tactful (politely rephrase a question if the person does not answer it).
Immediately review your notes and complete responses you remember but had no time to record at the time.
Thank the person with a note.
Let the person see the outcome of the interview (Sebranek, et al. 541-542).
A “scholarly” article is generally viewed as having more credibility than articles from “popular” publications. This is why teachers may request that students locate scholarly journal articles. Scholarly articles are also referred to as “academic” or “peer reviewed.” In other words, completed articles are reviewed and evaluated by experts in the field—an editorial board—and must receive their approval before publishing.
Maine Digital Library and JSTOR are great databases for researching scholarly articles. See the librarian for assistance.
Try scholarly articles for…
Descriptions of original scientific research. Ex: new and emerging diseases
Comparison studies related to social issues. Ex: economic studies related to single-parent homes, children of divorced parents.
An analysis of an author’s works written by a literary scholar
Case studies
Current, in-depth analysis of a topic: scientific, psychological, educational, economic, etc.
Ask these questions when evaluating sources—have this information in hand when you are conducting a database search, a Web search or have collected a few books to review.
When you are looking for information online don't take the information you are learning as fact.
Take a moment when you find new information and check to see if these claims are verified anywhere else. Open a new window or tab and perform a new search with information you have gathered. Can this information be validated by other sources?
Who is the source author? Why are they qualified to present information on this topic? Author may represent a group or organization with a particular view or opinion. Is contact information for the author or group included
What is the article title? Sometimes the web site’s title is the same as the web article title.
What is the source title? “Source” refers to the web site, magazine, journal, book or newspaper title.
What is the article copyright date? Make sure the date reflects your needs. Web site articles may not have a copyright date. In this case, it is acceptable to use the date the article was last updated.
Who is the source publisher? Books, magazines and newspapers will identify the publisher. Web sites may identify a publisher or sponsor. In most cases, the sponsor can be identified by deleting the web address back to the domain (the .com, .net, .org, etc.). For example, the domain for this web address is bold:
http://www.audubon.com/birds.html.
What is the intended purpose? Every article has a purpose.
Is the author’s central claim or thesis obvious? What is it?
Why did you select this article for research?
Can the information (including quotations and statistics) be verified by other sources?
Are there signs of bias?
Keep in mind that search terms matter. Each set of keywords will bring up a different set of search results, change your search if you need to.
Keep an eye out for misleading websites like highly partisan news, clickbait and satire
Databases and search engines are organized collections of data that can be retrieved using simple search procedures. Because they are so large, you cannot browse them.
Follow these guidelines when searching the CEHS Library Databases:
Draft a specific research topic or an essential question before beginning the search
List the important words and phrases that define the topic.
Research topic: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood won the election because the Arab Spring set favorable conditions for the rise of the Islamic movement.
Before conducting a database search, list the keywords and key-phrases you might begin with:
Arab Spring
Egypt
Muslim Brotherhood
election
Islamic political movement
Scan print and online encyclopedias, books and articles for additional keywords that allow you to retrieve more specific information, i.e. President Morsi, military power, influence.
Truncation: Keyword truncation instructs the database to search any variation of that word. To use truncation, enter the root of a keyword and replace the ending with an asterisk, *:
elect* (searches election, elect, electing, etc.)
Phrase Searching: Quotation marks around meaningful phrases instruct the database to search the phrase as “a complete unit:
“Muslim Brotherhood” AND elect*
The “OR” operator can be used in two situations:
Searching for synonyms:
violence OR aggression
Searching for closely related concepts:
Islam OR Muslim
The "AND" operator combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms:
“Arab Spring” AND Morsi
The "NOT" operator omits a topic or concept from the results.
To limit search results to articles that only discuss Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood but not Mubarak: “Muslim Brotherhood” AND Morsi NOT Mubarak
Each database is different because each is developed by a different company. Be flexible. Each time you use a new database, look for a link that outlines how to use the database.
It’s just not fair! …but it happens to all novice researchers. Even though you have explored all of the best sources, you will sometimes miss important information because of:
Flawed search strategies. Make sure to use a variety of keywords to pull different results: “television violence” may pull a different set of results compared to “media violence.”
Content lacking balance. The best way to defend your position or to debate an issue is to understand both sides
A lack of balanced sources. Use a variety of different types of sources. Often, students want to rely too much on Web resources or articles from just one database.
Information overload. If you are overwhelmed by the number of sources you have located, reevaluate each and scale down. You can always do more research later.
Poor selection of Web sites. Articles in periodical databases have gone through editors who check for accuracy and publish only the articles that meet high editorial standards. The Web has no editor. It is up to YOU to define QUALITY. Evaluate websites based on good selection criteria.
Thinking errors that result in poor writing. As you read, watch for mistakes:
Logical fallacies. Conclusions that don’t follow from the arguments (Because A precedes B, A causes B…huh? Not necessarily!)
Appeals to emotion, not reasoning or logic.
Arguing against the person making the argument rather than the argument itself…The author’s culture, religion, race, etc. are central. Check viewpoints or arguments for perspective.
Recognize that a culture, language, religion, race, etc. is one of many, and the viewpoints that stem from that culture are therefore relative.
Stereotyping. Firmly held generalizations about people or situations.
Assumptions. Taking something for granted.
Speculating. Making an educated guess, based on partial evidence.
Opinion vs. fact. Opinions can be mistaken, and even the experts can be wrong. Do you want your reader to believe and trust you? Use facts to prove your thesis.
Hasty conclusions. Arriving to a judgment before obtaining sufficient evidence.
Provide your reader with the basic information they will need to understand your thesis (Don’t make arguments about B until you have introduced B).
Adapted from: “York University Libraries.” York University. York University. 2008. Web. n.d. http://info.library.yorku.ca
While reading, look for indications of the following. When you detect any of these, it is important to reference and respond to this information in your paper.
Manipulation
Influence people or a situation in an unfair manner.
Deception
Mislead or falsely persuade others.
Prejudice
Preconceived, usually unfavorable, judgements toward a person or people
False Claims
An opinion not supported by factual evidence.
Bias
A person’s interpretation of evidence to support an argument.
Opinion
A view of judgement formed about something; not necessarily based on fact of knowledge.
Fact
Something known to exist or to have happened.
Relevancy
Connected with the topic or argument at hand; seek out information from several sources in order to know what to trust.
Books published by university presses: Oxford UP, MIT Press, etc.
Books from major publishers: Penguin, Random House, Simon & Schuster, etc.
News sources: New York Times, BBC, PBS, The Guardian, Washington Post, NPR, etc.
News magazines: The Atlantic, The Economist, Newsweek, Time, The New Yorker, etc.
Subject encyclopedias: Encyclopedia of World Trade, Encyclopedia of Global Warming
Primary sources (must be cited if retrieved online): paintings, diaries, government data, original source articles, etc.
Databases subscribed to by a library are trustworthy