If you read nothing else about researching at the college level, read this: Do not use or rely on Google or other Internet search engines for your research sources. Using these searches will ensure your essay will fail. I cannot stress this point enough:
Don’t use a simple Google search to find citable sources for academic writing. You may be able to use Google Scholar, but many professors frown on it as well.
You might be asking: If I can’t use Google, where will I find sources?
Conduct all your research through your university or college library, not the public library or the Internet.
Whether you need books, newspaper articles, journal articles, or historic archives, you’ll find it through an academic library. (Public libraries may be able to help you, but most of these libraries are geared to public tastes and entertainment, rather than academic research and documentation.)
Once you arrive at the library, whether in person or online, you’ll find the library has vast, sometimes overwhelming, resources to offer you, so it helps to have an overview of where to find certain types of sources.
Books --> Catalog
Journal Articles --> Database
Newspaper Articles --> Database
Historical Archives --> Database
Dissertations --> Database
You’ll notice most of the resources are located in a library’s databases, which require some skill to access wisely. Next, we will go over how to use both the databases and the library catalog.
Scholarly sources typically exist in one of two forms:
1. Books
2. Articles in scholarly journals
What about newspapers and magazines, you ask? Most instructors consider newspaper and magazine articles to be popular, not scholarly, sources of information—in some cases, even highly regarded newspapers such as The New York Times. However, if you feel you have found an especially relevant, high-quality article that would work well in your paper, ask if you can use it. Every professor is different, and some may indeed allow it.
Check your sources for the following information:
BOOKS
ARTICLES
DATE OF PUBLICATION AND CURRENCY
Is the material outdated or still relevant? (Some topics, but not all, require the most recent research.)
AUTHOR CREDENTIALS
Look for a list of the author’s credentials (university or college affiliation and expertise in the field). Fame or frequency of appearances on television does not constitute credentials.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR(S)
Look for a university press—these books are likely to be scholarly.
Look for university or college affiliation of the publication and/or its editor(s).
AUDIENCE
Look for books written for a specialized audience, not for mass consumption.
Look for articles written by and for experts—not for the general public.
PRESENTATION, ORGANIZATION, AND ADVERTISEMENTS
Examine the table of contents to evaluate the logic and organization of the book.
If you see ads present in the periodical, this publication is not likely scholarly.
RESEARCH INCLUDED
Look for a bibliography of sources cited and/or consulted—all scholarly books include this information. Examine this list to see if these sources are scholarly.
Look for a bibliography of sources cited and/or consulted—all scholarly articles include this information. Examine this list to see if these sources are scholarly.
AVOIDING “THE EXACTLY MYTH”
As you begin searching for your books and articles, remember to be creative in your search. Don’t get bogged down in trying to find other scholars who discuss the exact topic and perspective that you are discussing.
In fact, this is one of the most common problems students encounter with finding research: They get stuck in ...
The Exactly Myth is based on the following belief: All sources I quote in my essay must be written exactly on the topic and perspective that I research in my work.
For example, Robin, who is writing about father/daughter relationships in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You, believes the only sources she can cite must be about father/daughter relationships in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You.
This is a false assumption. You do not have to cite only sources written on your exact topic or perspective. In fact, finding such sources that discuss exactly the perspective on which you write will prove a difficult, if not impossible, task!
The solution is to find sources that discuss any and all aspects of your project and apply them to your perspective. Aspects of your project include:
· The text itself (the book, short story, poem, painting, play, research study, film, television program, etc.)
· The author or creator of the work or works (poet, sculptor, painter, writer, director, producer, philosopher, scientist, etc.)
· The topic or theme (romantic love, beauty, nature, war, death, spirituality, father/daughter relationships, gender, race, etc.)
· The type, time period, and origin of your text (sixteenth-century British play, twentieth-century American film, twenty-first-century comedic American television sitcom, nineteenth-century French painting, twentieth-century American economic problems, etc.)
Research any or all of these aspects, and then tie the information to your ideas. In short, get creative with the sources you find and then simply explain how or why they relate to your thesis.
This is not an easy task, especially at first, so keep in mind your job is to answer these key questions:
· Why should I include this source?
· How does this scholar’s idea or perspective relate to mine?
Remember, to successfully incorporate a source, you must justify why and how it connects to your ideas and perspective on the issue or text.
When searching for sources, remember to be creative—and think about all angles of your paper. The titles of the articles do not need to perfectly match your thesis or prompt to contain information you can cite and build on in your work.
The following screenshot shows a list of articles that Robin found in her initial search. We will discuss how to find articles in detail later in this chapter. For now, just read the titles and assess their potential usability.
Even if a source is not useful to you, it may lead you to another; the writer may cite a work you should explore, either in the text itself or in the References list, so check this page before discarding any sources.
FINDING “THEM” IN PRINT
Before you head to the library to find print-based sources, be sure you have all the necessary materials with you. If you created a binder, as suggested in chapter 5, bring this binder with you. If not, be sure you bring with you, at minimum, a printed copy of your assignment and your keyword list.
HOW TO FIND BOOKS
1. Log on to your library’s website. Find the “Catalog.” Once you find it, look for “advanced search” and select this option.
2. Read over your keyword sheet, and decide whether it is best to search by author, title, or subject.
3. Select the “Limit search to available items” function, choose whether you want to search by “Subject,” “Author,” or “Title,” and then type in your keywords and hit the “enter” or “search” button.
4. A list of records will pop up for you. Don’t worry if every title isn’t exactly what you want; just read through them, and see how many might be usable. When you see one you’d like to read, look for a box entitled “mark” or “save” and select this option; this function allows you to save the title and citation information. If you can’t find this function, ask for help; it’s more than worth the effort to find because it saves you the trouble of writing all the citation information by hand.
5. Select the “e-mail citations” option; this handy function e-mails all the citation information to your inbox! This is a nice feature; it means you will always have the information where you can find and access it.
TIPS
· Note where each book is located. If your college or university has multiple libraries and/or multiple floors within the library, highlight the floor number or building name and location.
· Once you have the list of books you’d like to read through, make a plan of attack for retrieving them. For example, organize your titles by floor (get books on the second floor first and books on the sixth floor last or vice versa …). If you are not sure how to find books at the library, ask for assistance.
EXAMPLE
See the example below of Russell’s search results for his topic, a minimum wage increase for tipped employees. He went to his college library’s catalog and typed in “minimum wage” to see how many results this simple search yielded.
The listings, called “records,” contain each book’s important information (the title, author, date of publication, and call letters). Click on the underlined title of the book to find a summary of the book’s contents; this info will help you assess the book’s usefulness to your project.
FINDING “THEM” IN DATABASES
Although books are usually located on the shelves of your library and you must physically go to the library to locate them, scholarly articles can be accessed through databases. This means you can go to the library and find them, or you can access them anywhere via an Internet connection.
“Wait,” you may be thinking, “didn’t we agree earlier that we shouldn’t trust or use online sources?” Great question. The difference is that we are now finding sources online through the library, not through Google or other popular sources. This is not a minor detail; as we discussed earlier, sources found via the library must undergo rigorous academic scrutiny before publication; we have no idea what review process—if any—Internet sources undergo before they are posted.
HOW TO FIND JOURNAL ARTICLES
1. Log on to your college or university’s library website. Locate the research database. It may be labeled “Journals,” “Articles and Research,” “Articles Search,” or simply “Database.”
2. Some libraries allow you to search all databases or to select specific databases. If you are forced to select a specific database and you have no idea which one to use, I suggest using one of these generic academic databases: Academic Search Premier, LexisNexis Academic, or EBSCOhost.
3. Read over your keyword list, and select the keywords you will enter into the search for articles. Remember, be specific, but not too specific, in your search. If the database offers the option of “full-text articles” only, select this option. If you do not get enough results, try deselecting it.
4. A list of records will pop up for you. Don’t worry if every title isn’t exactly what you need; just read through the titles and see how many might be usable. When you see one you’d like to read, look for a box labeled “mark” or “save”; this function allows you to save the title and citation information. If you can’t find this function, ask for help; it’s more than worth the effort to find, as it will save you from having to write out all your citation information.
5. Select the “e-mail citations” option; this handy function e-mails the information to your inbox.
If you have any trouble at all, don’t be afraid to ask for help from librarians; they are hired to assist you! Keep them employed by asking for help. Most of them truly enjoy researching and can help you more than you might think.
EXAMPLE
Consider the following example of Robin’s search for articles on father/daughter relationships in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You.
Many college and university libraries now offer a “search for articles” text box on their library home page, which allows you to simply type in your topic or text—and save the time of having to select a database. This function essentially means the library has selected the database for you, usually a general database that contains scholarly articles from multiple disciplines (in the case above, we see that this database is “Academic Search Complete”).
If you must write on a highly specialized topic within a certain field, you may want to avoid the generic database on the library’s home page and instead seek a discipline-specific database. For example, psychology students often use the PsycINFO® database, whereas literature students use the MLA International Bibliography database.
For general topics, however, usually one of the interdisciplinary databases, such as Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, and LexisNexis Academic, will work well.
If you have any questions regarding which database(s) to search, ask your instructor and/or a librarian.
If you are experiencing difficulty finding sources, don’t give up. Finding strong sources requires creativity—and determination. Try any or all of the following strategies. Each strategy’s effectiveness depends on your topic and texts, so if one does not work for you, skip to the next.
1. TYPE IN THE TITLE OF ALL TEXTS TOGETHER. For example, Robin, who is comparing father/daughter relationships in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You, would simply type in “Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You.”
This is the most common strategy students use to find sources, which is fine, but it is certainly not the only strategy. Sometimes this type of search will yield entirely too many results, and other times it yields zero results. The latter usually confuses students, and thus they give up, thinking, “No one has ever written on this.” They mistakenly conclude they cannot continue researching. If you find no articles or books that consider both of your texts, try the strategies below.
2. TYPE IN THE TITLE OF EACH TEXT SEPARATELY. For example, Robin would type in “Taming of the Shrew” and note the results. Then—on a separate search—she would type in “10 Things I Hate About You.”
A classic text like Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew will undoubtedly generate far too many results to handle. However, a search on a 1990s film adaptation geared to a teen audience (10 Things I Hate About You) will probably not, so Robin will get more manageable results by searching the film title.
3. TYPE IN THE TITLE OF ALL TEXTS AND THE TOPIC. For example, Robin would type in: “Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You and fathers and daughters.”
This very narrow search will likely yield few, if any, results, but if another scholar has written on your precise texts and topics, you will definitely want to address her perspective in your essay!
4. TYPE IN THE TITLE OF EACH TEXT SEPARATELY WITH YOUR TOPIC. Try several variations of the word(s) associated with your topic. For example, Robin could type in “Taming of the Shrew and father” or“‘Taming of the Shrew and fatherhood” or “Taming of the Shrew and father and daughter” or “10 Things I Hate About You and fatherhood” or “10 Things I Hate About You and father and daughter” or “10 Things I Hate About You and daughter.”
5. TYPE IN THE NAME OF ALL THE TEXTS’ AUTHORS. For example, Robin could type in “Shakespeare and Gil Junger.” This search’s effectiveness depends on the relative obscurity of the authors. Major writers (like Shakespeare) and their work (like The Taming of the Shrew) are often compared and contrasted with other texts (such as the film 10 Things I Hate About You). If either of the authors are very prominent, you are much more likely to get better results. However, if you have two relatively obscure authors, you are unlikely to find an article or book discussing both.
6. TYPE IN THE NAME OF EACH AUTHOR SEPARATELY. For film texts, enter the name of the director and/or writers; for television programs, type in the name(s) of the producer(s) and/or writers.
For example, Robin could type in “Shakespeare” in one search and “Gil Junger” in the next search.
The first search will yield entirely too many results; scholars have penned thousands, even millions, of pages on Shakespeare, and trying to leaf through all of them will waste your time. However, the scholarship on a contemporary film director will be much less extensive and thus less daunting.
7. TYPE IN THE NAME OF EACH AUTHOR TOGETHER WITH THE TOPIC. For example, Robin could type in “Shakespeare and Gil Junger and fatherhood” or “Shakespeare and Gil Junger and daughters.” This kind of search will likely be far too specific, but it might also yield interesting results.
8. TYPE IN THE NAME OF EACH AUTHOR SEPARATELY, AND THEN ADD A TOPIC TO THE SEARCH. For example, Robin could type in “fathers and Shakespeare” or “Gil Junger and fathers” or “Shakespeare and daughter” or “Gil Junger and daughters.”
9. TYPE IN ONLY YOUR TOPIC. For example, Robin could type in “fathers and daughters.” The first search will probably yield far too many results because it is too broad, but depending on the scope of your topic, sometimes this strategy can prove helpful.
10.TYPE IN ONLY YOUR TOPIC AND THE TYPE(S) OF TEXTS AND/OR TIME PERIODS YOU MUST EXAMINE. For example, Robin could type in “film and fatherhood” or “fatherhood in teenage films” or“fatherhood in Renaissance theater” or “fatherhood in Renaissance literature” or “fathers and daughters in Renaissance” and so on.
Don’t panic if you encounter problems during any part of the research process. Many students, even the most advanced ones, run into issues while researching. See the chart below for possible solutions.
PROBLEM
SOLUTION(S)
I can’t find anything!
· Use more vague, general language in your search.
· Try all three types of searches: author, subject, and title.
· Remove quotation marks from your search if you used them.
· Ask your professor or research librarian for help.
I found way too much information!
· Use more specific language in your search.
· Place quotation marks around the phrase or subject as you search for it.
· Choose the “advanced-search” option and use the “NOT” feature to eliminate irrelevant information.
Everything I found is “popular” and not scholarly.
Make sure you are not using Google, Bing, Yahoo, or others like them to find sources. Enlist the help of your librarian or professor. Bring whatever work you have found so far and a list of your methods, including your keyword list; this information will help them determine the root of the problem.
I found plenty of sources, but I’m having trouble understanding them.
See later in this chapter for a discussion on how to break down the books and articles and make them easier to understand.
I can’t decide which sources to use and which ones to discard.
This is actually a good “problem” to have. If you have so many sources you could use all of them, just select your favorite ones or the ones you can most easily quote. If you don’t have a favorite and you could quote all of them, just choose. If you cannot make a decision, visit your instructor and ask her to help you choose.
I found plenty of books and articles on my text, but the scholars don’t discuss exactly what I’m discussing.
Don’t worry if your sources don’t approach your text or topic exactly as you do. Sometimes you have to get creative to connect another person’s ideas to yours. For a detailed discussion and examples of how to make these connections, see earlier in this chapter.
If you’re having trouble with your paper, don’t suffer in silence! Take advantage of the many on-campus resources available to help you.
· YOUR PROFESSOR: When you have a problem, go to the source. Your instructor wrote the assignment and has likely already done extensive research on it himself, so go to his office hours or make an appointment to get help. Be sure to bring with you proof of your attempts to find sources; you don’t want to make the professor think you want him to do your research for you.
· RESEARCH LIBRARIANS: The primary purpose of the research librarian is to help students do research. She will not do all of your work for you, but she will help get you started and answer questions while you’re completing the job.
You can go to the library in person or just visit your college or university library’s web page. Most libraries have twenty-four-hour live chat services that provide answers from an expert immediately.
· WRITING CENTER OR LEARNING LAB: These excellent resources are free to students and typically offer direct, one-on-one counseling with graduate and upperclassmen who have plentiful research experience. This is a great way to meet other successful students and learn their tricks and strategies for getting great grades on research assignments and other types of assignments.
· FELLOW CLASSMATES, FRIENDS, FAMILY MEMBERS, OR SIBLINGS: Use these resources sparingly; many of your friends and classmates may think they know how to research effectively, but do you know for sure whether their advice is sound? You don’t want to wait until you get your grade to find out. If you know an A student and you trust his opinion, then by all means enlist his help for your project, but always, always go to experts first. Your friend or sibling may or may not be an expert, so apply caution here.
If you’re having trouble understanding the research you find, you are not alone. Many students have difficulty understanding other scholars’ work, and this is indeed a serious issue, for if you do not understand their ideas, you cannot respond to and build on those ideas. Therefore, you can imagine how important it is to ensure that you do indeed understand the meaning of the work you cite in your essays.
When struggling with a difficult article or book, break down the text to make it less intimidating and more manageable. The “SQ3R” method, used extensively for decades, has helped millions of students break down challenging texts and understand them.
SQ3R:
Survey
Question
Read
Recite
Review
1. Before you read, Survey the book or article. Look specifically at the following elements of your research sources:
· Book, article, or chapter title
· Abstract or summary
· Table of contents and major headings and subheadings
· Introduction and conclusion paragraphs
· Major charts, maps, diagrams, or graphs
Write down the most important ideas or terms you notice. Once you feel you have an overview of the book or article, you can begin to read. Remember that you do not have to read an entire book to cite it in your paper; focus only on the most relevant chapter(s).
2. As you begin to read, ask Questions about the material. The questions you ask will depend on the type and level of material you read, but the following generic questions are always important to address:
· What is this author’s major point?
· Who cares about this point? Why is it important?
· How does this information relate to my thesis?
· What major evidence does this author present?
· Do I agree with him? Why or why not?
Be sure to write down your answers to these questions.
3. After you finish Reading, you may want to recite and review what you’ve read to test whether you truly understand it or not. If not, you can always reread.
4. Recite what you’ve learned after you read a chapter or section. See it, say it, hear it, and write it. The more senses you engage with your reading, the more important your brain deems the material—and thus the better you will understand and remember it.
· SEE IT: Look again at the book or article and any important diagrams, images, or charts.
· SAY IT: Explain aloud what you read, either to someone else or just to yourself. (It may feel strange at first, but this is an immensely helpful way to ingrain the material!)
· HEAR IT: Listening to yourself explain will further impress the information into your brain.
· WRITE IT: Write down the most important points and your reaction to them.
5. Once you finish reading and reciting your sources, Review your notes, and then begin to pick out the most important elements. These crucial points will likely be the ones you insert into your paper.
If you complete these steps and still don’t feel you truly understand your sources’ ideas, gather your notes together and head to your professor’s next open office hours. Ask her to help you with the research, and be prepared to show her what you’ve worked on so far.
If you’re wondering whether deeply understanding the sources you cite really matters, you are, again, not alone. Many students mistakenly believe they can throw some quotes into their paper and still earn a good grade. As a grader of thousands of pages of research papers, I can assure you this is a strategy that will lead to a failing paper! You cannot examine, analyze, and respond to research if you don’t yet understand it.
See also the T-notes and Research Templates sections on the following pages for further help with summarizing and understanding research.
A T-note format can help you understand the research you encounter. There are several ways to use this format, two of which are listed below, but feel free to create and design your own methods for using the T-note.
T-NOTE “Q & A”
1. Get out a blank sheet of paper or open a blank Word document, and divide the page or screen into halves with a vertical line. On the left side of the page or screen, write or type “Questions” at the top; on the right side of the page or screen, write or type “Answers.”
2. Before you read, look at the title and quickly scan through the book or article and jot down any questions that come to mind about its ideas or how they relate to your ideas.
3. With your T-note nearby, read the article and write or type questions in the “Questions” column as they come to you. As you figure out the answers, write them inside the “Answers” column. When you finish reading, refer back to your T-note and see if you have any unanswered questions; if so, try to find the answers. If you cannot figure out the answers and you feel they are important enough to merit investigation, ask your instructor for help.
T-NOTE: “YOURS, MINE, AND OURS”
1. Get out a blank sheet of paper or open a blank Word document, and divide the page or screen into thirds. On the far left side of the page, write or type “Yours” at the top; in the middle column, write or type “Mine”; in the far right column, write or type “Ours.”
2. With your T-note nearby, read the article and write or type the scholar’s arguments under the “Yours” column (it may help to write or type the scholar’s name at the top of the column); write your opinion of their ideas or argument under the “Mine” column, and write any ideas you and the scholar share under “Ours.”
The following is Robin’s response to an article’s discussion of the connections between Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and the modern film adaptation 10 Things I Hate About You.
YOURS (PITTMAN)
The film creates a backstory for Kat that “serves to underscore the quiet misogyny of the plot: girl traumatized by sex becomes frigid ice queen and requires a more satisfying sexual encounter to restore balanced personality” (p. 147)
MINE
Kat wasn’t traumatized by having sex with Joey; in fact, it awakened her to her own extreme conformity to the whole teen culture or whatever Professor Brown called it (need to look this up!).
OURS
Kat even says something like, “Everyone was doing it, so I did it,” so she realized what a mistake it is to conform and she swore never to do that again. Her angry behavior has to do with her mom’s leaving and her belief that her dad isn’t proud of her.
The film fails “to reconfigure gender roles” (p. 147)
I think the film does show how we’ve reconfigured gender. Kat isn’t “tamed”; she’s accepted for who she is, both by her dad and by Patrick. He doesn’t do horrible things to her to try to “fix” her, and he doesn’t make some bet with his male friends at the end to prove how obedient she is. He knows she’s not perfect, but he likes her for who she is.
Kat’s dance at the keg party represents “the end of her critique of teens and its potent rules for behavior.”
No. If she conformed to their rules for the rest of the movie, then, yeah, I’d agree, but the keg party scene shows Kat could conform to their rules and be like them if she wanted, but she chooses not to. She still criticizes the whole teen culture thing after that scene.
Robin’s T-note clearly reveals that she disagrees with the scholar’s perspective of the film (she has no items in the “Ours” column). This information will help her set up the scholars’ quotes within a No framework. (For more info on No frameworks, see chapter 7).
As you begin reading your sources, answer the following questions. The answers will create a research template that will summarize all the research you have read for your project. If you can’t answer all the questions, don’t worry; just do your best. Create one template for each source.
RESEARCH SUMMARY TEMPLATE
AUTHOR: ___________________________________________
TITLE: __________________________________________________
TYPE OF SOURCE (CIRCLE ONE):
Book Newspaper Article
Other _______________________________________
MAJOR POINT(S) ARGUED:
MAJOR EVIDENCE PRESENTED:
MY OPINION OF THIS AUTHOR’S IDEAS AND EVIDENCE:
I MIGHT USE THIS ARTICLE IN MY ESSAY TO SHOW OR PROVE _________________________?
QUESTIONS I HAVE ABOUT THIS ARTICLE OR THE IDEAS IN IT:
If you thoroughly answered these questions about your research source, then you have successfully evaluated research.
Consider Russell’s sample research template:
AUTHOR(S): Sylvia A. Allegretto & Kai Filion
TITLE: Waiting for Change: The $2.13 federal subminimum wage
TYPE OF SOURCE (CIRCLE ONE):
Book Newspaper Article
Other ______________________________________
MAJOR POINT(S) ARGUED:
Tipped workers are an important group of workers because their numbers are growing quickly; they make up a “significant portion of the workforce,” which has an effect on the economy.
They are “a growing occupational sector” and “effective policy could transform the low-wage, high-poverty jobs in the sector into better-quality jobs” (page 10).
MAJOR EVIDENCE PRESENTED:
The wage that servers and bartenders get is called the “subminimum wage” because it’s less than regular minimum wage.
“Since 2000, the number of tipped workers has increased 15.5 percent and the number of waiters increased 7.5 percent—increases which far exceeded the 1.8 percent growth in the overall workforce” (page 7).
“Not only are the 3.3 million tipped workers a substantial share of the workforce, their numbers have grown steadily over the past ten years and even over the 2007–2009 recessionary period” (page 6).
MY OPINION OF THIS AUTHOR’S IDEAS AND EVIDENCE:
I agree with their findings; people need to consider these workers, too. Seems unfair that everyone else has gotten a raise in their minimum hourly pay except for them.
I MIGHT USE THIS ARTICLE IN MY ESSAY TO SHOW OR PROVE _______________________________________?
This article gives me the “So what?” because it shows why other people should care about how much money these restaurant workers make, how their pay affects the rest of us.