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The Research Process

Research Process 

  • Research is a process – and it’s challenging

Selection -----> Exploration -----> Formulation -----> Collection -----> Presentation

  • Selection – choosing the general topic you’re interested in 
  • Exploration – looking around at sources, trying to decide on what to use and on what is your specific topic
  • Formulation – creating a thesis statement with a specific focus
  • Collection – gathering information for your focused argument – for and against
  • Presentation – writing your paper to demonstrate what you know about your topic (the time to cite your sources!)
  • You will go back and forth between stages!

LibrarySearch

Find scholarly articles on your topic

Popular vs. Scholarly

Academic/Scholarly/Peer-reviewed

  • Written by experts
  • Reviewed by other experts
  • Written for scholars and students
  • Reports original research

Popular

  • Written by journalists
  • Reviewed by an editor
  • Written for the general public
  • Reports news, practical information...

 

 

You can identify an academic article by:

  1. Author’s credentials
  2. Published in a journal
  3. Academic language
  4. Includes reference list
  5. More than 6 pages long

Is it relevant?

Activity! Choose the most relevant source for a paper on skeletal populations in South Asia
God-apes and fossil men: paleoanthropology of South Asia: 10 votes (52.63%)
Defining population characteristics of the Belle Glade Culture: Skeletal biology of Belle Glade Mound (8PB41): 0 votes (0%)
Cardiovascular and infectious diseases in South Asia: the double whammy: 0 votes (0%)
Skeletal remains of 80 bodies found in Mannar: 9 votes (47.37%)
Total Votes: 19

What you need to know about citation

Citation is stating where you got your information.

The reasons you cite:

  • To give credit where credit is due – to avoid plagiarizing
  • To give information about a source so people (i.e. your instructor) can find it

You need to cite:

  • In the body of the paper, through footnotes (at the end of each page) OR through endnotes (at the end of the paper)

Article Searching Tips

Finding too much?

  • Use AND between ideas to search for BOTH terms
  • Put “Quotation Marks Around Your Search" to search for exact phrases

Finding too little?

  • Use OR between your ideas to search for EITHER term
  • Put * after the root of a word to look for multiple endings

For better searching, think of multiple ways to describe your topic

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Joel Blechinger
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Contact:
Email: jblechinger@mtroyal.ca
Phone: 403.440.8624
Office: EL4423E
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