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Mount Royal University

Library

GNED 1202 - Fall 2022

Objectives:

By the end of class, you will be able to:

  1. Understand why citation is important in academic writing
  2. Find the APA citation guide and know how to use it to cite sources
  3. Use LibrarySearch to find information sources
  4. Identify different types of sources
  5. Know how to get help with searching, citation, writing and study skills

Citing and Referencing in APA

  1. Use the "cite" feature in most search tools to get you started with most resources (you will need to review and correct the citation)
  2. Use the MRU citations guides and resources to find additional help for APA, including guides, and videos. 
  3. Use the Service Desk on the 1st floor of the RLLC for assistance as well as the library chat feature on the library website.
  4. Make an appointment or attend a workshop with Student Learning Services

Instructions:

  • Review the sources.
  • What type of source is it?
  • Use the citation generating tool to generate a citation.
  • Find the correct example on the APA handout to compare the citation to.
  • Is the citation correct? If not, what needs to be changed to make it correct?

LibrarySearch is the general search tool available from the Library homepage. It:

  • searches most information sources - print and online - the Library owns
  • has filters that you can use on your search results to refine your results (by year, peer review, online only or type of resource for example)
  • includes a citation generator (check it against the APA handout for accuracy)

 

Less is More: Start with one or two words and then add one additional term at a time

  • siddhartha
  • siddhartha hesse journey

Phrase searching: Use "quotation marks" around key ideas made up of multiple words

  • "literary criticism"
  • very useful when you have a specific phrase containing common words

Truncation: Use an asterisk * to find different endings to your keywords

  • existential* = existential, existentialism, existentialist
  • canad* = canada, canadian, canadians

Use limits: These refine (narrow) your search using different restrictions

  • Date (last 10 years)
  • Peer-reviewed (for articles)

You can combine all the above in your search:

  • siddhartha "literary criticism" existential*

Evaluating Sources of Information

Encyclopedias/Background Sources

  • Strengths: Dictionaries, Encyclopedias; short, contains background information on a topic, normally a great starting point when you are just learning about a topic
  • Weaknesses: too short, print encyclopedias are out of date quickly, Wikipedia has reliability issues

Books

  • Strengths: Print and Ebooks, Edited Chapters, Textbooks; Provides an in-depth investigation into a topic
  • Weaknesses: too long, sometimes hard to tell whether it is scholarly

Scholarly Journal Articles

  • Strengths: often based on research findings or extensive review, written by experts, reviewed by experts, provides evidence
  • Weaknesses: Sometimes written using discipline-specific language or terminology, hard to understand

Media Sources (news, online magazine articles)

  • Strengths: Good for current information
  • Weaknesses: Sometimes biased, sometimes written to entertain, often not written by experts

Websites & Social Media

  • Strengths: Highly accessible, includes government info
  • Weaknesses: It is hard to assess credibility and reliability...anyone can post online or create a website

Primary Sources

  • Strengths: Original sources (include, but are not limited to recordings, diaries, autobiography, artifact, constitutions, acts, edicts, cases
  • Weaknesses: Hard to find, hard to cite, hard to remember if they fall within primary or secondary categories.

Scholarly Articles

  • Often referred to as academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed 
  • Written by experts in a particular field
  • Keep others interested in that field up to date on the most recent research and findings. 

What is peer-review?

  • When a source has been peer-reviewed it has undergone the review and scrutiny of a review board of colleagues in the author's field.  They evaluate this source as part of the body of research for a particular discipline and make recommendations regarding its publication in a journal, revisions prior to publication, or, in some cases, reject its publication.

General Characteristics

  1. Author: Expert in the field
  2. Review: Reviewed by other experts (peers)
  3. Audience / Language: Written for scholars and students; uses academic language
  4. Content: Original research and criticism; uses previous research literature for background
  5. Citations: Always

INSTRUCTIONS: Select each source, consider if they are scholarly and WHY or WHY NOT?

Source 1: Is this source scholarly? Why or why not?
Yes: 4 votes (100%)
No: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 4
Source 2: Is this source scholarly? Why or why not?
Yes: 0 votes (0%)
No: 2 votes (100%)
Total Votes: 2
SOURCE 3: Is this source scholarly? Why or why not?
Yes: 1 votes (50%)
No: 1 votes (50%)
Total Votes: 2
SOURCE 4: Is this source scholarly? Why or why not?
Yes: 1 votes (50%)
No: 1 votes (50%)
Total Votes: 2

 

 

BONUS question: Do you think non-scholarly sources could ever be useful for an academic assignment?

Librarian

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Francine May
She/Her

Contact:
Associate Dean, Research / Associate Professor, Library

Email: fmay@mtroyal.ca
Subjects: Computing

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