During today's class we will consider:
Goal: By the end of this session you will know where and how to search for sources for your assignment, and where to get research help later.
In your persuasive research essay you must:
As always, please consult your assignment description or worksheet for full requirements and other details.
Four steps to choosing your topic and research question
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Scholarly (peer-reviewed, academic) |
Non-scholarly (popular) |
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Author(s) |
Subject matter expert; often with advanced education (e.g., PhD) or working at a university |
Journalists, professional, or creative writers; may be crowd generated content |
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Verification |
Reviewed by an editorial board or other subject matter experts (peers) |
Reviewed by an editor (sometimes) |
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Audience & language |
Researchers, scholars, students; language is academic or technical |
General public; uses everyday, easy to understand language |
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Content |
Reports original research; builds on previous knowledge |
News, and practical information, creative works |
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Cites sources? |
Always cites other research |
Occasionally, but not required |
How do you know if you have a credible, reliable, relevant source? Consider the following:
Your resource doesn't necessarily have to meet all of these criteria.
The following video has more information about ways to understand and evaluate the credibility of sources.
There are all kinds of information resources available. When you find a source, two key questions you should always ask yourself:
Many of your instructors will ask you to use academic sources in your assignments. This usually means peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly books/chapters, or other credible resources that rely on dedicated research.
Non-scholarly sources are great for when you need background or supplementary information to give some context, such when discussing current events, or understanding how your topic is discussed in the real world, outside of academia/research settings.
The MRU LibrarySearch tool - the main search box on the library homepage - is like Google for library resources. Use it to find information in all formats (articles, books, magazines, videos, etc.) through a single search.
And just like Google, your keywords tell LibrarySearch what your are looking for. Using specific keywords that describe your exact topic in detail, and in context, will help the search understand what you need.
Search for articles, books/chapters, multimedia...
Other LibrarySearch Tips:
Phrase searching: Use "quotation marks" around key ideas made up of multiple words.
Truncation: Use an asterisk * to find different endings to your keywords
Synonyms: Using different keywords to describe similar ideas will retrieve results that use any of those terms. Note that synonyms are most effective in brackets with the word OR between them.
These advanced Google search options canl help you find useful, credible information on the open web.
Use site: to look for resources from trustworthy web domains.
Other options
Journal and magazine articles across a broad range of subject areas.
Features a highly-respected, diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers in a wide range of academic topics.
