Effective Research & Resources Mrs. Bastone, Head of Learning Resources Autumn 2015

American History Questions Question A Should focus on a short period of time (ie about 20 years) Question B Broader sweep of 100 years BOTH should contain: 2,000 words contemporary and secondary sources Footnotes bibliography References- use the Harvard referencing system

History Independent Projects – a few tips Start with an outline of your intentions Develop your ideas through sustained and focused investigations – investigate specialist resources Demonstrate and develop analytical and critical understanding by reading differing opinions Use examples (and cite them) in your work Take good notes and keep them organised – avoid plagiarism Record all your sources in bibliography

QUESTIONS What’s my topic? What do I know already? What do I need to find out? Where can I look? What’s my search strategy? What’s my goal? Use the QUICK steps The right keywords will narrow your search

IDENTIFY RESOURCES Not just Google and Wikipedia! Find your subject section in the LRC – there are lots of good books and online resources Do some searches in Oliver using your keywords LVS Netvibes page – General & History tabs

Brainstorm your keywords/phrases first Think about putting words/phrases together or leaving them out – use AND, OR, NOT Try Google Advanced – restrict your search to a type of site: uk, gov, org, ac, edu AND to a date/s Use speech marks if you want an exact phrase Big, Powerful and Useful BUT Commercial – sponsored links at the top – businesses pay for name at top Unchecked/untested/often unattributable Can be out of date So, use it wisely

Use Wikipedia with care Not necessarily reliable – anyone can edit Unattributable – you need to record source BUT look at: External links Notes References to original material Wikipedia itself is not acceptable as a source – try Credo!

Digital literacy Being able to make careful, sceptical and savvy judgements about internet content Being able to identify outright lies, scams, hoaxes, conspiracy theories, selective half- truths and mistakes Knowing how to discriminate the good, reliable, trustworthy or useful information from the bad Being able to recognise bias and propaganda

Questions to ask: Who has written this site? Is the site up to date ? When was it last updated ? Is the site biased in any way ? Can the information be checked? Is it relevant to me?

Using LVS Resources Start with OliverOliver Then try an alternate provider

Online Resources on Netvibes: Credo Reference

Online Resources on Netvibes:– History tab

Plagiarism: what is it and why should I avoid it? © Oxford English Dictionary: “to take and use as one’s own the thoughts, writings or inventions of another”. Don’t copy someone else’s work and use it as your own Do paraphrase, quote etc. Do make notes from a variety of sources Do record all your sources Ofqual guide “Using Sources” – download from LVSpace

Bibliographies and Referencing You must keep a record of ALL your sources, including images, to avoid Plagiarism Various referencing styles Most subjects use Harvard based system Useful book: Palgrave’s Cite them Right Guides & templates on LVSpace

Citations in the text In-text citations usually list either the name of the publication or the author of the work. Here are examples: From a book : As identified in Free at Last? (Kerr, John A, 2000, p.79) “the time seemed right to carry out a March for Jobs and Freedom”. Or from a website: The National Park Service site of the US ( - last updated 12/2/15) states that “From the 1880s into the 1960s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through "Jim Crow" laws (so called after a black character in minstrel shows)” If you cite in the text you also need to put the full details of the resource in your Bibliography

Using Footnotes Footnotes are a way of citing material but not giving details in the text i.e. As identified in Free at Last? 1 “the time seemed right to carry out a March for Jobs and Freedom”. And at the bottom of the page: 1 Kerr, John A. (2000) Free at Last? Race Relations in the USA p.79

Bibliographies A bibliography is a list of your sources at the end of your work It is arranged in alphabetical order by last name of author There is a specific order for different types of resource

References - books Author Year of publication (in round brackets) Title (in italics) Edition (only if it is not the 1 st ) Place of publication: publisher Example: Kerr, John A. (2000) Free at Last? Race Relations in the USA , Scotland, Hodder Gibson.

References - Journals Author (surname followed by initials) Year of publication (in round brackets) Title of article in quotation marks Title of journal (in italics) Volume number (in italics) Issue (in round brackets): page numbers Example: Rathbone, Mark (2004) “The US Supreme Court and Civil Rights”, History Today, Issue 48, p..

References – websites Author Year the site was published/last updated (in round brackets) Title of internet site (in italics) The website address (url) Date of access Example: Ferris State University (2014) Jim Crow Museum accessed 9 th December

Please ask at the LRC for further help or individual tutorials This presentation and lots of other useful guides and templates can be found on LVSpace: (School/LRC/Study Stuff to Download)