Research Papers Locating Your Sources

Two Kinds of Sources Primary source: original text, document, interview, speech, or letter (it is the text itself)  Literary works (poems, stories, novels, essays, plays); documents; autobiographies; letter; interview; speeches; surveys; tables of statistics Secondary source: someone’s comments on or analysis of a primary source (it is not an original text or document)  Comments on or analysis (*either written or spoken) of an original text or document; biographies

Evaluate your sources Check the date:  Accurate up to date information  An article published in 1978 about space stations is seriously out of date, however, an article about William Shakespeare could still be an excellent source Check the author:  Is the writer an expert on the topic?  Is the writer biased or for some other reason unreliable?

Choosing Your Source Encyclopedias  World Book Encyclopedia  Encyclopedia Britannica  Encyclopedia Americana  Some teachers do not accept these articles as sources because they are too broad and general, but they may give you an overview  At the end they give a list of recommended books about the topic Biographical Information  Contemporary Authors  Dictionary of Scientific Biography  Who’s Who in America  Current Biography

Choosing Your Sources Atlases  Contain maps as well as geographical and economic information  Historical atlases show past boundaries  Current atlases show nations, cities, and geographic features Almanacs  Single volume books are published each year  They are crammed with facts, charts, statistics, and other information Dictionaries  Unabridged dictionaries that contain nearly every work in the English language  There are specialized dictionaries, (dictionaries of slang, sports terms, science, art, and foreign languages)

Choosing Your Sources Quotations  Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations  The Home Book of Quotations  Help you find out who said what, and when did he or she say it  If your trying to track down a familiar phrase or quotation  Looking for a quotation on a specific topic Specialized books on all subjects  Book Review Digest,  Granger’s Index to Poetry  Short Story Index  Humanities Index  Business Periodicals Index

Choosing Your Sources Periodical  Magazines  Newspapers  You will find the current ones on library shelves  Back issues are usually stored on microfilm or microfiche  Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature Look up according to subject or author’s last name Computers  Electronic database Huge collection of data, articles, and other kinds of information The Internet Yellow Pages will help you find out what databases are available Other WWW addresses:   //netvet.wustl.edu 

Wikipedia May not be accurate information. You may not use this source due to the fact anyone can put something on this site.