The Research Process How do I document what I find? What are source/ note cards? What is plagiarism and how do I avoid it? What does a sample paper look like?

What sources should I use  Remember that your most reliable sources are primary sources.  These are sources such as journals, diaries, surveys, interviews, and first hand accounts of events by people who were present.  Your secondary sources are those that describe events which other people researched.

What sources should I use  Your most reliable internet sources are those that end in.gov,.edu,.net,.org  Information you find on.com’s should be verified by using print resources or an online source ending in one of the URL tags above.

Source Cards  A source card provides all the necessary information that you will need for your works cited page once you have completed your research. urce/747/12/ urce/747/12/  Source Cards are labeled with a letter.

Source Card Information A Title of Article (text, chapter), Web site (URL), or Encyclopedic topic Author (of any info)/ Editor (if from a book) Name of Publisher/ Sponsoring Organization City of Publication (if from a book) Date of Publication/ Update

Sample Source Card  A  The Eighteenth and Twenty-First Amendments: Alcohol- Prohibition and Repeal Eileen Lucas Enslow Publishers, Inc Springfield, NJ 1998

Note Cards  Note cards are where you write down the relevant information that you find while doing research.  Each note card is cross referenced with the letter of the source and then a number.

Note Cards  Note Cards have ONE piece of information per card.  It ALWAYS includes the page number (from a print resource) or the date of access (from an online resource)

Sample Note card from a Print resource  A-1  “On May 25, 1787, twenty-nine representatives gathered at the Pennsylvania State House to amend the Articles of Confederation.”  p. 11

Sample Note card from an on- line resource  B-3  On May 25, 1787, twenty-nine representatives gathered at the Pennsylvania State House to amend the Articles of Confederation.” December 1, 2013

How many do I need?  You must have 5 resources. 2 resources MUST be print resources Books, Magazine/ Newspaper articles, On line databases, interviews, journals, diaries 3 must be legitimate internet sources

Your Formal Outline  An outline is a guide to how you have decided to organize your paper.  An outline is a series of sentences or phrases organized using Roman Numerals, capital letters, Arabic numbers, and lower case letters.

Your Formal Outline  Your formal outline is formatted in the following manner: MLA heading in upper left corner Thesis statement First argument identified by Roman Numeral Supporting statements identified by Capital Letters Specific Supports indicated by Arabic numbers

Your Formal Outline  See Write Source p. 356  /pdf/ _544.pdf /pdf/ _544.pdf

How do I avoid plagiarism?  There are two ways to avoid plagiarism:  Use direct quotes and cite the source.  Paraphrase a piece and cite  urce/619/1/ urce/619/1/

A Sample Paper  /pdf/ _747.pdf /pdf/ _747.pdf

Resources for me to use  urce/658/01/ urce/658/01/  urce=website&query=mla.org urce=website&query=mla.org  