1. CMNS 110: Term paper research
Sylvia Roberts, CMNS librarian:

2. Sources to support term paper discussion
Minimum of 3 academic sources required
Academic sources are your evidence; you use them to support your aspects of your argument
Make sure you choose the best support possible

3. What are scholary / academic resources?
Facilitate scholarly communication between members of a particular academic discipline and/or the public
Written by scholars (such as your professors) who’ve developed disciplinary expertise through years of study and specialized research – PhD usually minimum academic qualification

4. Scholarly publications:
Results can be published as conference proceedings, articles, as chapters in books or entire books
SFU Library collects scholarly materials in disciplines for SFU programs, both print & electronic – sometimes both
EXERCISE: Who has searched for scholarly sources of publications – used them as course readings
Take 1 minute to think about how you could tell these were academic sources – what were some of their characteristics?
Now take 2 minutes to share these thoughts with the person sitting next to you
Please volunteer some thoughts on how to recognize academic/scholarly publications?
BOOKS
JOURNAL ARTICLES
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

5. Scholarly publications: Characteristics
Author(s) is an expert in the field, affiliated with university or research institution
Extensive research and analysis written in formal academic style
Starts with a literature review of relevant research and theory to provide a context and rationale for their research
In-text citations and reference list (APA style) or footnotes/endnote and bibliography
Plain looking: charts, graphs, and illustrations that add meaning to the text rather than photographs and advertising
Relevant literature is cited in in-text citations and reference list (APA style) or footnotes/endnote and bibliography

6. How to recognize a scholarly journal article
The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on original research or experimentation in order to make such information available to the rest of the scholarly world.
Articles are written by a scholar in the field, usually with a PhD.
Author affiliations are listed, usually at the bottom of the first page or at the end of the article--universities, research institutions, think tanks, and the like.
Often have an abstract and generally have a sober, serious look. Often contain many graphs and charts but few pictures that don’t add meaning.
ALWAYS cite their sources in the form of footnotes or bibliographies, generally lengthy and cite other scholarly writings.
The language of scholarly journals is that of the discipline covered. It assumes some technical background on the part of the reader.

7. Scholarly publications: Characteristics
Academic articles are published in peer-reviewed journals
New Media & Society, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Children & Media
Peer review in 3 minutes
Often include an abstract that summarizes research methodology and findings
Scholarly books are published by specialized academic publishers
Oxford University Press, Sage Publications, Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Can be one topic or a collection of chapters on related topics
Peer-reviewed or refereed journals have an editorial board of subject experts who review and evaluate submitted articles before accepting them for publication. Also known as scholarly journal, or academic journal, or refereed journal.
The majority of scholarly journals go through the peer-review process
Peer review is a central concept for most academic publishing; other scholars in a field must find a work sufficiently high in quality for it to merit publication

8. Written communication
Essay topic example:
BROAD TOPIC:
Written communication
RESEARCH QUESTION:
How does removing handwriting (cursive) from primary school curriculum affect learning in the future?
THESIS STATEMENT?
Computer search systems are literal technologies, not able to handle natural language searching – can begin with the words you know but add related terms as you find them

9. BACKGROUND SOURCES

10. BACKGROUND SOURCES

11. Start by considering what has interested you in your course readings, lectures or tutorial discussions – can you explore further? Has something in your life inspired research questions?
Can use background reading sources listed on the CMNS 110 to get an overview of the topic
Don’t make up your mind before doing your research – can develop questions to answer

12. How to SEARCH for scholarly sources?
Catalogue search
Print & online materials available at SFU
Books, book chapters, peer-reviewed articles, news and popular press, media (streaming and analog)
Results may include materials from many disciplines
Article indexes usually discipline specific

15. Two things that can improve your search results:
Change the words you use to search (computers are stupid, i.e. literal technology) e.g. more specific: notetaking
Change the search tool that you’re using, go from tool with broad multidisciplinary reach to one that’s focused like a discipline specific journal index

16. Articles tend to have a more specific focus than books
Articles tend to have a more specific focus than books. If an article addresses one aspect of your topic, it may be useful to support that one point of discussion. Doesn’t need to be a perfect match.

17. Timesaver: Read the abstract to assess relevance

18. Skim the reference list of useful articles for additional sources

19. Term paper research help:
CMNS 110 research guide
Ask a Librarian
Term paper writing: Student Learning Commons consultations