1. Researching What’s the point? From “A Writer’s Resource: A Handbook for Writing and Research”

2. Understand the purpose of primary and secondary research Primary Research means working in a laboratory, in the field, or with an archive of raw data, original documents, and authentic artifacts to make firsthand discoveries Primary Research means working in a laboratory, in the field, or with an archive of raw data, original documents, and authentic artifacts to make firsthand discoveries Secondary Research means looking to see what other people have learned and written. Secondary Research means looking to see what other people have learned and written.

3. What makes good secondary research? Facts Facts –Are objective. Like your body weight, facts can be measured, observed, or independently verified in some way. Interpretations Interpretations –Spell out the implications of facts. Are you as thin as you are because of your genes – or because you exercise every day? The answer to this question is an interpretation.

4. What makes good secondary research? (continued) Evaluations Evaluations –Are debatable judgments about a set of facts or a situation. Attributing a person’s thinness to genes is an interpretation, but the assertion that “one can never be too thin” is an evaluation

5. What makes good secondary research? (continued) Once you are up-to-date on the facts, interpretations, and evaluations in a particular area, you will be able to design a research project. Once you are up-to-date on the facts, interpretations, and evaluations in a particular area, you will be able to design a research project. What you will add is your perspective. What you will add is your perspective.

6. Perspective Given all that you have learned about the topic, what strikes you as important or interesting? Given all that you have learned about the topic, what strikes you as important or interesting? What patterns do you see, or what connections can you make between one person’s work and another’s? What patterns do you see, or what connections can you make between one person’s work and another’s? Where is the research going, and what problems still need to be explored? Where is the research going, and what problems still need to be explored?

7. Internet Research

8. Search Engines Simple search engines: use hierarchical indexes, a good way to start Internet searches because they are easy to use and selective in the results they return. Simple search engines: use hierarchical indexes, a good way to start Internet searches because they are easy to use and selective in the results they return. –Yahoo! –Yahoo! –Galaxy –Galaxy

9. Search Engines (continued) Standard search engines: send “robots” or “spiders” to all points on the Web to return results. Using mathematical calculations, they inform you about the relevancy of each site to your search, putting the most relevant items on the top of the list. Standard search engines: send “robots” or “spiders” to all points on the Web to return results. Using mathematical calculations, they inform you about the relevancy of each site to your search, putting the most relevant items on the top of the list. –Alta Vista –Alta Vista –Go.com –Go.com –All the Web –All the Web –HotBot <http://www.hotbot.lycos.com

10. Search Engines (continued) Meta search engines: return results by searching other search engines. They provide more sites than a simple search engine, but they are not as selective Meta search engines: return results by searching other search engines. They provide more sites than a simple search engine, but they are not as selective –Dog Pile <http://www.dogpile.com –Meta Crawler –Meta Crawler

11. Search Engines (continued) Alternative search engines: allow users to ask for information in different ways Alternative search engines: allow users to ask for information in different ways –Northern Light Supports Boolean searching, and natural language searching (by question) –Ask Jeeves Supports natural language searching. Type a question and click on “ask.” –Google Responds to a query in a way that ranks relevant Web sites based on the link structure of the Internet itself.

12. Citations within Essays

13. In-Text Citation To support and develop your ideas, use quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material from sources. To do so properly and effectively, follow these guidelines. To support and develop your ideas, use quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material from sources. To do so properly and effectively, follow these guidelines. Integrating Quotations Use quotations when a source’s exact words are important to your point and make your writing more memorable, fair, or authoritative. Quotes should be short, enclosed in quotation marks, and well integrated into your sentence structure.

14. In-Text Citation (continued) Example: In his dedication to “Louis Armstrong and the Jewish Family in New Orleans,” Armstrong calls Glaser “the best friend that I ever had,” while in a letter to Max Jones, he writes, “I did not get really happy until I got with my man – my dearest friend – Joe Glaser” (177). Example: In his dedication to “Louis Armstrong and the Jewish Family in New Orleans,” Armstrong calls Glaser “the best friend that I ever had,” while in a letter to Max Jones, he writes, “I did not get really happy until I got with my man – my dearest friend – Joe Glaser” (177).

15. In-Text Citation (continued) Using brackets with Quotations Using brackets with Quotations –Sentences that include quotations must make sense grammatically. Sometimes you may have to adjust a quotation to make it fit properly into your sentence. Use brackets to indicate any minor adjustments you have made. For example my has been changed to his to make the quotation fit in the following sentence: Armstrong confided to a friend that Glaser’s death “broke [his] heart” (Bergreen 490).

16. In-Text Citation (continued) Using ellipses within Quotations Using ellipses within Quotations –Use ellipses to indicate that words have been omitted from the body of a quotation, but be sure that what you omit does not significantly alter the source’s meaning. Using MLA, place the ellipses within brackets  As Morgenstern put it, “Joe Glaser [...] proved to be the right man at the right time” (128).

17. In-Text Citation (continued) Using block format for longer Quotations Using block format for longer Quotations –Quotations longer than four (4) lines should rarely be used. When they are used too frequently, long quotations tend to break up your text and make your reader impatient. If you include a longer quotation, put it in block format and be especially careful to integrate it into your paper. Tell your readers why you want them to read the block quotation, and afterwards, comment on it.

18. In-Text Citation (continued) Example (block format) Example (block format) Consider the final scene, where Nora says to herself that He (her father) used to call me his doll child, and he played with me the way I played with my dolls. Then I came into your house[... ]I mean, then I went from Papa’s hands into yours[... ]It’s a great sin what you and Papa did to me. You’re to blame that nothing’s become of me (Act 3, Sc 3). He (her father) used to call me his doll child, and he played with me the way I played with my dolls. Then I came into your house[... ]I mean, then I went from Papa’s hands into yours[... ]It’s a great sin what you and Papa did to me. You’re to blame that nothing’s become of me (Act 3, Sc 3). She knows that she’s been nothing but someone’s doll, all of her life.

19. In-Text Citation (continued) Using signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases Using signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases –When you are integrating someone else’s thoughts or words into your writing, use a signal phrase that indicates whom you are quoting. Besides crediting others for their work, signal phrases can make ideas more interesting by giving them a human face. Here are two examples:

20. In-Text Citation (continued) The signal phrase is italicized: As Bergreen points out, Armstrong easily reached difficult high notes, the Fs and Gs, that stymied other trumpeters (248). As Bergreen points out, Armstrong easily reached difficult high notes, the Fs and Gs, that stymied other trumpeters (248). According to Armstrong, Glaser was simply “the finest man and the best friend I ever had (Bergreen 177). According to Armstrong, Glaser was simply “the finest man and the best friend I ever had (Bergreen 177).

21. Using the MLA Modern Language Association of Internal Documentation

22. MLA Style: In-Text Citation MLA in-text citation requires that you do the following: MLA in-text citation requires that you do the following: –Name the author, either in a signal phrase such as Allen maintains or in a parenthetical citation towards the end of the quotation (Allen 777) –Include a page reference in parentheses. No “p.” precedes the page number, and if the author is named in the parentheses, there is no punctuation between the author’s name and the page number.

23. MLA Style: In-Text Citation –Place the citation as close to the material being cited as possible and before any punctuation marks that divide or end the sentence, such as commas, semicolons, or periods – except in a block quotation, where the citation comes after the period.

24. MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited Begin on a new page. Begin on a new page. Begin with the centered title “Works Cited.” Begin with the centered title “Works Cited.” Include an entry for every in-text citation. Include an entry for every in-text citation. Include author, title, and publication data for each entry, if available. Use a period to set off each of these elements from the others. Leave one space after the periods. Include author, title, and publication data for each entry, if available. Use a period to set off each of these elements from the others. Leave one space after the periods. Do not number the entries. Do not number the entries.

25. MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited Put entries in alphabetical order by author’s or editor’s last name. If the author’s name is unknown, use the first word of the title, excluding the articles a, an, or the. Put entries in alphabetical order by author’s or editor’s last name. If the author’s name is unknown, use the first word of the title, excluding the articles a, an, or the. Underline titles of books and periodicals. Underline titles of books and periodicals. Capitalize the first and last and all important words in all titles and subtitles. Capitalize the first and last and all important words in all titles and subtitles.

26. MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited In the publication data, abbreviate publisher’s names and months, and include the name of the city in which the publisher is located but not the state. In the publication data, abbreviate publisher’s names and months, and include the name of the city in which the publisher is located but not the state. Do not use p., pp., or page(s). Numbers alone will do. When page spans over 100 have the same first digit, use only the last two digits of the second number: 243-47 Do not use p., pp., or page(s). Numbers alone will do. When page spans over 100 have the same first digit, use only the last two digits of the second number: 243-47

27. MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited MLA Style: Works Cited General Guidelines for the List of Works Cited Use a hanging indent: Start the first line of each entry at the left margin, and indent all subsequent lines of the entry five spaces. Use a hanging indent: Start the first line of each entry at the left margin, and indent all subsequent lines of the entry five spaces. Double space within entries and between them. Double space within entries and between them.