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English 102 (Newark) 22:355:102: Prof. AbiYouness

Guide to help you with research for English 102 on the Newark campus

Intro: Academic Analysis; Scholarly vs. Popular; Starting the Research/Writing Process

Welcome to our virtual class.  We are going to begin with the idea of academic analysis.  Analyzing academically is a skill you will need in any writing assignment during college, and it is one of the biggest differences between high school and college research/writing.  Another big difference is the use of scholarly literature instead of, or in addition to, popular sources.  We will include helpful information about scholarly vs. popular articles and how to use library databases to pick a workable topic.  Here are the three videos for the first part of our class:

1.  Winning at Academic Research:  Analyzing Academically

2. .Research Minutes: How to Identify Scholarly Journal Articles (Cornell University Libraries)

3. Picking Your Topic IS Research (North Carolina State University)

After viewing the videos, you will be ready to start or continue thinking about your topic.  Planning research/writing involves thinking deeply about what you want to write  plus choosing appropriate keywords for database searching. 

Producing a finished college-level research paper requires:

  • writing and organization,
  • researching useful sources, and
  • documenting everything you are going use. 

Sounds complicated, but with the databases we have available, both discovery and documentation of scholarly sources can be fairly straightforward;. To get started with the process, take a look at our research worksheet below, "Doing Research by Making Lists.

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Doing Research by Making Lists 

Originally co-written by Roberta Tipton, Dana Library, and Dale Howard, Newark Writing Program, this worksheet helps you integrate research into your writing process. Set time limits--5 or 10 minutes--for listing topics and questions.  Dive right in, write quickly, and don't overthink the process. Action will get you further toward your finished paper. For even more information, click the RESEARCH PROCESS tab.

Searching Databases; Finding Sources; Making a Folder or List

Before you begin searching, look at this video about Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT):

Building Search Strings, Part 1: Boolean Operators  (OSLIS)

Searching QuickSearch for books:

How to Look for a Book on a Topic/Subject   (Advanced Search)

Academic Search Premier

Multidisciplinary database ideal for undergraduate students. Searches exact phrases. Will output references in MLA format.

Search tips for Academic Search Premier and other Ebscohost databases:

Using Academic Search Premier

Advanced Searching on Ebscohost  (Ebsco)

JSTOR

Full-text backfiles of important academic journals in many fields. WARNING: Most materials in this database are more than five years old.

Here is a video about searching in JSTOR:

JSTOR isn't Google: How to use search to find articles and ebooks on JSTOR

Documenting; List of Works Cited

Use the folder or list function in most databases to make a list of works cited.   Here is an example:

"Instant" MLA Bibliographies from Ebsco

 

OR, if forlders and lists are not available,

Use the cite function to format references one by one.  

 

Here is a video about using Workspace in JSTOR to obtain useful citations:

2 Minute How-To: Be the Most Organized with JSTOR Workspace

 

To check your MLA format, please go to the Purdue OWL at: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html

 

More Information

More on scholarly sources:  Click on the EVALUATE SOURCES tab.

More on the research process:  Click on the RESEARCH PROCESS tab.

 

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