Media Center

Hello! Welcome to the wide world of research. Over the years you have probably been taught a number of ways to do research. You may have even gotten confused, mixing one teacher’s requirements with another’s, leaving you with an inefficient way to gather data for assignments. This webpage is designed to help clarify the research process, allowing you to do research more quickly and effectively. There is general information about the library, what resources are available, how to properly cite resources, and basic essay formatting guidelines. Also, remember that your friendly media specialist is a wonderful resource for information about choosing a topic, how to research it well, and where to find the materials to do so. Feel free to ask for help. Good luck in your search.

When choosing resources to use you must take into account the accuracy of the information you are accessing. While materials in the library collection, print and electronic, are reviewed and considered reliable, ultimately you are responsible for the data you use in your work. Therefore, you will want to keep in mind a few things when choosing sources.
 

• Is the author an expert in their field? Are they a credible source?
• How old is the information? (This is especially important when looking for information about rapidly changing subjects like technology and natural sciences.)
• Is the information objective? Does the author skew information to support their needs or beliefs? (While you may want to use biased ideas for some assignments, generally you will want neutral information to express clear accurate ideas.)                                                                                                                                                            
   

When using web sources you find on your own it is especially important to evaluate the authority of a website. It is relatively easy to throw together a website and post anything on it. Just because the information is out there does not mean it is good. The following video, by the Oregon School Library Information System, will give you more information about evaluating websites. 

Evaluating Websites

The point of researching something is to find information for personal knowledge or for use in an assignment. Personal research is easy, no citation required just knowledge gained. For adademic research you must be aware of how you use the information you find. You know you have to cite, or give credit for, any phrase or quotes copied verbatim from a source. However, you must also be careful to give credit when using a person's ideas. Even if you paraphrase information, put it in your own words, you must cite where it came from. Some tips to help avoid plagiarism are:
 

• If you paraphrase an idea make sure you are conveying the thought in your own words. Don’t just change a few words and call it your own. To help avoid this, when taking notes just write down main ideas or words not full passages. It doesn't hurt to compare your work to the original as well to avoid using the same wording. Remember to cite your paraphrased ideas.
• When using a direct quote from a source put quotation marks around the phrase, even while taking notes. That way you are more likely to cite it properly when writing your paper.
   

Not every piece of data needs to be cited. Information that is considered common knowledge, facts likely to be known by many people, does not require citation. For example, that the first shots of the Civil War were fired in April 1861 does not need to be cited because it is common knowledge.

Citation Generators:

 NoodleTools Express or Zoterobib

**Remember, no citation generator is perfect. You are still responsible for making sure the citation is correct.**

MLA Style Bibliography Citations (MLA 9)

Electronic Sources

Basic format:

Author/editor/creator. Website Title. Version number, Name of organization associated with the site, Publication date, WWW or URL (if a permanent link) or DOI. Access date.

Entire website example:
The Purdue OWL Family of Site. The Writing Lab at OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 6 Jan. 2020.
 

Page on a website example:
"News & Views." PetMD, Petmd.com. Accessed 6 Jan. 2020.

Article found on a website (including electronic databases):

Author. "Article Title." Journal or Magazine Title, Version (edition), Number (volume or issue number), Publisher, Publication date, WWW or URL (if a permanent link) or DOI. Accessed date.

Example:
"Vaping and E-Cigarettes: Should the federal Government Strictly Regulate the Vaping Industry?" Issues and Controversies, Infobase, 28 Aug. 2019, https://icof.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?ID=14934. Accessed 6 Jan. 2020.

Print Sources

 Basic format: 

Author's name (last, first). Title of Book. City of publication, Publisher, Publication date.
 *City of publication should only be used if the work was published before 1900, the publisher has more than one location, or is unknown in North America 

Single author example:
Tannen, Deborah. The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue. Random, 1998. 

Two or three authors example:
Short, Kathy Gnagey, and Lois Bridges Bird. Literature as a Way of Knowing. Stenhouse, 1997.

Encyclopedia format:

"Title of Article." Title of book, Edition, Copyright date. 

Example:
"Tanzania." The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, 2014.
 

MLA Style In-text Citations

Citing sources is a vital part the research paper writing process. This section will help you understand how citations are made within text. These examples are for MLA style in-text citations. Unless your teacher says you should use a different style of citation, you should follow the guidelines shown here.   

In text citations are usually located following sentence in which the information being cited is found. They should be inside the punctuation of your sentence. Examples of some common in-text MLA citations can be seen below.
  

One author – (Last name page #)
Example: (Tannen 40) 

Multiple authors – (Last name and Last name page #)
Example: (Short and Bird 125)

Article with no author – (“First 2-3 words of title page #)
Example: ("Time was" 6)

Website – (First item that appears in the bibliography citation, e.g. author, title, website name)
Example: ("Arts-n-Crafts")
*page numbers are typically not included in website source citations.
 

More examples of in-text citations can be found at the Perdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) using the following link.

Perdue OWL In-text Citations

Unless otherwise advised by your teacher, you should follow MLA paper format guidelines listed below. Detailed information about MLA style paper format can be found on the Purdue University OWL (Online Writing Lab) website. Additionally, a sample MLA style essay can be found on the website so you can see the proper format.

OWL MLA General Format

General guidelines -

• use standard 8.5 X 11 paper
• set margins to one inch on all sides
• use 12 pt font
• use a standard font (e.g. Times New Roman)
• page numbers should appear in the header at the top right   
• double-space your entire paper, including your name, teacher's name, course title, and date the assignment is due
• center your title but do not underline it
• begin your essay under your title, left justify everything except the title
• paragraphs should begin with an indent
• bibliography citations should be double spaced with each entry having a hanging indent