Finding Sources

Finding Sources

1. What Kind of Sources Do You Need?

   • The decisions you make about what types of sources you seek, where you look for them, and how authoritative you need them to be will be guided not only by the requirements of your assignment, but also by your purpose, audience, and other elements of the rhetorical situation
     • For academic research, you'll also want to keep several other distinctions in mind: the differences between primary and secondary sources, scholarly and popular sources, and older and more current sources.
       • Primary and Secondary sources: Primary sources are original documents or materials, firsthand accounts, or field research like interviews or observations. Secondary sources are texts that analyze and interpret primary sources; they offer background and context that can help you gain perspective on your topic. Secondary sources on a subject might include scholarly books and journal articles about the topic, magazines and newspapers reviews, government research reports, or annotated bibliographies
       • Scholarly and Popular sources: For most academic assignments, you'll want to consult scholarly sources: articles, books, conference papers, and websites written by authorities in a given field. Such sources have usually been peer-reviews, evaluated by experts in the field before publication. Scholarly texts go into more depth that popular sources do, citing research and including detailed documentation. Popular sources are written by journalists and staff writers for a general audience. They may be fact checked, but they are not likely to be evaluated by experts before publication
         • Determining if a source is scholarly
           • What's the title? Does it sound academic? Scholarly titles often include subtitles indicating a particular focus
           • What are the author's credentials to write on the topic?
           • Who's the publisher or sponsor? Look for academic presses, professional or academic organizations, or government sources
           • What's the URL, if it's an online source? Colleges and universities use edu, and government agencies use gov.
           • Does the source include original research or interpret research by others that it cites?
           • Does it provide documentation? Look for a list of works cited or references at the end and parenthetical documentation within the text
           • Does the text seem authoritative? Most scholarly texts use formal language and provide evidence that shows the author can be trusted
           • Does the text look academic? Scholarly text tend to use conservative fonts and often include table and charts
           • Are there ads? Scholarly texts have few, if any, ads.
       • Older and more Current sources: You will need to determine whether older or more current sources are most appropriate for your topic, purpose, and audience. In scientific and technological fields, the most current scolarly sources are usually favored, while history or literature, older sources that have stood the test of time may offer the best and most appropriate information

2. Types of Sources-And Where To Find Them

   • Reference Works
     • General Reference Sources:Include general encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, and atlases. Such sources can be helpful for gathering background information, defining core concepts and terms, and understanding the larger context of your topic
     • Specialized encyclopedias and Wikis: can give information that is more specifically related to your topic or discipline than general reference works. Through your library or the library website you'll find subject-specific resources ranging from the Encyclopedia Latina, Encyclopedia of Ethics and many more. Specialized wikis put similar information online in groups of pages.Wikis can connect you to information and communities online, but keep in mind that anyone can edit the information on the page
     • Bibliographies: are lists of books, articles, and other publications that appear at the end of books or scholarly articles and can lead to you to further sources on a topic
     • Directories and Indexes: General subject directories such as those provide by google and yahoo! may be helpful in narrowing your topic or directing you to relevant sites
   • Books
     • If you are looking for print book, the first place you think to go is the library. In addition to print books in the library, you can also access many books online.Examples: Project Gutenberg, Google Books
   • Periodicals
     • Journal Articles: can be found online through academic search engines such as Google Scholar and JURN, which yield results from electronic journals and works from academic publishers. Google Scholar tend to focus on sciences while JURN focuses on humanities and art
     • Magazines and news Articles: are availabe online through news organizations' websites that provide searchable access to current and archived articles, photos, podcasts, videos, and streaming broadcasts, as well as other resources. For newspapers that do not archive their articles online, and for older or historical articles that have not been digitized, you can turn to your library's indexes and database
   • Government and Legal Documents
     • Official reports, legislative records, laws, maps and photos, census data, and other information from federal, state, and local governments are available online. Check the websites of government departments and agencies for these resources.
   • Primary and Historical Documents
     • Most universities libraries include among their holdings rare and unique materials held in the library archives or special collections

3. Research Sites: On The Internet, In The Library

   • Search Sites
     • Powerful tool for locating materials on the internet. General search sites are a fine starting point, but you can find more specialized sources on your topic if you first identify which sites will be most relevant and useful
   • Social Media
     • May be something you search unconsciously as you scroll through your news feed, and indeed the networks you form on social media sites can extend your reach across the web.
   • Libraries
     • College libraries are often large and spread across many wings. Tons of information
       • Library Website: Libraries provide online research guides that list databases, references, websites, organizations,and other discipline
         • Library catalogs: account for all of libraries holdings. Best method for locating books and materials, such as audio and video recordings.
           • Database:Organize and provide access not only to listings of journals and news articles but also, abstracts and full texts
             • General Database: cover a range of disciplines and topics and include scholarly articles, popular magazines, and news stories
             • Subject-Specific Database: useful when you have a focused topic and research question

4. Running Searches

   • Keyword Searches
     • Quotation marks: used around terms to search for an exact phrase
     • Wildcard searches: Allow you to insert a special symbol in middle or end of a word to retrieve multiple forms of that word
     • Truncation: allow for symbols to stand in for one or more missing letters at the end of a word
     • Boolean Operators: Refine your search by combining keywords to include or exclude certain terms
     • Parentheses: Allow you to combine Boolean searches in a more complex way
     • Plus and minus signs: used by some search sites instead of AND and NOT

5. Conducting Field Research

   • Observations: Involves taking careful notice of environments and behaviors, with a clear sense of your purpose and of how your observations will help you answer your research question. Many disciplines use observation to collect data about individuals and communities in order to answer question
     • Determine your purpose and method for observing. Is the participants observation the appropriate method to pursue your research question?
     • Plan ahead. Decide where you will observe and what materials you'll need
     • Record you observations. Take detailed descriptive notes, even if you are also recording audio or video. Notes will add necessary texture
     • Be guided by your purpose for observing. Do not let that purpose restrain you. Be open to whatever you see
     • Review your observation notes. Look for patterns, actions, topics repeatedly addressed, etc.
   • Interviews: can provide information that may not be available elsewhere, they can also complement other research and data gathering methods
     • Plan to conduct your interviews early in your research
     • Do some background research. Write out a list of questions
     • Decide how to record interview
     • Record data, time, and location. Check facts, dates , and other information
   • Surveys and Questionnaires: can be useful in soliciting information from a large number of people. The most reliable way to select such groups is by random sampling.
     • Consider your purpose: will a survey be an effective way to collect information?
     • Determine your sample: should aim to survey a representative sample, a randomly selected subset of a group that reflects the characteristics of the whole group
     • Choose your distribution method: Will it be written through mail? Online?
     • Write questions and an introduction, and test the survey: Questions should be simple, easy to understand
     • Manage Results, analyze and reflect:record and store responses. Analyze the data given to you, look for patterns, trends. Reflect on the survey, whether it has limitations, what you could have done better.