Appendix J

Associate Level Material

Appendix G

Finding, Evaluating, and Utilizing Credible Information

This course requires a higher level of research than you may have undertaken in the past. You must find sources that are reliable, related to your paper’s topic, and contain evidence to support your claims and arguments. Take thorough notes while you find these sources, and be careful to avoid plagiarism by appropriately quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing your sources.

Using the University Library

In previous courses, you used the Internet to research information about different topics. In this course, you may still use the Internet sparingly, but the University Library provides a wider variety of resources that are more appropriate for formal research papers.

The University Library includes the following resources:

· Databases. These databases contain magazine articles, journal articles, newspaper articles, audio clips, and other types of multimedia, statistics, articles with opposing viewpoints, and much more. You can search through the databases by specialization, subject, author, title, publication, and so forth.

· Research resources. Besides the databases, the library also contains access to books, dissertations, theses, research in Spanish, Canadian information, country profiles and economic data, encyclopedias and dictionaries, and journal indexes and abstracts.

· Writing and test-taking resources. The library also provides guides for preparing for and taking different kinds of tests, improving writing and grammar, and so on.

· Help. The library contains links to a Frequently Asked Questions page, timely feedback from a librarian, a research tutorial, and a library handbook.

As you search for sources, you may receive thousands of results for a topic in the University Library. If that happens, you may have to narrow your topic, or you may need to enter more specific information in the search engine. The library tutorial at http://www.apollolibrary.com/Library/tutorial.aspx provides information for using Boolean search commands to expand, limit, or refine a search for information.

Finding and Evaluating Credible Information

A credible source is one that is trustworthy, providing true, accurate, and balanced information. Generally, periodicals, journals, and other sources found in the University Library are credible because they are written by professionals and must be approved to be published. Many of the library articles are peer reviewed—written by professionals and reviewed by other professionals in the same area of expertise to ensure the research is credible and trustworthy. On the other hand, websites may be written by anyone, so credibility is usually more difficult to determine.

In this course, you are required to find five to seven credible sources. To show your credibility as an effective researcher, you must select a variety of valid sources. Avoid using only websites or using only books. Instead, you should gather information from differing types of sources depending on the assignment requirements.

Criteria for Source Reliability

How can you determine if an online source is reliable? Ask yourself the following questions when reviewing a source:

· What is the purpose and affiliation of the organization or author related to the article?

· What are the author’s credentials?

· Is the information current?

· When was the information last updated?

· Does the information cross-reference with other sources?

· Does the source contain bias without evidence to support the claims?

When using books, you must ensure the information is not too old. Generally, information should not be more than 4 years old unless the research on the topic is still the most current available. Sometimes, books contain more relevant and thought-provoking research than other sources; for example, a book on a literary topic would require more detailed analysis and lengthy examples than an article might offer.

Journals, newspapers, articles, and other database sources are normally reliable, but you should still check for biases or unbalanced research.

Taking Notes

As you begin to find sources and take notes for your paper, adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Scan the sources and then read the material more closely when you find information that is relevant.

2. Write down pertinent information from the relevant sources, but keep it brief. Large chunks of information take too much time to record and are too difficult to use.

3. As you write down information, keep track of where you found the material. Develop a system to cross-reference the source with the notes you take from that source.

4. Print online sources and keep books until you are finished with the research paper.

5. Allow a significant amount of time for this important part of the process. Taking notes builds your research skills and will ultimately help convince your reader by providing arguments to support your thesis.

6. Realize that 80% of your notes should be in your own words, with no more than 20% from quotations.

Before word processors were popular, researchers completed 3 × 5–inch index cards usually referred to as note cards. The following is an example of a handwritten note card:

If you are typing your notes into a Microsoft® Word document, you may still create note cards—they will just be electronic cards rather than physical note cards you can hold in your hand. The following is an example of a note card created in a Word document:

Note Card 1

Topic: Working Teens: Benefits

Quotation: “4 out of 5 teenagers hold part-time jobs.”

Summary: Working teaches teenagers good work ethics, responsibility, and time management.

Source: Smith, p. 5, para. 2

As you take notes, it is essential to keep track of what information you gather from which sources. The quotations, summaries, and paraphrases in your paper require documentation. A reading later in the course will show you how to document these sources in your paper. For now, be sure to list your sources—by either author’s last name and page number or title of the document and paragraph number—underneath each note card.

Annotating Sources

Annotating refers to writing questions, comments, reactions, and critical thoughts based on the sources that you read. Annotating requires you to think critically about the information you read rather than just accepting it at face value. One of the most important reasons you annotate sources is so you can ensure that the information and support you record refers directly to your thesis statement.

Annotation Content

Your annotation should be a critical review that evaluates the source and its usefulness for your topic and for your paper. Your annotation may include any or all of the following:

· Information. A summary of your findings

· Evaluation. What you thought of the information and how well it supported your topic

· Comparison. How it compared with other books or articles

· Authority. The background of the author

The following is an example of an annotated source card:

Avoiding Plagiarism

Recall that plagiarism is taking someone else’s work and presenting it off as your own. Plagiarism may be intentional, meaning you did it on purpose, or unintentional, meaning you forgot to add a citation or accidentally left out quotation marks.

For additional information, review the Plagiarism Guide at the Center for Writing Excellence in the University Library.

Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing

You can avoid plagiarism not only by correctly citing your sources but also by taking careful notes. You must set aside adequate time for note taking, and you must be detail oriented when keeping track of which note came from which source.

You do not need to cite common knowledge, information most educated people know. An example of common knowledge is that America entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The following types of information, however, do require citations:

· Direct quotations (using the exact words from the source). Use direct quotations when you want readers to benefit from the expertise of a recognized authority or when you want to refute your opposition’s point of view. Quotations consisting of 40 or more words are called block quotations, which require special formatting.

· Paraphrases (rephrasing the source material in your own words). Recall that no more than 20% of your paper should consist of quotations. When you want to include information from other sources, but you do not want to increase your number of direct quotations, consider paraphrasing the information.

· Summaries (condensing information from the source material). Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing but involves reducing much larger amounts of information, even a whole article, to a few words or sentences.

For examples of quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing, review the Plagiarism Guide at the Center for Writing Excellence and the MyWritingLab assets located on the student website.

Wrap-Up

During the research phase, pay special attention to the following:

· Maintaining strong research in your paper makes your arguments more convincing to your reader.

· Setting aside a significant amount of time to research is essential for an effective paper.

· Keeping track of your sources helps avoid plagiarism and also shows your readers you are a careful and conscientious writer.

You may feel a bit overwhelmed at first, but once you have completed this important step in the research process, you may see how valuable it is.

Topic: Depression and Greatness

Source:

Shenk, J. (2005). Lincoln’s melancholy: How depression challenged a president and fueled his greatness. Boston: Houghton.

Annotation:

By studying primary sources, Shenk theorizes that the president suffered from clinical depression. The techniques Lincoln used to deal with his mental illness also helped him to develop the traits he needed to lead the country during the tumultuous years leading up to and throughout the Civil War.

Author, page number, and paragraph number of the source

Direct quotation as well as summary of the information in the researcher’s own words

Information used as a direct quotation from the source

Source # 2

Topic: Benefits of online education

The author highlights that “online education provides students with the ability to go to school on a flexible schedule. This is especially helpful for working students, single parents, or adults who travel for business.”

Page 54

The page number of the source

The topic area within the paper for which the information will be used

Identifies the source as the second in the reference list