TED research paper

a. It also occurs in a print publication. Sources that occur in print publications (such as magazines, journals, newspapers, etc.) have had to go through an editorial process. This ensures that the information is considered accurate and that the writer is recognized as an expert within their field.

b. It is found using an academic database. These are special databases provided by libraries & educational institutions, NOT search engines like Yahoo, Google, etc. See the lesson on academic databases within this learning unit for more details on this.

c. It appears in a well-known online journal, newspaper, or magazine. Examples of these might be well-known news sites such as CNN.com, or Newsweek Magazine Online.

The vast majority of sources that you find via a Google search will NOT meet any of the above criteria. In that case, you need to apply a much stricter set of rules to determine whether it is worthy of use in your paper. These rules are on the following page:

Otherwise the source must meet these requirements:

1. Must have a named author, be written by a well-known, legitimate organization, or appear on a government website.

a. If it is not part of a known online journal, some indication must be given that the author has legitimate credentials to be considered an expert. For example, the author may include a short biography at the beginning or end of the article in which their expertise (such as degrees, occupation, etc.) are made evident.

b. An example of a "well-known, legitimate organization" could be the American Red Cross if you were searching for an article on disaster relief.

2. Must not be written by a college undergrad or earlier student. Even when a college (or earlier) student writes an exceptional article on a topic, they are not yet considered experts in the field. Therefore, they should not be used as research sources.

3. It's a good sign if it's from a college or university website, as these are often the publishers of most online journals. However, this is not a required element.

Should I use Wikipedia in my research?

When engaging in your research process, an encyclopedia is not a source you'd want to use in college-level research. This includes Wikipedia. While it's good to learn some background information from this source, if you want to use any of that information, you need to find other creditable sources that you can cite for that information.

The reason for this is simple: articles on Wikipedia are not necessarily written by those who are experts in their field (thus, it can be manipulated and/or inaccuracies persist).

For more on how to engage in the research process, make sure to read the lessons within our current learning unit. I highly encourage all of you to use the library academic databases as the primary source for your research. These databases include millions of articles from quality academic journals/magazines that are not otherwise available on the general internet. They are, by far, the best place to do college-level research. Those who tend to earn A's in college regularly use these databases for their research, so you should make it a regular habit whenever engaging in research.

What other kinds of websites should I avoid?

There are dozens of websites that sell or offer "free" essays on topics commonly written by college students. You should NEVER use these sources in your research process. There are numerous reasons for this rule:

· The purpose of these websites is to assist students in plagiarism. Thus, any product on their site is a form of academic dishonesty.

· Most of the essays on these sites are actually plagiarized themselves, usually copied & pasted from other internet sources.

· Even the "premium" essays on these sites are usually plagiarized from sources and are easily detected by plagiarism tools such as TurnItIn.

· The essays on these sites will NEVER meet the requirements that have already been discussed within this lesson. They NEVER meet the requirement of being written by an author who is considered an expert in their field. Instead, the authors are usually nameless or even when a name is provided, no indication of expertise is given.

Additional Resources