Contents

Using Information 

Research Guide for Students Using Information

Evaluating your sources

Before you decide to use a particular source for your research project, ask some questions:

• How well does the source address your thesis statement or question?
  • In a book, consult the table of contents and indexes.
  • In an article, read the captions under pictures and diagrams, and read the first sentence of every paragraph.
  • In a web site, find the site index or click on each tab in the navigation table.
• Is the information provided by an expert (a person who has professional experience and training in an area)?
  • In a book, look for biographical information about the author on the book jacket of in the introduction to the book.
  • In an article, look for information about the author at the end of the article or in introductory paragraphs.
  • In a web site, look for a link called “about us” and read about the authors or sponsoring organization for the site.
• Is the research current if currency is important?
  • In a book, look for the publication date on the reverse of the title page.
  • In a magazine, look for the issue date.
  • In a web site, find when the site was last updated. A good site will clearly state this information.
• Is the information presented objectively from an unbiased viewpoint? Be especially careful with web sites!
• Do the authors let you know their sources of information? Be careful of a newspaper article that attributes a quote to "an informed source" without telling the reader who that source is.
• Do the authors let you know their research methods as well as results? You may want to think twice about using a source that claims that 9 out of 10 doctors recommend surgery for dimples when you don't know how many or what kind of doctors they surveyed.
• A concise guide to evaluating a web site can be found at the Harvard Library Web site: http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/evaluatingweb/index.html#top
• Include a variety of resource types:
  • Primary resources
  • Secondary resources
  • Various formats (books, articles, web sites)

Organizing Your Notes: Creating Note Cards

Examine the books, magazines, and web sites you have chosen and begin to create note cards. There are two types:

• Bibliographic Note Cards: Create a note card for each of your sources. You will use the information from these cards for your bibliography. Assign a number to each card. Whenever you create a content note card from a particular source, write the corresponding source number on that card.
• Content Note Cards: Create a note card for each point you intend to make in your paper. Make sure you put the source number and the page number on each card. Read the passage from your information source until you understand its meaning and then summarize what you have read in your own words. If you intend to quote directly from a source, be sure to be accurate, and plan to create a footnote when you use this quote in your paper.
• Check out the NoodleBib Note Card Feature: Most of you have NoodleBib accounts, where you develop your bibliographies. The note card feature helps you create note cards from these sources. Take a tour of this feature at http://www.noodletools.com/bibtour/notecards_create/

Avoiding Plagiarism

Throughout the research and writing process, you must be careful not to plagiarize. Plagiarism is defined as"the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work" (Random House Dictionary of the English Language; Second Edition, 1987). Here are some steps you can take:

• Take careful notes! Use the note card system, or any system that works for you. Be sure to write down your source for each piece of information you find, including the page number.
• Whenever you use someone's unique thoughts, phrases, illustrations, diagrams or statements from an interview, make note of your source.
• Plagiarism rules apply to all information sources: Books, magazines, songs, web sites, and movies.
• Look at the Purdue University Online Writing Lab for more helpful hints about citing sources.
• Look at Indiana University Tutorial on Plagiarism for help on avoiding plagiarism.

Creating an Outline

You should create an outline before you begin to write your paper. This will help you organize your information and plan the structure of your paper. A carefully crafted outline will make your paper much easier to write! Visit this site for help with your outline:

• Purdue University Online Writing Lab This page has outline templates for both argumentative and analytical papers, plus links to other helpful sites.