Helpful Research Tips
By: Conor Roe
How To Gather Relevant Info
To gather relevant info from any source you need to know how to find specific words. If you are in chrome you can do this by hitting ctrl-f. A search bar will come up in the top right and you can look for specific words, or phrases. Besides that you can look in the sources that were given to you by Mrs. Robaska. Those include Mid-continent library, EBSCO host, and many others. These are all good sources due to their reliability which I will talk about later. But getting back to why they are good is that you good specify if you want a book, or magazine, or any other material along with an advanced search of the topic.
How To Use Keywords When Researching
To use keywords effectively you have to think about your topic and the question you are trying to answer. Another point is that if the words you are using to narrow the results down aren't working try different words. They words you try next could be a different form of the word or a completely different word with a different meaning, You can also change up the word that you started with and so on and so forth. Another thing you can do is if you find information by using one of your words and their is a key part missing you should look that up and not just leave it alone.
Deciding Whether A Website Or Resource Is Credible
If you want to know if a resource is credible or not a quick check you can due is that you can't really count on a .com source for all of your information. This is because anyone can make a .com but if you get your information from a .edu, .gov, and .org. Now these are more reliable than .com sources but you have to make sure that the topic of the website is what you are looking for and not just righting down what the website says.
The Difference Between Quoting, Paraphrasing, And Summarising
Quoting: Quoting is where take the direct words from a cite or a source. When you do this you must give credit to the author or it is plagiarism.
Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing is where you change the authors words but not the idea. When you do this you can't change the words so that they have a different meaning to them.
Summarizing: Summarizing is where you take the main point or idea and right a very brief few sentences about it.
What Is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is when you take an authors thought or idea and you use it as your own. Some ways to avoid this are putting quotations around the text and citing the source. This prevents you from saying that it was your work. Another way is to put an in text citation. This can help you to later go back and find what you used as a kind of back up to check your citations/bibliography.
What An MLA Citation Is
First off an MLA citation is a format of citing your source. Besides that I will talk about what an In text citation is. This is when you have just used an authors thought or idea and you put a citation in the text. It is kind of self explanatory. Also to make your citations page remember to use one of many websites that make a bibliography for you. Off the top of my head I can tell you that easybib.com is a good place to create your citation page.