Ethical Research Infographic
What is Plagiarism?
How to decide whether a website or resource is credible and accurate
Be wary of .com and .net domains. .gov, .edu, and .org are all credible domains.
Sponsors
Is the source sponsored by any companies you recognize? If so, this makes the source more credible.
Ads
If a website is crammed with advertisements, it is definitely not credible for a research project.
Date of Publication
If something was published a long time ago, then it may be smart to double check information from that source. It may have been credible at one point, but some information probably changed since then.
How to research for information
- Use advanced search to rule out irrelevant results
- Block .com and .net domains from search results
- Change keywords to get a variety of search results
MLA Citation
MLA Citation: MLA stands for modern language association. It is the most commonly used form of citation. MLA citation is basically just a format to cite your sources.
In text citation: Use the Authors last name and the page number that your information came from.
Works Cited Page: A works cited page is where all your sources are attributed into one place using the MLA format
How to correctly site a website
- Author
- Date of publication and view
- Title of webpage
- Source URL
How to correctly cite a book
- The Author
- Title of book
- Location of publication
- Original publisher
- Title of website
- Sponsoring organization
- Date accessed
The difference between quotes, paraphrasing and summarizing
How to make a great research question
Your question should be as narrow as possible. The more narrow the better your question will be.
- You should be able to answer your question
- Topic should be interesting to a variety of people
- Make your question as clear as possible
Good research resources
- Library of Congress
- Infoplease
- Mid Continent Public Library
- Encyclopedia.com
Bibliography
University of UNC. Book citation breakdown. Digital image. Http://library.unc.edu/. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://docsouth.unc.edu/support/citing/detail/images/mlabook.gif>.
Garris, Kathy Kelly, Melissa Matis, and Brandy Lockwood. Summary vs. Quotes vs. Paraphrasing. Digital image. Literature Resources. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <https://brianasmithart.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/paraphrase-and-summary.jpg?w=501&h=235>.