HELP! With
Research at Belmont Technical College
The following help
topics
are found here:
NOTE: Your library staff
is available to help
you with finding resources. Stop by or give us a call (740) 695-9500
extension 1019.
Research
&
Argument:
Tools for Teachers and Students
http://karn.ohiolink.edu/~sg-ysu/
A tutorial on
information
literacy (University of Wyoming)
http://tip.uwyo.edu/
SIRS
Database
(OhioLINK)
http://proxy.ohiolink.edu:9100/login?url=http://researcher.sirs.com/
The SIRS database sorts
pro
and con viewpoints of popular topics. SIRS also gives you select
articles
and websites on many subjects. Articles are selected from more than
1,500
newspapers, magazines, journals, and government publications. The
websites
it lists are evaluated for trustworthiness.
Thesis
Statements (University of North Carolina)
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.html
What
is a thesis? (Springfield, PA School District)
http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~spjvweb/thesis.html
Thesis Statements (LEO:
Literacy Education Online)
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html
Five
criteria for evaluating
Web pages (Cornell University)
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/webcrit.html
Evaluating Information
Found on the Internet (Johns Hopkins
University)
http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/
Interactive tools to
learn
how to evaluate and find sources
http://21cif.imsa.edu/Sitemap/
Internet
websites may be
scholarly sources if you have evaluated them. Look for the most
authoritative sources you can find. Here's a tip: Try searching on your
topic using websites that do the evaluation for you:
InfoMine - for
college-level
research
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Librarian's Internet
Index
http://lii.org/
Scirus - "the most
comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet"
http://www.scirus.com/
Internet Public Library
-
similar to a public library for the internet. You can also ask
questions and
get an answer in 24 hours.
http://www.ipl.org/
You can see short videos
on
finding books in OhioLINK:
http://www.ohiolink.edu/ostaff/videos/CAT_videos.html
TIP
#1: Try a Subject Search. Go to
http://www.ohiolink.edu
and click "Listed by Subject" on the left side of the OhioLink
homepage. You
can search multiple databases at once, all related to your subject.
TIP
#2: Try to use different keywords in your search.
Think of synonyms (different words that mean the same thing) and
related
words. For example, if my topic is biofuels, I might try separate
searches
using each of the following keywords and keyword combinations: biofuel,
biodiesel, renewable energy, bio gas, alcohol fuel, energy crop, green
fuel,
agricultural energy, bioethanol, soybeans AND fuel, corn AND fuel, and
so
on. As you read articles you will probably find even more keywords to
use in
your searches.
TIP
#3: Contact the campus library for additional help
locating just the right scholarly articles for your research paper.
TIP #4: Try an online
chat with a librarian at
http://chat.ohiolink.edu/
where you can type in your question and get instant help.
There are several free
online services that can automatically format a citation for you. They
each
work a little differently, so try them to see which you like best (and
be
sure to check your results).
http://www.bibme.org
http://citationmachine.net/
http://www.easybib.com/
You can find a good
explanation of how to format works cited entries at the
Purdue Online Writing
Lab
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/09/
BTC has a writing tutor
on
staff and available for any editing work you may need. This is a free
service available to all BTC students. For more information, see
http://www.btc.edu/Department_Offices/student_suc_cntr_info/drop_in_writing_assistance.cfm
American
Heritage Book of English Usage - Reference Guide to Contemporary English
http://www.bartleby.com/64/
Quoting, Paraphrasing,
and
Summarizing (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_quotprsum.html
Quoting and Paraphrasing
Sources (The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuotingSources.html
Quotations handout (The
Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/quotations.html
These sample papers help
to
show how to format a paper according to MLA standards. Keep in mind
that
paper length and other requirements for your research assignments are
specified by your instructor.
Sample Paper 1:
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/pdf/mla.pdf
Sample Paper 2:
http://www.dianahacker.com/pdfs/Hacker-Daly-MLA.pdf
Sample Papers 3-4 (with
audio commentary):
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_faigley_penguinhb_1/0,7325,506861-,00.html