Writing 121

Instructor: Derek Gladwin, derek.gladwin@pcc.edu


Librarian: Pam Kessinger
Term: Spring 2009

This page was created for a specific class. Visit Research to see all library-created subject guides and research tools.

Composition

 

Building your knowledge base

 

Definitions and related terms

American Heritage Dictionary

Kartoo visual search engine

Wikipedia : Check "History" and "Discussion" tabs
NOTE: for personal browsing purposes, primarily

Background, context, related concepts

Visual Thesaurus

Article databases by Title--

  • Gale Virtual Reference
  • Oxford Reference Online
  • Access Science

 

From concept to research topic

  1. What is important or interesting about the concept to you?
  2. What aspects of the concept do you want to focus on?

 

Into the flow of information

Connections between sources:
  • Authors of articles in online encyclopedias = possible articles in databases
  • Affiliation of authors = websites? For example, organizations, political parties, associations
  • "Selective" lists of websites in Opposing Viewpoints and CQ Researcher articles
  • 'Studies' mentioned in magazine articles = research reports
 
Articles published in magazines and newspapers:

Article databases by Title--

  • EBSCOhost: click on several databases* at once
  • New York Times: national (U.S.) news
  • Oregonian: local (Portland area and Oregon) news
 
Articles published in journals:

JSTOR: archived journals (good for historical sources)

Capture citations: options

  • Send MLA-formatted citation along with the article's full text
  • Copy/Paste citation given at the end of the article
  • Export citation to RefWorks for formal bibliography

 

Evaluation

  • "Validity" of sources= Identifiable authorship; edited and published; objective (or research based)
  • "Relevance" = context; scope; perspective. That is, is this source right for what you need?

 

Related:
Class Pages, Subject Guides A to Z