Writing 121

Instructor: Steve Mainville, smainvil@pcc.edu
Librarian: Pam Kessinger
Term: Spring 2009

Composition

 

Building your knowledge base

 

Definitions and related terms

American Heritage Dictionary

  2. Search | private life

Google:

Define: drug testing

 

Kartoo visual search engine: tag cloud and annotations

  1. Search | drug testing of students
  2. Search | workplace drug testing applicants
 
Background, context, related concepts
  • Gale Virtual Reference: Click on the right: Databases by Title
  • Search | drug free schools
  • Search | in loco parentis

 

Wikipedia

  • Check "History" and "Discussion" tabs
  • Ask: Does this pass the "sniff test" for reliability?
  • A caveat from Wikipedia: Not for research
  • Wikipedia v. Academic research: some examples to compare

 

Encompassing, Subjects

SIRS Knowledge Source: Click on the right: Databases by Title

  1. Employees, drug testing
  2. Drug Abuse, testing
  3. Students, Drug Use
  4. Teenagers, Drug Use
  5. Advanced Search | high school AND drug testing AND mandatory

 

CQ Researcher: Click on the right: Databases by Title

  • Overview
  • Recommended resources

 

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

 
Articles published in magazines and newspapers:
  • EBSCOhost: click on several databases at once. Click on the right: Databases by Title
  • New York Times: national (U.S.) news
  • Oregonian: local (Portland area and Oregon) news
 
Positional Essays:

Opposing Viewpoints books: PCC Library Catalog

  • Keyword Search | drug testing opposing viewpoints
  • Keyword Search | drugs workplace opposing viewpoints

 

Taking sides books: PCC Library Catalog

Opposing Viewpoints viewpoint essays: Click on right, Databases by Topic

 
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

 

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?

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

 

Related:
Class Pages, Subject Guides A to Z