English 2053- Research part deux
Collecting Published Data
In most instances, you will be expected to discover and
utilize published data for your reports. Even in cases where
surveys are your main instruments, you iwll be expected to
include published data from similar surveys and similar research
reports.
The biggest problem, for most folks, is that they find the
library a daunting pile of data and have no idea where to begin.
here are a few steps to ease this process:
- Develop a Search strategy (What types of materials will
you need? What types can you exclude? What types are
available to you?)
- Determine your Audience (Know who you are writing for and
the type of research they will find credible).
- Brainstorm for questions ( make a list of questions that
you think your audience would ask about your topic and
use this to guide your efforts)
- Review field variant Encyclopedias and dictionaries as
a starting point (Be wary of citing them as they
demostrate a lack of effort and theus a lack of
credibility on your part).
Once you've set the stage, then set yourself some guidelines:
- How recent must the information be?
- What is the technical information level of my audience?
- What are the key terms? And what are
their definitions?
- Look for the key documents; the ones
that all the articles seem to mention. Find and read
them.
Now...go look. But where?
- The Computerized Card Catalog.
- The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
- Computerized Indexes to Journal Abstracts and ERIC
- Field variant Journal Indexes
- Government Documents
- The Net
Then, be certain to record your findings. Copy data and
bibliographic information on note cards. Even better,
photo copy the articles. Don't rely on your memory.
A word about plaigairism...
It is vital that you give proper credit to the individual
whose intellectual property you are borrowing.
Toward that end, you must cite the bibliographic
information of any work from which you borrowed:
- Quotations
- Ideas
- Concepts
- Phrasing
- Information
- Graphics
- Tables
- Any intellectual property that is not original to
you must be correctly creditied to its creator.
Even if you "paraphrase" you must cite that data. If
you aren't sure, cite it.
Return to Research Part One
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