Students often feel overwhelmed by the thought of creating the list of references that commonly appears at the end of the paper. Often that’s because the student has waited until the end to build it, has just finished their paper, and hasn’t taken the steps needed to make building the reference list – if not easy – at least less frustrating. Read on to find out how to make building a reference list easier.
Continue reading Citing Sources: Building your Reference List
Category: Sources
Citing Sources: In-Text Citation How-To
Do you want to impress your teacher with the quality of your writing? One (relatively) easy way to do so is to change the way you handle in-text citations. Read on to learn more!
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Citing Sources: When do I have to cite?
In over a decade of teaching, the #1 reason I find for student plagiarism is students not understanding when to cite a source. In this post, I’m going to get right to the point and tell you exactly when you need to cite.
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Research More Efficiently: Mine Your Sources
You’ve been assigned a research paper and shown how to use the library database. You’ve typed in your search terms and gotten results, but have one of two problems:
- You have a lot of results – possibly tens of thousands – and you don’t know how to figure out which authors or publications are important.
- You got very few results and don’t know where to go from here.
One tactic you can apply is to mine your sources. Read on to find out what that means.
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Avoid Plagiarism: Take Good Notes
Most students have heard of plagiarism, and most also understand that plagiarism can have serious academic consequences (more about plagiarism in a later blog post). Many students, however, don’t have a good grasp of how to avoid plagiarizing even when they are trying not to. One strategy you can use is to take good notes while you are conducting your research.
How can you use note-taking to reduce your risk of plagiarism?
Database Search Basics
You have a paper or project to do, and your teacher wants you to include academic “research.” In this post, I’ll show you some tips and tricks for getting the most out of the time you spend. A lot of students find the mechanics of database research to be overwhelming–by the end of this post, you should feel more confident.
Peer Reviewed, Academic, and Reputable Sources: What the Heck are They and How Do I Find Them?
If you’re writing a college-level research paper, most likely your instructor has told you that you must use a certain type of “source.” The language used to describe these sources varies, but in general, your teacher expects you to use high-quality sources for the information in your paper. Let’s take this concept apart so you have a better understanding of exactly what your teacher expects.
Undergraduates Write! 