WHY WE RESEARCH
· To support our claims
· To support our claims with material more than personal opinion
· To support our claims with material from experts in the field
· To search for knowledge
· To investigate
· To solve problems
· To establish new facts, interpretations, theories
· To prove facts, interpretations, theories
· To inform
· To confirm
· To persuade
· * To advance knowledge
· To help choose a topic
· To help narrow subject to topic
· To weed out weaker theories
· To enter the conversation with the ages
· To continue the conversation
· To pursue interests
· To hone problem-solving skills
· To learn something new
· To gain appreciation
· To visit museums, archives, galleries, laboratories
· To create new knowledge
· To further explore classroom discussion ideas
· To gain perspective
· To gain hyperopic, not myopic vision
· To understand how knowledge is created
· To test a hypothesis
· To answer a question/solve a problem
· To investigate an issue
· To argue, persuade
· To fill in the gaps, crystallizes/clarifies what we don’t understand
· To “re-search”—
o search the text again - see it in a different view, from a new perspective
o challenge our own preconceived notions, beliefs, attitudes
o confirm our beliefs
o lead to deeper understanding & appreciation of the text & of ourselves
o re-discover, re-think, re-consider, re-read, re-visit
WHERE WE RESEARCH
· (what makes a “good” source good)
· reliability, credibility, accuracy
· LOGOS—
o *Google is not a synonym for research
o .org, .gov, .mil, .edu -- .com
o scholarly journals vs. general audience works
o avoid Wikipedia, Answers.com, About.com
o support = facts, stats vs. opinions, inferences, assumptions
o primary sources vs. secondary sources
o uses quality research, too – has a References page
o absence of logical fallacies, errors, inaccuracies
o peer-reviewed, peer-edited
o Author = education, professional experience in the field
· PATHOS—
o POV = objective vs. subjective, argumentative (or mix of both)
o analysis = in-depth analysis vs. cursory overview
o multiple sides, different perspectives
· ETHOS—
o tone = serious, scholarly vs. flippant, snarky
o Quality of writing = quality of argument
o No bias or agenda
o Updated, revised
WHY WE CITE
· To give credit where credit is due
· To continue the conversation
· To pass on our information, findings, and analyses
· To allow our readers to find the material in our sources (“Stepping Stones”)
o in order evaluate the accuracy of our borrowing
o in order to confirm the context of our material
o in order to find more information in the general area of our borrowing
· *To clarify which ideas belong to whom
· To separate your words/ideas/opinions from your sources’
· To distinguish fact from opinion
· To lend credibility to our arguments, our claims
· To build our ETHOS – our credibility/ trustworthiness of us as writers
o as citing demonstrates the credibility of our arguments, our academic integrity, our respect for academic integrity, the authority of our sources
· to demonstrate our respect for Intellectual Property Rights
· to differentiate clearly our ideas from our sources’ ideas
WHAT WE CITE
· “directly quoted” material
· paraphrased material
· statistics, numbers, facts
· technical information or jargon
· references to studies or research
· expert opinions, analyses
HOW WE CITE
· after EVERY sentence of borrowed information (directly quoted or paraphrased)
· cite immediately – not eventually
· use (parentheses) –> “parenthetical citations”
· the author’s last name + locator (page #, par. #, section # or name, or time code)
o if no author, use the “Article Title”
o commas:
§ no commas before page # or time codes
§ commas before every other type of locator
· (Smith 345).
· (Smith, par. 8).
· (Smith, sect. Environmental Factors).
· (“Causes of COPD” 620).
· (“Causes of COPD,” par. 2).
· (“Causes of COPD,”sect.7).
· (Fight Club 00:32:19).