Use the Research Plan as you are starting your research (Word document | PDF)

Evaluate your sources using SIFT and SCARAB Methods (Evaluating Sources, McHenry County College)

 

Choosing Sources for Your Assignment
When  deciding on what sources to use in your research, consider: 

  • What is the source's purpose? Why was it created? 
  • Who is the author? Is it an individual or an organization? What are their credentials and their authority on the topic? Where are they situated in the world and what might be their possible biases? 
  • What is the source's relevance to your research? What part of your research question will it help you answer? 

Purpose, author, and relevance gives you a structure for choosing sources to include in your paper and helps you think about how you're going to present your research to your audience and discuss any potential bias.

General Searching Strategies

The library databases, which include collections of articles and books, work best when you enter search terms in small bites using Keywords --rather than a whole question.
As you create a list of possible keywords, think about:

  • The who, what, where, when, and why of your topic.
  • Synonyms, related concepts, alternate spellings.
  • General vs. specific - a more general term will get you more results than a more specific term.

You can combine keywords in a search using what are called search operators. 

  • Quotation marks search the phrase as a unit. 
    • Example: "Emmanuel College" 
  • AND narrows by connecting two terms. The search results must contain both terms. 
    • Example: "Emmanuel College" AND alumni
  • OR broadens your search. The search results will contain either or both terms. 
    • Example: alumni OR alum
The search field drop-down can be a great way to focus your search.
  • Text will give you articles where your search term(s) show up at least once in the entire text of the article.
  • Title will only give you articles with your search term in the title of the article.
  • Abstract will only give you articles with your search term in the abstract (short summary at the beginning of a scholarly article).


Example search in Academic Search Premier:
Screenshot of an example searching in Academic Search Premier

Use filters to limit your results to what you need. Filters are located in different places in different databases. You may find them at the top, on the right, or on the left.
  • If you need only peer-reviewed articles, check that box.
  • Other important filters: date, source type, subject

Other resources for finding and using scholarly articles:

Background and reference sources, such as encyclopedias, are a great place to start your research.
  • They provide a topic overview with relevant concepts, people, places, events, dates, and vocabulary.
  • Having this information will help you focus your topic and generate search terms,

Reference Books

News Sources (See further resources on the Newspapers guide)

Often you will be referencing specific sections or chapters of books.

Tips for using books in your research:

  • Set a reading purpose so you know exactly what you want to gain by reading parts of the book. 
  • Read the Table of Contents to identify sections to read.
  • Skim the Index for keywords related to your topic. 
  • Read the book Introduction and Conclusion first. Also, explore the conclusions of individual chapters of interest.

Term related to articles:
  • Academic (Scholarly) Journal: A type of periodical with articles written by experts in a field whose purpose is to advance understanding in that field. 
  • Database: A searchable collection of journals or their citations. 
  • Peer-review articles: Articles that are screened by experts in the field  prior to being published. 
    Note: Not all scholarly articles go through the peer-reviewed process.


Article Databases - Multidisciplinary
Multidisciplinary databases are a good place to start since they have content in many different fields/disciplines. 

Selected Subject-Specific Databases
Subject-specific databases focus on one field/discipline. To find others, visit the A-Z List of Databases or find databases on a specific Subject Guide.

Why cite?

  • Helps others recreate and understand your research process. Someone reading your paper can retrieve the sources you used to build your argument.
  • Situates your work inside a scholarly conversation about your topic. Current research builds on past research, and future research builds on current and past research! Citation lets us follow how scholarship develops over time.
  • It gives credit to other's work.
  • It is required in order to maintain academic integrity/avoid plagiarism.

 

Style Guides

Citation Generators
Note: You are still responsible for your citations even when using a citation manager. Always verify your citations are accurate.

Citation Managers
A great way to keep organized. Citation managers allow you to easily gather, organize, store, and share sources and to instantly generate citations and bibliographies. 
Note: You are still responsible for your citations even when using a citation manage

Information has value. As you gather resources, you may consider some of the following strategies to determine if your information is real.

 

 

SIFT

SIFT was created by Mike Caulfield. There are four parts to it:

  • S-Stop
  • I-Investigate the source
  • F-Find better coverage
  • T- Trace claims

SIFT was created by Mike Caulfield. There are four parts to it S-Stop I-Investigate the source F-Find better coverage T-Trace Claims

Caulfield M.(2019, June 19).SIFT- The Four Moves. https://hapgood.us/2019/06/19/sift-the-four-moves/.

Licensed under the CC by 4.0.

 

Lateral Reading

Lateral Reading is another strategy. It encourages you to evaluate claims through research. 

 

Emmanuel College Contact

Harrison Schonbrun

Harrison Schonbrun
Information Literacy Librarian
schonbrunh@emmanuel.edu
Schedule an Appointment

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