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English 101   Tags: english, research  

Your guide to researching at Somerset Community College.
Last Updated: Oct 7, 2011 URL: http://somerset.kctcs.libguides.com/english101 Print Guide RSS UpdatesShareThis

Building Research Skills Print Page
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Research Skills Lesson: Information Literacy

Information literacy is the set of skills required to find, evaluate, and use information.

 

Survey Question

If you can't find a book, what do you do?

 



 

Building a Research Strategy

Whenever you undertake a new task, like research for a paper, speech, or other project, it's a good idea to have a strategy. The following tips will help make your research experience more enjoyable and manageable:

 •Start early. 

•Be organized.

• Find background information. 

 •Have a thesis statement or claim.

•Use appropriate resources.

•Ask a reference librarian for help at any time during your research.

Using the library's resources to assist with your research skills assignment can provide students with a more valuable learning experience.

 

Research Paper

 

Building Research Skills

 

  • Begin your research by using general information sources, as you learn more about your topic you will want to move to more specific sources.

  • Use book sources both reference and general sources before you use periodicals.

  • Reference sources (dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, etc.) provide background information by giving you a brief overview of the topic.  Reference sources can help you understand your topic and identify issues and key concepts.

  • As you begin to learn more about the topic you will want to search for related books that you can check out through the KCTCS Online Catalog.

  • To further supplement your research you will want to look for periodical articles. Periodicals provide the most up-to-date information on a topic. For a research paper or project you will want to use scholarly publications and journals rather than popular magazines.  When searching for periodicals be sure to use library databases such as ProQuest and EBSCOHost rather than going to the Web. 

 

Library of Future

 

Question 3

How is the SCC Learning Commons narrowing the digital divide?




 

Writing a Research Paper

 

Question 2

True or false: The Learning Commons offers DVDs for checkout.



 

Additional Questions to Consider When Doing Research

What is a scholarly article?

What is considered a primary resource in this discipline?

How can I thoroughly search the scholarly literature on my subject?

How do I evaluate a resource's appropriateness for this assignment?

How does scholarly communication function within this discipline?

What sort of information is most appropriate for answering my question?

 

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