Instead of having a regular class session, we decided to head back to the library with Gale! Gale helped our class with experiencing and researching through the database earlier on in the quarter. Today, we revisited with her to brush up on our database skills and citation write-ups.
Source: Giphy
Gale decided to give us a game to play. We were given URLs to journal entries and articles and we had to compose an informational sentence summarizing the important information from it. This included things like the author, the publisher, what type of source it was, and what it was about. During this game, there were some important components that I realized I could apply to my research paper.
- Author’s Credentials: What makes this person qualified to talk about this given topic? How does their background effect the way they present their work?
- Publication: Where was this source published? Where can it be found? Who can view this source?
- Use the Abstract: Many of these articles and journal entries included some sort of abstract or summary. Reading the abstract is a useful way to get a broad sense of what the source is talking about and the points it’s trying to make.
It’s important to include information like this in my research paper because it will prove to me and my audience that I used credible sources. This process can serve as a great way to check the validity of your sources as well as lengthen your paper! Bonus!