SENIOR PROJECT 2016 SOURCE GUIDE (LIKE, UMMM, MAYBE YOU SHOULD ACTUALLY READ THIS )

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1 SENIOR PROJECT 2016 SOURCE GUIDE (LIKE, UMMM, MAYBE YOU SHOULD ACTUALLY READ THIS ) DEAR SENIOR: A research paper is based on RESEARCH. As such, if you would like the chance to earn an A or B on your Senior Project RESEARCH Paper, then you will need to have research sources. The MINIMUM number of sources for this research paper is five (5). Five sources will likely earn you a C. If you want to earn yourself an A or a B, then you will have AT LEAST ten (10) to fifteen (15) sources. M. I. N. I. M. U. M. These sources will come from REPUTABLE websites, institutions, universities, peer-reviewed journals, experts, and other non-biased, respectable, scholarly places and individuals. AS A RULE, YOU WILL NOT BE DISCUSSING YOUR FIELD WORK IN YOUR RESEARCH PAPER. That information you will discuss during your Senior Project Speech Presentation just before graduation. As you go about finding sources, ask yourself how that source, how that information will be advancing (SUPPORTING) your argument, your thesis statement. You want VARIED sources. In other words, you want sources that cover your argument from a variety of angles, points of view, facets: financial angles, moral angles, political angles, medical angles, personal angles, societal angles, environmental angles, historical angles, modern angles, etc. Be careful that your sources are not just one or two pages long. You want deep, thoughtful, and usually lengthy articles, sources, too! MAKE SURE YOU PRINT OUT YOUR SOURCES (not in color! Black and white is fiiiiiiine). I WILL NEED TO SEE YOUR SOURCES PRINTED OUT (no, I will absolutely not print them for you). Good luck! RESEARCH SOURCES CHECKLIST (NOT OPTIONAL) I have RELIABLE sources that support my thesis statement I printed out ALL of my sources I typed up a SOURCE OVERVIEW for ALL of my sources I made a SOURCE CARD on note cards for ALL of my sources USING PROPER MLA (you will have, obviously, somewhere between of these cards) I have typed up a Works Cited page with ALL of my sources on it USING PROPER MLA

2 SEARCHING THE INTERNET CORRECTLY! 1. Use QUOTATION MARKS to group together words or phrases... If you enter the words *German Shepherds as your search terms, then your results will include all pages containing the word German (German chocolate cake, how to speak German, German flag, etc.) AND all pages containing the word Shepherd (Shepherd University, actress Cybill Shepherd, etc.). This search will yield 2,700,000 results! However, if you put quotation marks around German Shepherd, then your results will only include pages where those two words appear together. This search will yield only 1,300,000 results. *NOTE: Capitalization does not affect your search. 2. Include SPECIFIC PHRASES/TERMS for your search... German Shepherd =1,300,000 results German Shepherd AND rescue =770,000 results German Shepherd AND search and rescue =75,000 results German Shepherd AND search and rescue AND training methods OR techniques =17,600 results 3. Use BOOLEAN LOGIC or ADVANCED SEARCH option... Basic rules to follow when launching Boolean searches: 1) Use the word AND (remember that capitalization doesn t affect your search) to search for information containing more than one keyword. For example, if you type Internet AND legislation (yes, using AND and quotation marks), your search will yield information containing only both of your keywords. 2) Use the word OR to search for results containing at least one of your keywords. For example, Munchkins OR Leprechauns would yield you any document that contained either of those words, but not necessarily both. 3) The word NOT tells the search engine to look for results that do not contain the keyword. For example, Pets NOT hamsters or Pets -hamsters will give you results about all kinds of pets, except hamsters. 4) The word NEAR shows results that contain the keywords only when they appear within approximately ten words of each other. For example, if you wanted to find information about President Nixon s resignation from office due to the Watergate scandal, then you d type Nixon NEAR resign because if you typed Nixon resign or Nixon resignation, then you d only get pages where those words were together.

3 1. AUTHORITY HOW TO DETERMINE AN INTERNET SOURCE S RELIABILITY Can you identify the author or institution that published the page? Is the author or institution qualified? Who is the sponsor? Is the page sponsor reputable? How reputable? Is there a link to information about the author or sponsor? If the page includes neither a signature nor indicates a sponsor, is there any other way of determining its origin? Look for a header or footer showing affiliation Look at the URL: Look at the domain:.edu,.com,.gov,.org,.net,.biz Remember that a tilde (~) means the page is a personal webpage and might not be reliable 2. ACCURACY Is the information reliable and error-free? Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks/updates the information? 3. OBJECTIVITY Does the information show a minimum of bias? Is the page designed to sway opinion? Is there an excessive amount of advertising on the page? 4. CURRENCY Is the page dated? Is the date current? How current are the links? Have some expired or moved? 5. COVERAGE What topics are covered? What does this page offer that is not found elsewhere? What is its intrinsic value? How in-depth is the material?

4 WEBSITE EVALUATION CHECKLIST Ask yourself these questions to determine if your sources are reliable Consider WHO is responsible for the website: Does the publisher appear to be knowledgeable about the content? Does the publisher qualify as an authority or expert on the topic? Can you contact the publisher from the site? Is the site s sponsor identified? 2. Consider WHAT is the website s content/subject matter: Does the content appear to be accurate? Error free? Is the information presented objectively, with minimum bias? Is there real depth-of-content (vs. limited/superficial information)? Are site links appropriate and supportive of the site s content? Does the content have educational or informational value? 3. Consider WHERE the website resides: What type of domain is this site?.gov.com.edu.org.net.biz Other: Is this a personal page with a hyphen or.name in the URL (that s the acronym for saying a website s Internet address)? 4. Consider WHEN the website was last updated: Is the information current? Does the site provide update information? Does a current date even matter? 5. Consider HOW the website s main page looks and functions: Is the page easily understood and navigation/user friendly? Is the page well-organized? Does the page load reasonably fast? Do all of its links work? Is the page free from (excessive amounts of) advertising? 6. Consider WHY the website exists: Is the site trying to... Sell you something? Inform you about something? Persuade you or convince you of something? Is the website appropriate for your paper s target audience? Is the Internet even the best place for finding the information you need for your research? Would it be better for you to peruse some books/journals/etc.?

5 SOURCE OVERVIEWS SOURCE #1 Article Title: Article Author: Website Name: Number of Pages: Date Written/Posted/Updated: Date You Accessed the Site: How will this source help you inform your audience? What cool insight does it bring? What kind of information does it provide? Give a 2-3 sentence overview of this source. Now, it is up to you to make one of these for ALL of your sources. I WILL BE CHECKING THIS PART OF THE ASSIGNMENT. NONE OF THIS IS OPTIONAL. TYPED. On a separate sheet of paper.

6 HOW TO MAKE ONLINE SOURCE CARDS For ALL ONLINE sources, copy the following information in MLA format (if you have NON-Internet sources and need to make source cards, GO TO OWL PURDUE) on 3 x 5 note cards: Author s last name, first name. Article title. Website name, date the article was posted or updated. Web. Date you accessed the page. NOTE: Where is says Web, put ONLY the word Web. YOU DO NOT INCLUDE THE URL. SAMPLE ONLINE SOURCE CARDS: SOURCE #1 Miller, Melissa. Funding for Stem Cell Research Cut. Web MD, 27 Aug Web. 1 May NOTE: To get your sources to look like this on your Works Cited page, you need to make sure your paragraph settings are set to Double Spacing, Do not add space between paragraphs of the same style and then, if the citation goes to 2 or 3 or more lines, you just hit Enter at the beginning of the additional lines and then hit Tab once. If you follow these directions, it will look how it s supposed to. Make sure the months are in THREE letter format: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec. IF ANY OF THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO MAKE A SOURCE CARD IS MISSING, then simply skip that part and begin or go on to the NEXT piece of information. Like this: NO AUTHOR: Funding for Stem Cell Research Cut. Web MD, 27 Aug Web. 1 May NO ARTICLE TITLE: Miller, Melissa. Web MD, 27 Aug Web. 1 May And so on and so forth

7 SAMPLE WORKS CITED PAGE Smith 7 Works Cited Cleaning up the Environment. Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May Web. 24 Jan Davis, Catherine. Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet. New York Times, 22 May Web. 26 Jan New Technology Helps Environment. Washington Post, 13 Feb Web. 22 Jan Revkin, Andrew. Clinton Speaks Out on Climate Change. Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar Web. 25 Jan Shulte, Brett. Putting a Price on Pollution. US News and World Report, 27 Sep Web. 19 Jan NOTE: List ALL sources in ALPHABETICAL ORDER by the ENTRY S FIRST LETTER, whether author s last name or article or whatever. Make sure you are double-spacing, hitting Enter on any additional lines, followed by Tab in other words, make SURE your spacing and indentation looks EXACTLY like the example above. Check your title on this page and make CERTAIN it says Works Cited. That s PLURAL: WorkS. Not Work Cited, singular. Works Cited. Because there are more than one. TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE CITING CORRECTLY ACCORDING TO MLA, BE SURE TO CHECK WITH ONLINE WRITING LAB AT PURDUE UNIVERSITY (OWL PURDUE) AT: