Basic Research Tools & Information:
Research
- How to Recognize Scholarly Sources (Marianopolis College) "...scholarly sources mean different things to different people, especially if they come from different disciplines. The student is often caught in the middle of these divergent interpretations. What follows are considerations that ought to help you sort things out, and maximize your chances that you are indeed using acceptable scholarly sources."
- To learn the difference between scholarly and other types of periodicals, go to Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals (Cornell University Library)
- To find out whether a particular journal is peer-reviewed (or refereed), look up the title in Ulrich’s
Periodical Directory
- To learn how to evaluate websites to meet your research needs, go to either of the following:
Documenting Sources
- Standard Documentation Formats (Writing at the University of Toronto) Different disciplines use their own systems to set out information about sources. Here are samples of common systems, showing the kinds of information needed and some details of punctuation, typeface, and indentation. It covers the traditional Chicago style of footnotes (or endnotes) and Bibliography, the MLA author-page style (showing changes made in the 2009 edition of the MLA Handbook), the APA author-date style, and the numbered-note systems used in Engineering and many sciences. There's a separate section giving further details about citing Internet and other electronic sources.
- Research and Documentation Online provides more detailed information about documenting sources.
- RefWorks is a Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal database by importing references such as citations to journal articles or books, from text files or online databases. You can use these references in writing papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds.
Writing
- Writing in College:
A Short Guide to College Writing (U. of Chicago) "This guide is intended to help first and second year students ... write effective papers in the Humanities ... and ... Social Sciences...."
- Writing Handouts (University College Writing Workshop) "Whether it's an interrogative pronoun or just a dangling modifier, the University of Toronto's University College Writing Workshop can provide visitors with dozens of helpful writing tips....These writing handouts can be used by anyone with the desire to improve their writing. The handouts cover topics like organizing an essay, the effective and correct use of quotations, and the use of articles. Each section includes specific advice and guidance, and even the most effective writers may learn something new from these guides."(from The
Scout Report, Vol. 14, no. 40. Oct. 19, 2007. Accessed Oct. 19, 2007)
- For detailed information about Annotated Bibliographies, see Writing an Annotated Bibliography (University of Toronto)