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Academic Research Page

Search in the right places


The Work Required to Having an Opinion by Shane Parish / Word version

 ​20 Cognitive Biases that Screw Up Your Decisions, The Business Insider​


Wake Up to Politics - You need to know what is going on to be a functional, literate person in the universe. Sign up for these impressive political summaries written by a high school kid. This young man, a high school kid, is followed by an impressive who's who of people. Read this New York Times article about him.

FINDING TOPICS

Topics to Avoid - Avoid these topics in English 101

SIRS 
  • Login info in Google Classroom.
  • Good source for pro-con issues
Procon.org
Developing a Research Question - Suny Empire State College

Instagrok : This resource might help with ideas but the sources may not be suitable such as Wikipedia.

401 Prompts for Argument - NY Times - Updated 1 March 2017 - Not all will be appropriate.

200 Prompts for Argument - NY Times - Updated 17 March 2017 - Not all will be appropriate

50 Writing Prompts for All Grade Levels - Edutopia - Focus on the high school prompts

FINDING RESEARCH

​GOOGLE BOMB 
  • Definition: an effort to move a website to the top of search engine results for a particular word or phrase by creating a large number of links that contain this search text.
  • Because of this of this phenomenon, you should avoid using Google for school assignments; the first pages of Google will not list the most relevant links for academic research.
 
Beware Online Filter Bubbles - Eli Pariser - TED - 9:00 min. Big Brother uses algorithms to filter your search results. A bit scary.

BOOLEAN SEARCH CODES
Boolean searching is an important tool that can be used when searching catalogs, indexes, online databases, and the web. Here are some examples of boolean search strings:
  • Quotation Marks -  Use quotation marks around a phrase so you aren't also searching those individual words "death penalty." Otherwise, you may also get hits for just death and just penalty
  • AND - Use AND to refine and narrow your search: "death penalty" AND cost. Note that I don't have to place cost in quotation marks.
  • OR - Use OR to broaden your search: "death penalty" or "capital punishment"
  • NOT - Use NOT to eliminate a topic from your search: "death penalty" NOT cost

GOOGLE SEARCH HELP
Refine Web Searches 
Find Free to Use Images  
Advance Search for Websites or Images

KYVL AND PROQUEST LINKS
* Use KYVL to get to Ebsco, Proquest, an Numerous other Databases
* Ebsco links to numerous databases

* Login Info in Google Classroom 
* Click "Peer Reviewed" and/or "Journals" and "Full Text"
  • ​KYVL College - Has all the databases from Ebsco - Scroll to Ebsco and go from there
  • ​KYVL - Proquest Main Page - Several Topics
  • KYVL ProQuest Alternative and Independent Presses - As the name indicates, this database has sources a bit off the grid but still legitimate . . . and cool!

OTHER GREAT SEARCH ENGINES FOR ACADEMIC WRITING

Free no login academic journals sources, not a database
  • Directory of Open Access Journals

This group is a mix of academic journals, newspapers, magazines, and good webpages
  • Google Custom Search - lacks journals but has good sources - easy to search, no login
  • Google Scholar -  A bit of a mix. Some sources. You'll find some websites and sources with PDFs. This site has some sources you would have to pay for in order to get the full document. Check the right-hand side to find the sources with PDFs.
  • iSEEK - watch out for the dates because some are old
  • Library of Congress - our national library, easy to search​
  • Microsoft Academic Search - easy to search, no login
  • RefSeek - Easy to search, no login
  • Sweet Search - Easy to search, no login - Once initial search complete, the page has a tab for IMAGE

The link below has a long list of possible search engines
  • 100 Search Engines for Academic Research

ONLY ONE SIRS SOURCE ALLOWED FOR THOSE IN COLLEGE ENGLISH 101 and 102
  • SIRS Database - Watch out for college and university newspapers because these articles are student written​

MLA

OWL MLA
​

MLA Main MLA Link - OWL
MLA In-Text Citations - OWL
MLA Works Cited Electronic Resources - OWL  
​
MLA Sample Paper - OWL
MLA PPT 


OWL Site Map Link (A Gazillion Resources)
​OWL Vidcasts (video instruction)
MLA OFFICIAL PAGE INFO
​

MLA Main P​age
MLA Practice Template 2
MLA Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty 
​
MLA Sample First Page Format
MLA Sample Works Cited Format

Great video explaining MLA - 11:20
UNDERSTANDING MLA STYLE, 8TH EDITION

SKIADAS HANDY GUIDES
​AND CHEAT SHEETS

Handy Dandy Editing Checklist

MLA In-text Citations Cheat Sheet
​

​MLA Works Cited Cheat Sheet Long Version

MLA Works Cited Cheat Sheet Grid (My version adapted from official MLA version)
​

Visual Organizer with Triangle for Argument​ (not really mine but I think it works well here)

USEFUL HANDOUTS AND GUIDELINES

HOW TO READ ACADEMIC JOURNALS
1. How to Read and Take Notes on an Academic Journal - Begin here
2a. How to Take Notes on an Academic Journal - Explanation from Pasadena City College
2b. How to Annotate an Academic Journal - How to make comments - from Pasadena City College
3. How to Annotate PDFs - Use either your PDF annotation capacity or KAMI (see my Cool Tech Tools page)
4. "50 Years Ago, Sugar Industry Quietly Paid Scientists to Point Blame at Fat" - NPR


THESIS STATEMENTS
Thesis Practice - This practice template takes you through a couple of steps to create a solid thesis statement.
Thesis Statements - Writer's Web

Universal, Abstract Ideas - the "so what" of writing

HOW TO TAKE RESEARCH NOTES
How to Make Notecards Video - Youtube mrbuttenglish 6:09​
How to Take Note Cards Skiadas Version - Need to take notes in some format for larger papers

NOTE: Those who prefer to hand write, use note cards. Those who would prefer electronically, use 
               Google Slides


QUOTING, PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING
10 Types of Plagiarism - WriteCheckVideos -YouTube 3:58
Paraphrasing vs. Quoting - The Writing Center - You need to avoid quoting (10-12% of paper, maybe one embedded
           quote per page). They need to be special, not meh.
Paraphrasing - Write It in Your Own Words - OWL
Effective Paraphrasing - Example
Poor Paraphrasing - Example


ATTRIBUTIVE TAGS/SIGNAL PHRASES
MLA In-Text Citations Cheat Sheet - Skiadas's Cheat Sheet (also listed above in Skiadas Guides)
Attributive Tags - Good Explanation!

INTRODUCTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Introductions and Conclusions - Excellent Source - University of Toronto (PDF version available for those who prefer paper. )
Introduction Strategies - Considering background and hooks

Conclusion Strategies - Considering the SO WHAT of the argument

THREE C'S FOR ARGUMENT - CONCRETE EVIDENCE, COMMENTARY, CONNECT TO THESIS
​
Three Cs for Argument with example will be provided in GC

SYNTHESIS

Synthesis Paragraph Template - This template may prove helpful for your synthesized paragraph/s
​How to Synthesize Guide - with example​
Strategies for Synthesis - Cool Video - Mary Lourdes Silva (video also on 102 Synthesis Page)
​

VERBS
Verbs List - for SIGNAL PHRASES / ATTRIBUTIVE TAGS
Objective Verbs List - Useful for Summary, Annotated Bibliography, Extended Research Paper

Mega Verbs List - Long list of verbs but all not objective - 
​101 Power Verbs - (From Mrs. Groff, New Milford HS)

​
TRANSITIONS
Transitions - MSU

PUNCTUATION IN RESEARCH
Working with Quotations - SUNY Empire State College

ACADIA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH TUTORIALS - Click on all answer choices - About 10 minutes e​ach
Searching with Success (How to Maneuver Search Engines)
Research It Right (The Process of Gathering Info)
Credible Sources Count (How to Evaluated Websites)
You Quote It, You Note It (How to Avoid Plagiarism)


CITATION STYLES FOR DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES: MLA, APA, CHICAGO, etc.

Don't Know What Citation Style to Use? - American University 
Choosing a Style - The College at Brockport

Other Handy Writing Guides

LEO - Literacy Online - Links to answer just about any question you might have for writing or GUM
College Writing Guide - University of Chicago - More Links to help with writing
The Writing Center UNC - Videos and Handouts - UNC Chapel Hill 

 ​​REVISION AND EDITING

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31 Words and Phrases You No Longer Need - Grammarly Blog
Replace the Word VERY with One of These 128 Modifiers - Mental Floss
Redundant Phrase Replacement - How to 
​Wordy Phrase Replacement - How to


SAS Curriculum Pathways - Use this link if the Writing Reviser doesn't work in Google Docs. Cut and paste your paper into it and toggle back and forth
​

Sarah Palin's Resignation from Governorship - The Edited Version by Vanity Fair - HaHaHaHa!

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The Forest of Rhetoric - Terms
Rhetoric Major Categories "Trees"
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Another Detailed Rhetorical Triangle

And another Detailed Rhetorical Triangle

Ethos, Logos, Pathos

OWL Videos on Rhetoric

    Intro to Rhetoric                         Ethos                                      Logos                                     Pathos

Hahahahahaha!

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APA INFO

Check out these "APA in Minutes" and other videos on this Humber Libraries YouTube page

​Also check these APA PDF Guides

APA Style Guides - Trinity College Library Research Guides

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