Research @ Oxy

"Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." - Zora Neale Hurston

[wesearchatoxy]

Johnson Hall Atrium| April 17th| 4-6pm Link in bio. #oxy #cdlaresearchathon #peeradvisingopenhouse (at Johnson Hall Media Wall)

[wesearchatoxy]

Save the date for Bioblitz at Oxy this Saturday April 2nd! Follow @oxybiodiversity for more info! Sidenote:check out these bomb rhododendrons #oxybiodiversity #bioblitz2016 #rhododendrons #ecology #nela #eaglerock #oxy (at Occidental College)

[wesearchatoxy]

Have you ever wondered how to use JSTOR? If so, check out this screencast by Peer Research Adviser Abe!

[wesearchatoxy]

Here is a LibX Infographic Guide! If you have more questions, ask [email protected]! 

Check out the website: http://libx.org 

[wesearchatoxy]

Website Evaluation

Remember to consider:

Accuracy: Who wrote the page? Why was this page written? Is the person qualiifed to write the document?

Authority: Are the author(s) credentials listed? What organization published this document? Is the information in the document cited correctly?

Objectivity: What goals does this website meet? What opinions are expressed by the author?

Currency: When was the website published?

[wesearchatoxy]

WATCH OUT FOR PLAGARISM

Plagiarism is when the ideas, organization, or language of another are incorporated into someone else's work without giving proper credit to the original source with a citation or other disclosure. It includes re-writing or re-formatting material without acknowledging the original source of the ideas. Any ideas or information that are not common knowledge must be acknowledged in a reference. Avoid Plagiarism! Make sure you cite when you do the following: - Quote directly from a source: you must enclose the quoted material, even if it is no more than a phrase or a single distinctive word, within quotation marks, and provide a reference. - Paraphrase, i.e., restate the material in your own words: (a) the paraphrasing must represent a substantial change from the original, not just the changing of occasional words and phrases, and (b) you must provide a reference. - Present material that is common knowledge, but borrow someone else’s organizational pattern: you must acknowledge that borrowing in a reference. Be careful! You can plagiarize yourself! If you are reusing your own work, but representing it as new work, that is plagiarizing yourself.

[wesearchatoxy]

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/lls/choose_citation_mgr.html

Check out this great table from #pennstate that tells you how to choose a citation manager!  Here at peer research we're #teamzotero. How about you?

[wesearchatoxy]

Wikipedia: Yay or Nay?

As a general rule your professor WON’T let you cite wikipedia in any paper or project. This is because it’s just a general encyclopedia and the editors/writers and their level of expertise are unknown, therefore you cannot be sure the content meets standards of academic rigor.

However, did you know that wikipedia is still a good place to go for a general overview of your topic?? Here are two pointers on how to use Wikipedia more effectively.

See if the article is rated! Look for a rating of B or above (aim for the A!) Click on the “talk” tab at the top of the page to read ratings, and the discussion around improvements for a page. 

Look for the sources that the article is citing. This can be a good place to go for preliminary research and may contain peer reviewed articles that you can use for your paper/project!

So, what do you think? Is wikipedia “so high school,” or do you find it helpful when doing college-level research?

[wesearchatoxy]

Overwhelmed with search results? Already know how to use AND, OR, and "" when searching? Want to be a research EXPERT? Use these tips when searching to get more precise and useful results!!

[wesearchatoxy]

Commonly used symbols and operators

AND narrows your list of results by requiring more than one keyword to appear in a document. If you are interested in education of women in Africa, you wouldn't only use "women" or "Africa". You would type women AND Africa, and for that matter, AND education. In many databases typing women Africa education would achieve the same effect; they assume the AND.

OR expands your results by looking for either of two or more terms, like women OR female. Synonyms are a common use of this operator.

NOT is used to clarify terms that you are not interested in. You would think not including them would be good enough, but say you are looking for information about Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. In some databases you might start getting a lot of results related to the film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, so you would use NOT film.

Quotation Marks are used to search for an exact phrase. For example, in looking for information on the Pacific Ocean, use quotation marks around "Pacific Ocean". Without quotation marks, Pacific and Ocean would be searched as individual terms, and you might end up with results about Billy Ocean or the Union Pacific Railroad.

Remember, each database or search engine uses operators in a slightly different way!

Want to know more? Go to: http://libguides.oxy.edu/reference

[wesearchatoxy]

Plagiarism and Referencing

Plagiarism is when the ideas, organization, or language of another are incorporated into someone else’s work without giving proper credit to the original source with a citation or other disclosure. It includes re-writing or re-formatting material without acknowledging the original source of the ideas. Any ideas or information that are not common knowledge must be acknowledged in a reference.

Avoid Plagiarism! Make sure you cite when you do the following:

Quote directly from a source: you must enclose the quoted material, even if it is no more than a phrase or a single distinctive word, within quotation marks, and provide a reference.

Paraphrase, i.e., restate the material in your own words: (a) the paraphrasing must represent a substantial change from the original, not just the changing of occasional words and phrases, and (b) you must provide a reference.

Present material that is common knowledge, but borrow someone else’s organizational pattern: you must acknowledge that borrowing in a reference.

Be careful! You can plagiarize yourself!

If you are reusing your own work, but representing it as new work, that is plagiarizing yourself. 

Still confused? Check out these websites for more information:

http://www.oxy.edu/center-academic-excellence/writing-center/citing-sources/citation-overview

http://www.oxy.edu/center-academic-excellence/writing-center/citing-sources/documenting-sources

[wesearchatoxy]

What is Zotero? Why is it so useful?

Zotero is a research tool that is connected to your web browser. It allows you to add anything you’re looking at to a personal library/database with just a click. This includes a journal article, news story, or even youtube video. Your personal library will be single, and searchable. You can also add PDFs, images, and audios. It will create your final bibliography. Great for: Comps! Long research assignments!

[wesearchatoxy]

What are databases?

Library research databases collect information from published works, and often contain full-text articles. Unlike web searches, databases can help narrow down your topic, and present articles from newspapers, scholarly journals, newspapers, encyclopedias, and more.

[wesearchatoxy]

How can I tell if this article is peer reviewed?

Qualities of Peer Reviewed Journals:

Written by experts in the field for other experts in the field

Reports findings of original research

Uses academic methods in collecting and analyzing data

Written with the vocabulary that is specific to the academic discipline

Use rigorous citation methods in the form of footnotes, works cited, references, and/or bibliographies

To find out if an article is scholarly, you need to first find out if it is published in a scholarly journal. Many databases allow you to limit your search to peer-reviewed journals!

Tips:

Generally, scholarly articles are 10 to 25 pages, have a list of references at the end, and note the institution affiliation of the author.

Just because your article is published in a scholarly journal doesn't mean your article is peer reviewed because scholarly journals contain the following items which are NOT scholarly: book reviews, editorials, letters to the editor, short news items

[wesearchatoxy]

Is it necessary to use scholarly or peer reviewed articles?

Not always!

But many professors will ask for your research to consist of primarily scholarly or peer reviewed sources.

A scholarly article is written by researchers who are experts in their field.

Researchers submit articles to the editors of the journals, who have them reviewed by several experts in the field before deciding whether to publish the article. This is referred to as a scholarly or peer reviewed article.

Top Tip: Make sure to check with your professor about any source requirements BEFORE you start the research process!