Explore for Ideas
  Find Background Information
  Identify Relevant Vocabulary
  Refine Your Topic
  What Additional Information is needed?
  Evaluate Your Sources
  Plagiarism
  Cite your Sources (Style Manuals)

 

 Explore for Ideas
Resources for identifying a topic:

 • Recommended Reference Sources:
-10,000 Ideas for Term Papers, Projects, Reports and Speeches
This reference tool covers 10,000 ideas in over 130 different subject areas. It is available in the Library in the Reference Collection at: R808.0219 L213 1998
-Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online includes the complete encyclopedia. An older edition in print is available in the library.

 • Current Periodicals (Magazines, newspapers, journals and online news sources such as Cyprus Weekly, Phileleftheros, etc.)
 • Your own interests or hobbies


Find Background Information
The most common sources for gathering background information are reference materials such as encyclopaedias, almanacs, handbooks, etc. You can  locate these tools by using our online catalog, InterCAT, or by asking the reference librarian to suggest a title or to look at several sources online. (Searching through textbooks too can give you background information. As you go through the material, put down variations of vocabulary used when the topic is described. These will help you search for more information).


Identify Variations of Vocabulary
What are the descriptors or keywords that describe your topic?

Example: I’m studying how television affects children’s development.

Keywords or Descriptors:

Refine Your Topic
Explain what you are writing about (Topic)
e.g “I’m studying how television affects children’s development”.

Explain what you do not know about the topic .
e.g “I’m studying how television affects children’s development because I want to find out how it influences teenagers”.

Explain what you want to know about the topic. (State the rationale for the question and what you intend to get out of its answer.)
e.g “I’m studying how television affects children’s development because I want to find out how it influences violence in teenagers.”

What Additional Information is needed?
Begin SELECTING VARIOUS RESOURCES.
It is important to choose the right resources for your topic. Ask your professor and/or a librarian to guide you in locating suitable materials for your research. Some of the resources you can check are:

1.Books
2.Popular Magazines and Newspapers
3.Reference Sources
4.Scholarly Journals
5.Web Sources

1. Books – Use the InterCAT Catalog to find books on your topic. Books provide historical background, definitions and an overview. In books you can find various points of view, especially if there are more than one authors. To learn more, go to "Orientation Classes and Tours" and read on "How to find a book" and "Get acquainted with the parts of our library".

2. Popular Magazines and Newspapers – These sources provide current information. Publications such as "Newsweek", "Psychology Today", "Cyprus Weekly" and a variety of others are considered popular magazines and newspapers. Most of these publications appear frequently, many published weekly, and the vocabulary in these sources is simple. 

Characteristics of Popular Magazines
• Authors are journalists or freelance writers
• Short articles
• Articles do not contain a bibliography or references
• Readers are general public
• Publications are mostly weekly
• A big number of color advertisements and illustrations
• Articles are for entertainment or informative
• No peer review process
• Very simple vocabulary


3. Reference Sources – Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc. are useful tools for finding background information, quick facts, statistics, terms, definitions, a map or broad overview of your topic. Check out the bibliographies which can be found at the ends of books and journal articles. A bibliography can also be an entire book.

Some examples of reference sources are:
Statistical Abstract of the World (R310 S797 1997)
International Encyclopedia of Elections (R324.603 I61 2000)

4. Scholarly Journals - These sources are often referred to as “peer reviewed” or “refereed”. This refers to having experts in the field examine journal articles before accepting them for publication. Most articles focus on research reports, methodology and theory. These are published 2 – 4 times per year, and the authors are authorities in their fields.

Characteristics of Scholarly Journals:
• Authors are specialists in their field
• Lengthy articles of pages up to 50 or more
• Authors cite their sources in references or bibliographies
• Readers are specialists in the field
• Publications appear only 2 or 4 times a year
• Most have no or very little advertising

Examples include: Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Harvard Law Review

5. Web Sources – A web page can be used for any subject, but it varies in quality and reliability. Remember – anyone can create a Web page and there’s no rule that says the information is accurate. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate the information sources found on the Web.

Here are a few points to remember when using Web sources:

• Currency – When was it produced? When was it updated? How up-to-date are the links?
• Authority – Who wrote the page and can you contact him/her? What is the purpose?
• Accuracy – Is the information presented cited or footnoted correctly?
• Objectivity – What opinions are expressed by the author? Why was this written and for whom.


 Evaluate Your Sources
Evaluate the authority and quality of the books, articles and Web sites you locate. Ask yourself the following questions:

What is the source of the information?
Who is the author or publisher?
How recent is the material?

Plagiarism
Avoid plagiarism! When writing a paper you are to put something of yourself, your research, your ideas and beliefs in it.
You want your paper to be original, to be the result of your own evaluation of what you have researched and found out to be true for yourself. You look around and do a lot of researching before composing your work. You search books, journals, tables, charts, web sites in order to support your argument.
Searching and referencing your work will enable you or any other person who reads your paper to return to the same books, journals, websites or charts at a later date and read the material for themselves.
Using the material of other’s work, shows that you are cable of researching, reading and drawing your own conclusions. However, any work contained in your paper that is not your own must be referenced so that the person who marks it knows that you have used the ideas of someone else. It is academically unacceptable but also illegal to present the work of others as your own and the college reserves the right to penalize anyone who steals the work of someone else.

Plagiarism can be exhibited when you:
- Copy word for word, someone else’s work
- Use a phrase or sentence from someone else without giving the reference
- Download material from the internet and present it as your own work
- Pay someone else to do the work for you
- Copy the work or project of another student


Cite Your Sources
Proper citation of sources is an important part of research. Check the reference collection of our Library for style manuals, the on-line links below or our own guide to Citation Style Manual.   For more help ask the reference librarian.

For more information check the following sources:
APA Style Guide (5th Edition) (Publication of the American Psychological Association)
[R808.06615 P976 2001] (Located in the Reference Collection of our Library)

Chicago Manual of Style Guide
[R808.027 C532 2003] (Located in the Reference Collection of our Library)

MLA Style Guide – Modern Language Association
Select ‘MLA Style’ , then ‘Frequently Asked Questions’, to view some examples.
[R808.027 G437 1998] (Located in the Reference Collection of our Library)

Wikipedia: Citing Sources