Media Center

How do I choose a good research source?

Whether you are doing research for a project, an essay, or any other assignment, you want to choose sources that are credible (believable). Here are some guidelines to make sure your research sources are high quality.

1. What? Why?

• Consider the organization or institution that created the site. What is the purpose of the article or web page?
• Start with the last three letters of the main website:
  • .com = commercial organization (proceed with caution)
  • .edu = educational organization
  • .gov = government
  • .mil = military
  • .net = network
  • .org = organization, association, club, or other non­profit institution
• Internet addresses including a tilde (~) indicate personal sites. Avoid these!

2. Who?

• The most reliable sources list the author and their credentials (qualifications).
• Does the author seem to be very opinionated or biased on a topic? If so, proceed with caution!
• Is there evidence that the author is an expert on the subject? Consider doing a search on their name to find out more. You want an expert source!
• If you can’t find an author listed on the site, you may want to find a different source.

3. How?

• The best sites use solid research and sources to back up their ideas.
• What evidence does the author use to support his or her point?
• Does the website list citations or references? Do the links to these sites work?

4. When?

• The page should be current and updated regularly, and the links on it should be up­-to-­date.
• Check to see when the site was produced and updated. If no date is given on the page, visit the homepage to look for the date.

Web & Video Resources

Try using the “Research Ready” function on Easybib.com to help you evaluate the credibility of a website.

Parenthetical Notations (In­-text citations)

So you’ve found some good sources, and now you need to include information from these into your writing. When you include research in your project, make sure you do it correctly.

1. When your teacher tells you to “add quotes,” that means you need to paste the exact words from a research source into your project. Put the exact words from your source in quotation marks “like this.”

• You DON’T need to find dialogue or words that are already in quotation marks. Find information that helps your project, add it in, then YOU put quotation marks around it.
• The information you copy and paste should be 1­2 lines long. This is not a “more is better” situation!

Example:
Original text from a database = Pieces of retreating glacier broke off and caused depressions that became the more than 15,000 lakes in Wisconsin.
Your sentence using a quote = While Minnesota claims to be the land of lakes, there are “more than 15,000 lakes in Wisconsin” (Vennie 11).

2. Add the author’s name and page number in parentheses after the quote (Vennie 11). If there is no page number, just use the author’s last name (Vennie). If there is no author listed, use the title of the article (“Lakes and Wetlands Section”).

Example:
When completing a research project for any class, make sure you “put the exact words from your source in quotation marks” (Poncelet 1).

3. You can paraphrase ideas from your research sources instead of quoting the exact words. Make sure you change most of the wording, not just a few things

Example:
Original quote: “Chameleons can move each of their eyes separately.”
Not really a paraphrase: Chameleons can rotate each of their eyes independently.
Now it’s a paraphrase!: One of the oddest traits of a chameleon is its ability to move each eye on its own.

Example Parenthetical Notations (In­-text citations)

Border Battle: Who Has More Lakes?

          Many Wisconsinites say that while Minnesota is “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Wisconsin actually has more. This statement is both true and false. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota has “11,842 that are 10 acres or more” ("Lakes, Rivers, and Wetlands Facts"). The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources states that Wisconsin contains “more than 15,000 lakes” (“Wisconsin”). It seems that Wisconsin is the king of lakes by this measure. However, the two states have different definitions of what makes a body of water a lake. While Minnesota considers a lake to be a named body of water at least 10 acres big, of the “15,074 documented lakes in Wisconsin, only about 40 percent have actually been named. The majority of the unnamed lakes are very small, less than 10 acres” (Vennie 11). In fact, “if Minnesota counted all lakes down to four acres without names, it is likely there would be over 20,000” (Lapp and Lapp). Consistent standards make a big difference. In this border battle, Minnesota is the winner.

Works Cited

"Lakes, Rivers, and Wetlands Facts." Lakes, Rivers & Wetlands: Minnesota Facts & Figures: Minnesota DNR. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 2013. Web. 13 June 2014. Lapp, Justin, and Kristina Lapp.

"Lakes of Minnesota and Wisconsin."Actuality. N.p., 25 Aug. 2010. Web. 13 June 2014. Vennie, James. "Lakes And Wetland Section." Wisconsin Lakes (2009): 10­15. Bureau of Fisheries and Habitat Management, 2009. Web. 13 June 2014.

"Wisconsin." CultureGrams States Edition. ProQuest, 2014. Web. 13 Jun 2014.

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Works Cited or Bibliography page

As you are doing research, you need to create a works cited page. This is where you list all of the resources you are using in your project. If you use someone else’s words or ideas, show it by including where you found the information.

• List these entries at the end of your project on a works cited page in alphabetical order.
• All your sources should be listed here: books, websites, databases, images, etc.
• Leave the first line of each entry at the edge of the page, but indent all the other lines (hanging indent).

Formatting Sources on EasyBib.com

1. Citing a website

• Go to EasyBib.com from the Media Center/Research Tools page and follow their instructions, or look below for help.
• Enter the url (web address) where is says “Cite source.” Hit “Continue” on the bottom of the next page.
• On the following page, enter as much info as you can (red boxes). Leave boxes blank if you can’t find the information.
• Hit “Create Citation” and copy the information under “Hooray! Here’s your new citation” onto your works cited page.

2. Citing a database

• Find the citation listed with the article in the database. Search for clue words such as “Cite” or “Citation” usually located at the end of the article.
• If you can’t find the citation provided, you can cut and paste the url into EasyBib.com. Make sure you click the “database” tab as you enter it.

3. Citing digital images

• Go to EasyBib.com from the Media Center/Research Tools page.
• Use the tab ”All 59 Options.”
• Select “Digital Images.” Create the citation by filling in as much information as you can find from the source website.

No matter what type of source you’re citing, all of your citations will be listed together on the works cited page.

Example Works Cited Page

"Lakes, Rivers, and Wetlands Facts." Lakes, Rivers & Wetlands: Minnesota Facts & Figures: Minnesota DNR. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 2013. Web. 13 June 2014.

Lapp, Justin, and Kristina Lapp. "Lakes of Minnesota and Wisconsin."Actuality. N.p., 25 Aug. 2010. Web. 13 June 2014.

Ogland, James W. Picturing Lake Minnetonka: A Postcard History. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society, 2001. Print.

Vennie, James. "Lakes And Wetland Section." Wisconsin Lakes (2009): 10­15. Bureau of Fisheries and Habitat Management, 2009. Web. 13 June 2014.

"Wisconsin." CultureGrams States Edition. ProQuest, 2014. Web. 13 Jun 2014.

 

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Example Works Cited (Bibliography)

7th grade research projects should include:

• 1 source ­­ encyclopedia, database, or credible website

• Quotation marks and parenthetical notations (in­-text citations)
• MLA citations (works cited)

8th grade research projects should include:

• 2 sources including 1 encyclopedia or database + 1 credible website

• Quotation marks and parenthetical notations (in-­text citations)
• MLA citations (works cited)

9th grade research projects should include:

• 3 sources including 1 encyclopedia or database + 1 credible website

• Quotation marks and parenthetical notations (in­-text citations)
• MLA citations works cited page
• Sustained research project should happen at least once during the year

All grade levels: Images must be cited in digital or print presentations.