TEXT-BASED RESEARCH

Using Published Sources

Text-based Research

All good research projects will begin by looking at what other scholars have already researched.

You “situate” your research by finding sources that are related to your research question.

Finding the right fit

Finding the right fit of interpretative research and evidence to argument is easier the more experience you have with a given audience, purpose and rhetorical situation. This experience can come from both reading and writing.

A system of thinking about the types of evidence is as follows:

Rational Appeals

Anecdote Analogy Consequences Contrasts Categories Comparisons Examples Quotes

Hard Evidence Facts Statistics Surveys/Polls Testimonies

NarrativesInterviews

Experiments

Textual Evidence

Consider different genres of writing and the evidence that each uses Essay in history Newspaper article Television newscast Essay in English Proposal in Business Scientific Experiment Letter to the Editor Blog Essay in political science

EVALUATING EVIDENCE

Different rhetorical situations and genres call for different types of evidence. Generally speaking…

Academic writing privileges hard and textual evidence

News sources privilege interviews and expert opinion

However…

Remember that there are different types of academic writing. Humanities writing privileges textual

evidence and rational appeal Science writing privileges primary sources

and hard evidence Business writing privileges hard evidence

and rational appeal

But it’s not that simple…

It’s not as easy as just sticking in evidence. Sometimes evidence needs to be corroborated or supported by other types of evidence. Interviews and testimonies are far more valuable if

there is corroborating evidence. Hard evidence such as surveys and polls require

tests for mathematical significance and error; they also require large and diverse samples.

Evidence also needs to be from a reliable and credible source, and there are mechanisms to suggest reliability and credibility

Reliability

Reliability means that the evidence is consistent. Reliability is often shown in scientific studies through a literature review that shows that similar research has asked similar questions and gained similar answers. The same can be said of testimonies and interviews – if corroborating interviews or testimonies are similar to the original evidence, we can say that evidence is reliable.

Credibility

Credibility means that the evidence has had some means confirming its authority. For example, we might rely on expert opinion in an interview about global warming from a scientist (in which we are looking for his or her credentials such as academic degrees, years experience on the topic, and past accomplishments), or an article published in an academic journal (which is peer-reviewed; other specialists on the topic review the article for its plausibility and accurateness)

Primary versus secondary sources

A Primary source is one in which the information that is being reported was actually tested and collected by the person reporting it. Academic journals, investigative reporting in newspapers, and organizations that conduct polls are primary source sources.

Primary source research is also that which you, the writer have conducted through observation, survey, or interview.

A Secondary source is one in which some primary source is reinterpreted for another audience or purpose. Magazines, television newscasts, and some reporting in newspapers is secondary source.

What’s the big deal?

If you use lots of secondary sources as evidence, it is not as credible or reliable since the secondary source has already “reinterpreted” the data for its argument (and thus, has left some information out).

So, no secondary sources ever? Not so fast. Secondary sources can be useful as corroborating evidence in some cases, and they can be useful for critique and analysis.

What types of evidence would you use for the following rhetorical situations?

Persuading the Denver Post that the World of Warcraft writing course at DU was worthwhile.

A proposal written to the state legislature that would ban World of Warcraft for those under 18 years of age.

A study submitted to the American Journal of Psychology about World of Warcraft player sleep behaviors.

An article about the World of Warcraft course for DU’s Clarion

To tell when a source is a reliable, credible and primary, ask these questions: What does it look like? Where did you find it? What is its purpose? Who are its authors? Who published it? Was it documented? Was it reviewed?

Academic Journals

Academic journals are often published by academic publishers (Routledge, Taylor and Francis, SAGE) or by organizations that are usually associated with universities. The articles take up almost the entire amount of the journals, with occasional advertisements for textbooks and academic conferences. The authors are almost always associated with a university as a professor, teacher or administrator. Articles will always be documented.

FINDING EVIDENCE

Online Databases

Online databases offer electronic versions of print sources. The general databases will allow you to access magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. Sometimes, the databases offer books as well.

Online databases should be your primary stop while doing research once you have a topic. They offer you the reliability and credibility of sources that the Internet can’t offer.

To get to the databases from the library

At the Find Articles section, select Databases A-Z

The major DBs Penrose library subscribes to many online

databases. The ones that you should be most familiar depend on your major, but the most general is: Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost)

There are three more that you may need to rely on at DU, and they are: SAGE (Games and Culture) ScienceDirect Jstor CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) (search

Technology)

Some More Library Advice

Not all the articles in a given journal will be in electronic format. Academic Search Premier may offer only the option“FIND THIS ITEM IN PENROSE LIBRARY”

By selecting the link, it will show you whether Penrose has the item or not,

and where you can find it

Research Hints and Tips(The following slides mirror part of a handout that is on BB)

The following slides are designed to walk you through some hints and tips for finding sources.

These research strategies apply not only to this assignment but to future assignments as well (and assignments you have in other classes).

Searching using the filters, Peer-Reviewed, Full Text, and Referenced should start you in the right direction

Browse

Sometimes when you don’t know what to write about, it’s good to start browsing the web to see what is going on. You might start by typing in some preliminary topics in the news search of Google or Yahoo.

If you are in need of primary source research, you can also browse academic journals.

Ask

Ask a Librarian – Most librarians will be very helpful in finding information for your topics. The Penrose library has a Reference Librarian whose job it is to sit at a desk in the middle and help students. Finding obscure sources is their job—they are the pros. But note, they are there to help you not do it for you.

Ask a Professor – Most professors, especially those who are in the field of your topic, will help you not only find an issue but suggest some sources as well. Depending on how well the professor knows you, he or she may also let you borrow articles or books on the topic.

Follow text trails (references/works cited in journal articles, bibliographies, news stories)

If you find a good source, you should be able to find many more relevant sources.

Academic journal articles will usually triangulate and synthesize past research on an issue. Use the Reference/Works Cited page as a way to get more sources.

Newspaper articles, although secondary, often dumb-down primary source articles for a mass audience. If a news story interests you, follow the trail to the primary source.

Search the Internet for bibliographies on your topic

Follow authors

Most authors are experts on their topics, so they have written multiple articles on that topic.

You might even Google the author to see if he/she has a webpage that has their résumé or CV (the academic version of a résumé)

The most important advice

Find the best sources rather than the easy

sources.

INTEGRATING EVIDENCE

Guidelines of using outside sources for evidence

Always assume your reader has not read the articles you use for support. Even if you are responding to an article from a class, writing a letter to the editor in a newspaper, or writing a journal article, recognize that your audience needs to know where the source came from, what it is about, and how you are reading it.

Corroborate evidence that is important to your argument with other sources

Integrate the source with your own argument as evidence for your claims

Give attribution

Assume your reader hasn’t read the sources you are using When writing in MLA, you should follow these

guidelines:

The first time you use a source important to your argument, provide a relevant background about the source. This background might one or more of the following: Credentials – the journal or original source something appears in. Objective – the “main point” of the article. Context – the particular detail you are taking away from the article.

Thus: According to Nick Yee in a study published on his Daedalus

Project website, MMORPG players use such games as a way to positively cope with external stressors. However, he also found the opposite was true, writing, “Using the game environment as a coping mechanism can lead to ignoring the source problems and causing them to worsen over time” (Yee).

Assume your reader hasn’t read the sources you are using When writing in APA, you should follow these

guidelines:

Science writing often just cites the name and paraphrases the argument; it very rarely uses quotations or cites the journal it comes from. You would only quote if interrogating the language and not the idea or data expressed.

Thus: Studies have shown both the positive and

negative effects of using games such as World of Warcraft as way to cope with stress (Yee, 2008).

Corroborate/Synthesize your evidence

Corroboration or Synthesis provides reliability to your argument and evidence. It also opens up a place for you to enter a much larger conversation. Add like evidence with like evidence Continue a conversation Use external evidence in rational appeals

Thus, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a college education’s effect on lifetime earnings is significantly positive. In addition, other studies have also shown that “even after college loans are paid, and entry-level jobs are accounted for, a college education still is a good return on investment (Smith 43). Although this may be the case, other studies have shown that a college education is not necessarily correlated with success (Jones and Smith 186). The question raised, then, is how have we come to measure success?”

Integrate Sources

Sources should be a part of your argument, not just an object you cut and paste in. Refer to QA Compact 32h (pg. 376).

The following is not a good integration: College students enjoy working for free. “For

them and their classmates the imagined benefits of an internship are so great that real benefits you know, wages—have been bid out of existence” (3).

Integrating Sources

Refer to QA Compact 32h while you are writing Remember Credentials, Objective, and/or Context the FIRST time you list a

source Always use a signal phrasesignal phrase and provide an author or source as agent. Use keywordskeywords from the quote to make it flow better in your text.

Many eager college students who want to become the next, say, Brian Grazer become interns. Unfortunately, with such a great supply and such a low demand for people who will deliver mail and make copies at Comedy Central for what they imagine is a foot-in-the-door, the eventual effect is one that hurts the labor market in those industries. In “Internment Camp,” Jim Frederick states, “For them and their classmates the imagined benefits of an internship are so great that real benefits you know, wages—have been bid out of existence” (3).

Attribute your sources

The point of in-text parenthetical citation is so that your reader can find your sources on your Works Cited/References page, and can find the exact location where you are citing from.

MLA Citations

If you have an author in your sentence, then just put the pg# in parentheses after the quote and before the period Simpson states, “I will survive” (4).

If the author is not stated, or it might be carried over from another sentence, then last name and pg # in parentheses after the quote and before the period He also states, “But first I need a beer” (Simpson 4).

If it is a paraphrase, you still cite the page # and author, but make sure it is placed before “your” idea in a sentence. Simpson believes that alcohol is required to survive (4). Simpson’s belief that beer is a precursor to survival (4) is an

important lesson for college students. If you are citing a source within another source, you need to list

the source that you have on your Works Cited page with the original source as “ctd. in” Simpson refuses to believe that excessive alcohol consumption

“causes dementia in the elderly” (Davenport ctd. in Simpson 7).

APA Citations If you have an author in your sentence, then follow it with the year,

then just put a p. and the pg# in parentheses after the quote and before the period Simpson (2008) states, “I will survive” (p. 4).

If the author is not stated, or it might be carried over from another sentence, then last name, year, and pg # in parentheses after the quote and before the period He also states, “But first I need a beer” (Simpson, 2008, p. 4).

If it is a paraphrase, you still cite the year, page # and author, but make sure it is placed before “your” idea in a sentence. Simpson (2008) believes that alcohol is required to survive (4). Simpson’s (2008) belief that beer is a precursor to survival (4) is an

important lesson for college students. If you are citing a source within another source, you need to list the

source that you have on your Works Cited page with the original source as “ctd. in” Simpson refuses to believe that excessive alcohol consumption “causes

dementia in the elderly” (Davenport, 2008, ctd. in Simpson, p. 7).

Long quotations

Quotes of more than four typed lines are placed in block style. Block quotes should always be proceeded by a complete introduction of the quote. Block quotes are double spaced, just like the surrounding text (it’s not doubled spaced on this slide to save space).

Simpson’s guide to survival includes many helpful tips. Among the most startling is his description of consuming alcohol at work:

I drink when I get up. I drink on my way. I drink in the parking lot. I drink when I poor my coffee. I drink when on break. I drink before I talk to my boss. I drink

after I talk to my boss. I drink on my way home. (5-6)

All Citations

Web pages often have authors, you just have to hunt for them. If you can’t find an author, refer to the webpage and/or sponsor as the author. You do not need a page number of a webpage. You would use an in-text parenthetical only if it is not clear from your signal where the material is coming from, or the agent of the quote is not the author of the article

Never use a URL as an in-text citation: According to Coca-Cola’s website, they would “like to teach

the world to sing.” Bill Gates believes Windows Vista will “change your state of

mind” (“Windows Vista Arrives”) Frederick’s scathing exposé of intern abuse was followed by

a similar article in This magazine by Arthur Johnson (Bigge).

All Citations

Online journals/databases and the like offer representations of print materials, and you would use the typeset page numbers in those cases.