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Introduction to Research

Completely new to research? Start here.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction

  2. 1-Research Questions

    1. The Purpose of Research Questions

    2. Narrowing a Topic

    3. Background Reading

    4. Regular vs. Research Questions

    5. Influence of a Research Question

    6. Developing Your Research Question

  3. 2-Types of Sources

    1. Categorizing Sources

    2. Quantitative or Qualitative

    3. Fact or Opinion

    4. Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Sources

    5. Popular, Professional, & Scholarly

    6. Publication Formats and the Information Lifecycle

    7. Scholarly Articles as Sources

    8. News as a Source

    9. Data as Sources

    10. People as Sources

  4. 3-Sources and Information Needs

    1. Sources and Information Needs

    2. Sources to Meet Needs

    3. Planning Your Sources

  5. 4-Precision Searching

    1. Why Precision Searching?

    2. Main Concepts

    3. Related and Alternative Terms

    4. Search Statements

  6. 5-Search Tools

    1. Library Catalog

    2. WorldCat@OSU

    3. Google Scholar

    4. Specialized Databases

    5. Web Search Engines

    6. Tips for Common Search Tools

  7. 6-Evaluating Sources

    1. Thinking Critically About Sources

    2. Evaluating for Relevancy

    3. Evaluating for Credibility

    4. A Source's Neighborhood

    5. Author and Publisher

    6. Degree of Bias

    7. Recognition from Others

    8. Thoroughness

    9. Combining the Factors

  8. 7-Ethical Use of Sources

    1. Ethical Use and Citing Sources

    2. Why Cite Sources?

    3. Challenges in Citing Sources

  9. 8-How to Cite Sources

    1. Citation and Citation Styles

    2. Steps for Citing

    3. Citation Software

    4. When to Cite

  10. 9-Making an Argument

    1. The Purpose of Academic Argument

    2. Components of an Argument

    3. Order of the Components

    4. Where You Get the Components

  11. 10-Writing Tips

    1. When to Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize

    2. Helping Others Follow

    3. Synthesis of Your Own Ideas

  12. 11-Copyright Basics

    1. What Is Copyright?

    2. What Copyright Covers

    3. Rights Granted by Copyright

    4. Respecting Copyright

    5. Exceptions to Copyright

    6. Creative Commons - An Alternative

    7. Public Domain and Term of Copyright

  13. 12-Fair Use

    1. What Is Fair Use?

    2. The Four Factors

    3. Evaluating Your Case for Fair Use

    4. Common Examples of Fair Use

  14. 13-Roles of Research Sources

    1. Thinking About Roles of Sources

    2. BEAM: A Solution That Might Shine

    3. Using BEAM: An Example

    4. Practice with BEAM

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