AW Lesson 2: Sources

Hi everyone, 

In today’s class, we learned about different types of sources and how to choose your sources for your research paper.   

Types of Sources:
First of all, we talked about the different sources that you can use in your research essay.  These can include reference books, periodicals (journals, newspapers, magazines), video/audio recordings, government publications, interviews, and many others. 

How to Choose Sources:
When you choose a source, there are six points you should consider: (a) authority; (b) audience; (c) currency; (d) purpose; and (e) quality/accuracy.

Recording Source Information:
When you find some useful sources for your research paper, you should write down the information about the source. In this way, you will have easy access to it when you make your works cited page and use in-text citation. When you record source information, you should include the following for print sources: (a) author / organization; (b) title; (c) edition; (d) publisher; (e) place of publication; (f) year of publication; and (g) page numbers.

For an electronic source, you need to record this information: (a) author / organization, (b) title of website; (c) title of article on a website; and (d) publication date. 

Library and Database Activities:
We also reviewed the guidelines for your Pair Library and Database Activity.   This is very important because it help you become familiar with the resources in the Aogaku library.

For the library activity, you will have to go to the Aogaku library to complete it.  You will also need to learn how to use the databases in the library (or from your own computer).  The activities are include at the end of the blog post, as well as instructions for using the Aogaku databases.  

Lesson Materials: 
I've uploaded today's slide presentation and handouts in the Academic Writing Lesson Materials section.

Homework:

1. Pair Library & Database Activity (due October 1 in class; 10% of your final grade)
2. Find seven sources for your research paper; use the "Research Paper Sources" worksheet.
3. Blog Comment #2

Blog Question #2:

Tell me about your experience completing the library and database activities (e.g. When did you do them?  Did you need help?  Were the activities difficult?  Were they useful activities? Do you think you can find sources for your research paper now?)

• Write 12-15 sentences.
• Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
• Submit by Wed., Sept. 30 by 6:00pm.