Research basics

Group 1

Hanquan Cai

Timothy J. Coughlin

Berekti Girmay

Puspak Sapkota

The whole dynamics of ‘Research Writing’ begins with the first and the most important thing, ‘The research’.  Some of the areas that would be beneficial while writing a research paper or during the research process are listed below.

1.      Starting the research

2.      Finding resources

3.      Evaluating information

4.      Using the information found

v  Citation Styles

Ø  APA

§  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)

§  used for psychology, education, nursing, and other social sciences

§  Formatting styles

·         Online Article

Author1, A. A., Author2, B. B., & Author3, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx

·         Book

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. City, Country: Publishing Agency.

Ø  MLA

§  Publication manual for Modern Language Association

§  Used in the field of  literature, arts, and humanities

§  Formatting Styles

·         Online article

Lastname, Firstname. "Article Title." Journal Title volume number. issuenumber (year): pages. Database Name. Web. date accessed.

·         Book

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City: Publishing Agency, year. Print.

Ø  Chicago, Turabian and Sciences

§  Used when required by professors, also for technical writings

§  Formating style

·         Online article

Lastname, Firstname. “Title of article.” Journal title (year): page numbers. Access date. Database name

·         Book

Lastname, Firstname, "Article Title" (City: Publishing Agency, year), pages

§  More details can be found at

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

Ø  ASA

§  Publication manual for American Sociological Association

§  used for sociology and related disciplines

§  Formatting Styles

·         Online article

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year.  Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized. Publishing City: Publisher.

·         Book

Same as above, but add the online address or the DOI

Ø  Citing Government publications

§  Any of the citation styles cane be used but the formatting guidelines should be followed.

§  Example

United States. Cong. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United States, September 5,
1774-March 4, 1881. Comp. Benjamin Perley Poore. 48^th Cong., 2^nd sess. Misc. Doc. 67, Washington: GPO, 1885. Print. 

v  Using Online Bibliographic tools

Ø  Easybib, Zotero, Son of Citation Machine

Ø  RefWorks

§  Create Account

§  Search for Articles

§  View records and add to folder

§  Prepare to export your folder

§  Export your folder to RefWorks

§  Login to RefWorks

§  Create a new RefWorks folder

§  Move your Citation to a new folder

§  Create and save your Bibliography

More information can be found at rts.stcloudstate.edu/library/research/RefWorkshhelp.asp

Works cited

§  "APA | References." Western Oregon University. 20 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.wou.edu/provost/library/clip/citations/apa/basic_apa.php>.

§  "MLA | References." Western Oregon University. 20 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.wou.edu/provost/library/clip/citations/mla/basic_mla.php>.

§  "Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide." The Chicago Manual of Style Online. 15 Apr. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html>.

§  "Research Basics." 20 July 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. http://research.stcloudstate.edu/page.phtml?page_id=366#toc10276.