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HDEV 240: Winning at Math

Library Resources for Research Papers
 

  

Introduction

The following information, exercises, suggested resources, and links are designed to help you begin finding information needed to write a research paper.  This library instruction was prepared for students enrolled in HDEV 240: Winning at Math, College of the Sequoias, Fall 2007.

 

Find a Topic AND a Specific Question

Choosing a research topic means not only finding a general area of interest, such as education or politics, but also requires asking a specific question which you will go about answering.  Having trouble finding a topic of interest?  Use the Idea Generator.

 

Find Background Information

Gale Virtual Reference Library

Background or general information often comes from Reference Books and usually refers to your Topic rather than your Specific Question.  A reference book is a comprehensive summary of a topic or topics.  Encyclopedias and dictionaries are excellent reference books.  The COS Library has an online reference collection called the Gale Virtual Reference Library you can use on campus or at home.

COS Book Catalog

COS has many other books that can provide general information on your topic.  Some are reference books, which cannot leave the library, and others are part of the circulating collection which you can take home with you.  Some are general, others are specific.  You'll need to decide which books will work best for your project.

 

Find Specific Information

Now that you have some background information, begin looking for specific information to help answer your question.  Databases are warehouses of information you can search easily to locate specific information.  Academic Search Elite and SIRS are good starting places.  You can find these and other databases here.

 

Write Your Paper

The COS Library does everything it can to be sure you have whatever materials you need to help you write your paper.  One thing the library can’t do for you is actually write your paper.  However, help exists.  For help writing your research paper, try:

  1. Your instructor
  2. Instruction manuals in our library
  3. Help on the web from places like The Writing Center and English Works!

 

Cite Your Sources

Your job is to create a new product, to address your Specific Question in a way no one else has before.  To do this, you will read and review lots of research on your topic that was written by someone else.  Because that work is not yours, you must properly cite their work. There are several ways to do this, and your instructor will tell you which format to use.  You can find instructions for citation styles at Long Island University and OWL at Purdue.

 

Prepared September 25, 2007 Kelly Myer Polacek, Librarian
College of the Sequoias, email: library@cos.edu