How to Write Source Cardsfor Research Papers

The Research Paper

Essentials of a Good Paragraph

• Thesis statement– One or two sentences in the end of the

introductory paragraph that clarify the main ideas and lays out focus of the entire essay• Example:

– While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moralreasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.

Essentials of a Good Paragraph• Main idea

– The first sentence in each paragraph; they serve to control each paragraph.

• Details– The other sentences in

the paragraph are called details.

– Describe or explain the main idea.

Essentials of Research Papers

• Plagiarism– Using or imitating the language and

thoughts of another author. • Copying and pasting from the internet• Any phrase that contains three words or

more from any source

Essentials of Research Papers• Quotations

– must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.

• Paraphrasing– putting a passage from source material into your own

words. – A paraphrase must give credit to the original source. – usually shorter than the original passage

• Summarizing– putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including

only the main point(s). – Necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original

source.

Sources and Resources• The Sources include the

following:– Internet, Database, Textbook, Book ,

Magazine– Research papers must have a

minimum of three different sources which will appear as WORKS CITED entries.

• The Source card– contains a source you plan to use

to strengthen the statements in your paragraph.

Sources and Resources

• The Resource card – Contains the information (summary,

paraphrase, or quote from the source you are using.)

Types of sources• Database

– A collection of organized online sources that include information from books, magazines, newspaper articles.

• Types of databases: FirstSearch, Information Please• Online source

– Includes information from web sites– Must have a date, an author, and a title in order to be legitimate– Avoid .com online sources

• MLA Style– A set of national guidelines that explain formatting for research– Papers.

• Most colleges ask students to use this style for papers. • Works Cited

– A listing of the sources used in the research paper

Decoding Internet Sources

• .com = commerce, business • .edu = educational institution• .org = organization• .gov = government• .html= hyper text markup

language

WIKIPEDIA SOURCE

CITE THIS PAGE

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Macbeth&oldid=176726711

Sample Internet Source CardSource #1

Linder, Douglass. "The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary” 8 Oct. 1997. 10 November 2008 <http://www. bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/503r.html>.

1. Author(s) 2. Title of web site 3. Date last updated or created 4. Date of access5. <web site address>.

Sample Internet Source CardResource #1

“Talk of witchcraft increased when other playmates of Betty, including eleven-year-old Ann Putnam, seventeen-year-old Mercy Lewis, and Mary Walcott, began to exhibit similar unusual behavior. When his own nostrums failed to effect a cure, William Griggs, a doctor called to examine the girls, suggested that the girls' problems might have a supernatural origin. The widespread belief that witches targeted children made the doctor's diagnosis seem increasing likely.”

Main idea(s): Children affected

Sample Textbook Source CardTextbook

Title of TextbookEdition (if applicable).Editor(s) name(s) listed Ed., then first name, then last. City Published (include state if city is unfamiliar): Publisher. Copyright date (most recent). Pages of selection

The Language of Literature.Evanston: McDougal Littell. 2006.Pages 323-416

Sample Book Source Card

Frye, Northrop. Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967.

Book

Author’s Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. Title of Book. City of Publication:Publisher, Year of Publication.

Sample Periodical Source Card

Article Author’s Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Journal Title. Issue Number and or Volume (Publication Year): Pages of Article.

Periodical

Kimbrough, Robert. "Macbeth: Prisoner of Gender," Shakespeare Studies. Vol.16 (1983), pp.175-190.