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ENG 111

A guide to library based research for students in English 111 courses at Central Carolina Community College.

ENG 111 Welcome!

Student writing at desk

Research Consultation: You can book a thirty minute (or longer) meeting with a librarian to map out your research process! This consultation can help you choose and refine a topic, search for background information, and devise a search strategy that you can use to find the resources you need to complete your assignment. You instructor may recommend a research consultation, but even if they don't it's always a good idea to help you get started.  Look here for available times!

Primary Library Resources

blue magnifying glass iconResearch Question: What are you trying to find out?  Your research question reflects the main idea of your paper or assignment.  It will guide every step of your research.  The research you conduct is your attempt to answer this question.

It starts with an idea...

blue magnifying glassChoose a topic that you're interested in

Research is more fun and more relevant to your life if you care about what you're learning.

green thought cloudKeep it relevant

Read the assignment and make sure the topic you choose meets your instructor's requirements.

orange question markFind the question

Where to find ideas...

  • Class discussions or readings.
  • Conversations with family and friends about current events or topics related to your assignment.
  • Find the most talked-about current events in the news by doing a Google News Search link will open in a new window
  • Read the table of contents for a journal related to your topic.  Look for subjects that come up often. 

Library resources to help you get started!

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Reference Source: A broad resource for basic facts and background.  They offer a good entry point to the basic information you will need to learn as you start to explore your topic.

Reference sources include: Biographies, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Atlases, and Handbooks.

Why should you search for background information?

yellow information iconBasic facts: The articles you read and cite in your paper will assume you already know the basic facts about your topic.  These are the people, dates, places, and laws related to it.  You need to know these facts before you read academic articles to ensure you know what the writers are talking about!

orange speech bubble iconVocabulary & Keywords: Academic writing may use words and terms for a topic that are different from those we use every day.  By researching the background of a topic, you'll learn which terms academic writers use to discuss your topic.

yellow narrowing iconNarrowing you topic: Most students start off with a topic that's too big to cover in a five page paper.  By doing thorough background research, you can identify sub-topics that might be easier to work with.

The following Library Resources will help you find Background Information:

The 4 Ws

Guide yourself through your Background Research by answering the following four questions:

people iconWho

Who are the people or groups relevant to your topic?  This can include companies or even fictional characters!

Example:  If you're writing about video games, this might include gamers, game designers, Hideo Kojima, Blizzard, or even Nathan Drake.

blue magnifying glassWhat

What are the major events, laws, controversies, or issues related to your topic?

Example:  If you're researching health care reform, this might include The Affordable Care Act, generic drug prices, or  access to care.

 

calendar iconWhen

When have major events happened to affect your topic? This can include dates, eras, or even age ranges relevant to your topic.

Example:  If you're learning about school uniforms, this might include 1963, the early 2000s, or teenagers.

 

world wide web iconWhere

Where are the places most affected by your topic? Which countries, regions, or states?  Does your topic affect urban or rural regions more?

Example:  If you're researching the minimum wage, this might include New York City, California, the Pacific North West, or urban centers.

 

If you need some help getting started...

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Keyword: A word used to search for information in a search engine or library resource.  A good keyword will relate to one of the main concepts of your research question.  Using a keyword in a search will bring up articles that use that word in a significant or important way.

Break your topic down to its basic parts...

  • Identify the Main Concepts

Write your research question down.  Underline the main ideas in that question.

Example: How does aging affect memory loss?

 

  • Make a list of keywords

For each concept, make a list of keywords related to it.  Use synonyms, and go back to your background research to find academic vocabulary and terms.  

Example: Aging, elderly, seniors, aged, growing older, senescent, old age, geriatric...

Identify keywords with...

Academic OneFile's Visualization Tool. 

  • This tool can be used to explore keywords and possible topics related to your research question. The video below shows you have to use the visualization tool for successful research.

Or use this work sheet to guide you:

desktop computer iconFind journal articles, eBooks, newspaper articles, and more in the databases linked below. These links will take you to high quality search engines that will help you find the resources you need.

Find Online Resources!

Search all of our databases at once using the Library's Summon tool!

 

 

Or search these databases individually!

Yavapai College Library.. "What Are Databases and Why You Need them." YouTube, 29 Sept. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2GMtIuaNzU&t=5s.

Search hundreds of thousands of physical books, DVDs and more!

Search:

 

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Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else's words or ideas as your own.  But did you know that there are many different types of plagiarism?

Types of Plagiarism

Copying or Direct Plagiarism

This is when you take someone's words and present them as your own with no changes or attribution.  

See the example below.

Student Writer: Source:

Edgar Allen Poe is best remembered for his dark tales of the macabre, but many readers aren't aware of his personal political views and how they informed his writing. Poe did not write extensively or comprehensively about the abolitionist movement. We do know some of his thoughts on the issue from  book reviews that he published in various publications in the 1830s and 40s. Much of his criticism of abolitionists concerned not the essential principles of the cause but what he viewed as the anti-slavery fanaticism of many Northern editors and writers that prevented the publishing success of Southern identified writers like himself. 

"Like most of the political issues of his day, Poe did not write extensively or comprehensively about the abolitionist movement. What little that is known of his views of abolitionism is recorded primarily in book reviews that he published in various publications in the 1830s and 40s. Much of his criticism of abolitionists concerned not the essential principles of the cause but what he viewed as the anti-slavery fanaticism of many Northern editors and writers that prevented the publishing success of Southern identified writers like himself. "1

1Christian Jones, Paul. "The Danger of Sympathy: Edgar Allan Poe's ''Hop-Frog'' and the Abolitionist Rhetoric of Pathos." Journal of American Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, 2001., pp. 239-254.

Patchwork Plagiarism

Using phrases or sentences from another author's works and including them in your writing without quote marks or citations.  

See the example below.

Student Writer: Source:

Teens with strong social support networks are less likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors and are more likely to experience unintended pregnancy.  Two important factors in social support networks are parental involvement and the peers that teens spend time with.  Teens with parents who are more involved tend to choose to delay sexual initiation, whereas teens whose friends engage in risky sexual behaviors are more likely to engage in the same behaviors.

"Social support networks are important for the health of adolescents. One important part of social networks for adolescents is parental involvement. Adolescents whose parents are more involved tend to choose to delay sexual initiation and are at a lower risk for unintended pregnancy (Hoskins & Simons, 2015; Viner et al., 2012). In addition to parental involvement, the peers that teens spend time with also have an impact on pregnancy rates. Females who have friends that engage in risky sexual behavior are more likely to engage in the same behaviors and are more likely to experience unintended pregnancy (Hoskins & Simons, 2015)."1

1Danawi, Hadi,PhD.M.P.H., Zenobia Bryant M.P.H., and Tala Hasbini M.S. "Targeting Unintended Teen Pregnancy in the U.S." International Journal of Childbirth Education 01 2016: 28-31. ProQuest. Web. 10 Aug. 2016  .

Paraphrasing

Rewording, rearranging, and re-writing in your own words another's author's work while maintaining the same line of argument or idea without a citation or attribution.  

See the example below.

Student Writer: Source:

The killing of the albatross is especially shocking because it seems to come out of nowhere, with no motive on the part of the mariner.  Such an emphasis on the lack of motive or foresight is especially interesting given Coleridge's own subscription to the Unitarian moral theory, and the emphasis placed on motives in the designation of responsibility within that moral code.

"It is within this already disoriented field that the crucial moment of the narrative occurs: the slaying of the albatross. There are two especially strange elements to this killing. Firstly, as many critics have pointed out, it happens without any apparent foresight or motive. In one stanza, the Mariner is describing vespers in the moonlight; in the next, the Wedding Guest is shocked by the terror in the Mariner's face: the killing simply happens. This is particularly interesting given the weight that the Unitarian moral theory to which Coleridge subscribed at the time placed upon motives, since the determinative effects of motives were, in their compatibilist analysis of volition, the only marks of responsibility."1

1Stokes, Christopher. "'My Soul in Agony': irrationality and Christianity in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Studies in Romanticism 50.1 (2011): 3+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.