| Judith Downie
Humanities Librarian
KEL 3424
(760) 750-4374
jdownie@csusm.edu Office hours: by
appointment or stop by whenever my door is open. |
|
What is the GEL Library Module?
The Library Module will introduce you to the basics of
college-level research. The
skills you learn during the
module will help you for these main reasons:
- learn the college-level skills needed to produce
ethical and accurate research as demonstrated by an
annotated bibliography.
- apply those skills to the
final project
you will do for this class.
- incorporate the research from this module into your
final project.
- in general, for the papers and projects you will be
expected to do
for the rest of your college career.
Schedule, Topics and Assignments
The Library Module covers a great deal of information in only 6
classes, so attendance and participation are important.
|
In-class
activities |
25 pts |
|
Homework assignments |
55 pts |
|
Annotated bibliography assignment |
40 pts |
|
Quiz |
30 pts |
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Total |
150 points |
Note: The
Office
of Disabled Student Services provides a variety of
services and resources to students. Students with
disabilities should contact me immediately to ensure
appropriate accommodations are made during the Library
Module.
The instructor reserves the right to make changes as
necessary, to assignments outlined in the syllabus. However,
no changes will be made in the nature of weighting of
assignments given in class, nor will any schedule changes
shorten the amount of time that students have to work on any
written assignment.
Homework Assignment #1 (10 pts)
From your own Internet searching,
you probably realize there is an overwhelming
amount of information available online.
When searching for information, whether a web page, book
or article, you can plug keywords related to your topic into
Google or another search engine... but doing this
and using the first few results for your
paper does not constitute research!
Anyone can put up a website. How
do you know that its information is accurate,
legitimate or current? Learn how to
evaluate a web site before choosing
to include the information you find in your
research project.
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Locate a scholarly, or at least, reputable,
website on your topic. Print the first
page of the site with the URL clearly printed in
the bottom margin (write in by hand if it is a
PDF file, but browser and printer settings can be adjusted
to print the URL on other types of pages) Write your name clearly on the top of
the page.
See the
Widener University website tutorial as a reminder of
what you are evaluating.
On the back of the page, write down an item
of
evidence you found for each of the following:
- Authority
- Accuracy
- Currency
- Objectivity
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Homework Assignment #2 (15 pts)
The temptation to plagiarize
is strong with the pressures of so many assignments combined
with social life and work responsibilities. Or may have
occurred accidentally at
one time or another. Any form of academic dishonesty (see
the CSUSM
Academic Honesty Policy)
can have serious repercussions that you don't want to
suffer.
Read through the
CSUSM Plagiarism Tutorial's
4 sections and
complete the checkpoint at the end of each of
these sections:
- "What is Plagiarism",
- "How to Avoid It"
- "How to Credit Sources"
Email the results of each
checkpoint to me at
jdownie@csusm.edu. Make sure your name is on
the checkpoint as there is a time-stamp but no
email address unless you type it in. NO credit
given for checkpoints not received before class
meets at 2:30 PM on Monday September 24.
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Homework Assignment #3 (10 pts)
The library
catalog is not intended to be a barrier to finding
information, although it may feel that way. The labels that will locate
material most precisely have been developed by experts in the
various subject areas and they use precise terminology that
you need to become acquainted with in order to be successful. This exercise will help you develop
the skills to investigate and open the doors to the
information you need from the catalog.
|
Refer to the
homework model for both required format and
required information. Provide the
information as indicated on your topic,
keywords, subjects and how the material you
found will be useful.
Using the keyword search function in the
CSUSM Library catalog and the keywords you used,
locate at least ONE book that you might use for
your research (it must be a book!) Open that
item record and examine the subject headings at
the bottom and list two subject headings that
will be useful to locate other materials.
Remember, this must be typed. |
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Homework Assignment #4 (15 pts)
The
Research Databases are by far our most popular information
source. But we have a ever-growing list of databases and not
all will be suitable to all research needs. Make sure you
are looking in an appropriate database, and when in doubt,
consult with your professor or the librarian!
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Using the keywords from your homework #3 or new
keywords that you have decided on, use a
research database to locate a SCHOLARLY article.
It must meet the standards we covered in class
or will not count.
Recommended places to look, besides
Academic Search Premier
that we looked at in class are:
Print the article and write your name
in the top margin. Read through the article and
highlight or underline THREE key ideas or
statements that you could use in your paper.
Bring to class--NO credit for emailing to me or
not bringing a hard copy to class. We will be
using the article in class.
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Homework Assignment #5 (5 pts)
Any paper worth
a good grade will have a thesis statement. (That is a
simple thesis statement right there!) It should not be a paragraph
long, but should be in the first paragraph of the paper so
the reader knows what is going to come.
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Using the tools you have and the knowledge you
have gathered to this point, write a thesis
statement that won't embarrass you or me and
email to me at
jdownie@csusm.edu with the subject line
DOUGLASS and your name. Don't just use the thesis
builder and turn what comes out in the first try, you will need to
polish the grammar and check the spelling before
sending.
Don't think this is the final statement you
will anchor your work on, but it should still be
good work at this stage. Good writers will
polish the statement as they analyze and develop
their thoughts while writing the paper.
DUE BEFORE CLASS MEETING ON October
3. |
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Annotated Bibliography (40 pts)
Here are the
guidelines and link to a sample annotated bibliography. This
is due October 10 in your regular classroom.
-
Format Guidelines and Checklist (4 distinctly
different items, no credit for a second item
that meet the same criteria as another one.)
-
Sample
Annotated
Bibliography (note the topic is NOT related to this class,
but the annotations cover the same questions you
should be answering in your annotations.)
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Catalog: Finding the
Subject Headings
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Scholarly vs. Popular
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Scholarly (peer-reviewed,
refereed, empirical) |
Non-scholarly (popular) |
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Audience |
academic readers |
general audience |
|
Author |
researchers, experts, specialists |
journalists, free-lance
writers, generalists |
|
Language |
professional
jargon; may be
difficult to read |
common; easy to
understand |
|
Style |
specific structure (e.g.
abstract, methodology,
data, results, conclusion, references) |
structured like a story; can look
glossy with pictures and ads |
|
Sources
|
long list of
bibliography, references, footnotes |
no bibliography or
references listed |
| Examples |
Ethnic and
Racial Studies; Gender & Society;
International Migration Review;
American Journal of
Public Health;
Latin American Perspectives |
Time; Newsweek; Business
Week;
US News & World Report; New York Times;
Christian Science
Monitor |
Some databases provide a 'peer-reviewed' or 'scholarly
only' limit function that can narrow the results, but will
still bring back non-scholarly materials that were published
in a scholarly journal (e.g., editorials, letters to the
editor, book reviews.) When in doubt, ask a librarian!
--From G. Sonntag September 2007
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Quoting, Summarizing and
Paraphrasing
| |
What is it? |
Tips |
|
Quoting |
Using the author's exact
words. Always cite it
and use "quotation
marks." |
Some good reasons to
include a quote are:
-
You want to support
or add credibility
to your arguments
-
The original is
difficult to
rephrase
-
The original is so
good that you want
to preserve the
language
Quoting in moderation is
acceptable, but
stringing a bunch of
quotes together without
analysis and
well-crafted transitions
is bad. A paper is
supposed to be your
work, so limit quoting
to the minimum needed as
per the above reasons.
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|
Summarizing |
Condensing the author's
words or ideas without
altering the meaning or
providing
interpretation—you use
your own words for this.
Basically, presenting
the original information
in a nutshell.
When you summarize, you
must always cite the
author of the material
you are summarizing. |
In academic writing,
there are a few things
to keep in mind when
summarizing outside
sources:
-
Use your own words
-
Include the key
relevant elements of
the original and
keep it brief—you're
just going for the
original's essence
-
Do not include your
interpretation/analysis
within the summary—make
a clear distinction
between your
thoughts and someone
else's
-
Vary how you
introduce or
attribute your
sources, like
"according to…," or
"so-and-so concludes
that..." so your
readers don't get
bored
-
Always include a
citation.
|
|
Paraphrasing |
Restating, in your own
words, the author's
words or ideas without
altering the meaning or
providing
interpretation.
Paraphrases are about
the same length as the
original.
When you paraphrase, you
must always cite the
author of the material
you are paraphrasing. |
Paraphrasing is
similar to
summarizing in that you: |
Paraphrasing differs
from summarizing in
that you: |
-
Do NOT include your
interpretation/analysis
within the
paraphrase—make a
clear distinction
between your
thoughts and someone
else's
-
Should vary how you
introduce or
attribute your
sources, like
"according to…," or
"so-and-so concludes
that..."
-
Always include a
citation
|
-
Usually write about
the same length as
the original
-
Use your own words,
but you may
occasionally want to
include a sequence
of words or a brief
quote from the
original (Remember
to use "quotation
marks" if you decide
to include any
sequence of words
from the original.)
|
---From G. Sonntag, September
2007
Citation Guides and Tools
 |
APA:
Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association.
5th ed. Washington, DC : American
Psychological Association, 2001.
Other sources for help:
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