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ENVR 300/400: Environment and Society - Lewis/Hall: Session Introduction & Assignment

+Library Instruction Goals

This guide should help you:

Form an approach to initiating an assignment.
 
Identify the use of information sources based on the type of information (i.e. books for background)

Use keywords from a research question or statement to search.

Distinguish differences between popular and scholarly articles.


Explore topics for your paper or project. What motivates you?


Explore the library's information resources.

Start to gather information for an assignment.
 
Create an annotated bibliography based on your information collection.  

+Assignment and research approach

Sometimes, a structured approach to research can help to organize ideas and the way you think about information sources:  

1. Explore topic basics (casual web searching)
2. Background (library catalog: books)
3. Current research (library databases: journal articles)
4. Support your argument (source citation)
5. Drafts & revisions (research librarians & learning commons)

The point of this assignment is to write an analytic paper that makes a convincing argument, that is supported by convincing evidence found within the scholarly literature. You will NOT be simply describing the issue, or repeating what others have said about this issue - you will be moving your own unique argument forward with supporting evidence that your position is the correct one.  

Citing Sources

NEW! ProQuest RefWorks

RefWorks is a "next-generation" citation management tool that can help researchers cite sources in all of styles most commonly used at SU like APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, ACS, AMA, and thousands of others. With this tool, researchers can gather, organize, read, annotate, and cite their research sources. Plus, RefWorks creates an online collaboration space that enables groups of researchers to work together from any location.

Learn all about RefWorks: Video Tutorial Library      Guide to RefWorks

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