Research Tips

Students and staff,

When researching on the Internet, it is important to evaluate resources for their credibility and to authenticate them (ensure that they are fact, not fiction).  This can be a difficult task and there are so many websites that can be terribly misleading.    Don’t believe everything that you read on line!   The first thing to look at is the URL address, here are some common domain extensions and what they mean: URL DOMAIN EXTENSIONS

BLOGGING:

STUDENT-BLOGGING GUIDELINES

BIBLIOGRAPHY & CITATIONS:

A BIBIOGRAPHY is a list of the research materials (in print, online, videos, newspapers, etc.) that you used when developping your essay or project.  A bibliography is necessary to give credit to the authors that you have cited in your work and to demonstrate that you have not plagiarized (copied) someone else’s work.

A CITATION is an extract from the reference you used.  As these are someone else’s exact words or phrases, you must use quotation marks around these words.  ex. Albert Enstein is quoted as saying “imagination is more important than knowledge”.

How to Prepare A Bibliography:

Although there are several different types of documentation formats for bibiographies (APA; Chicago; MLA and Turabian), the most common standard styles to use when preparing a bibliography  are APA (American Psychological Association) and  MLA (Modern Languages Association).  Most often your teacher will have a preference for one or the other; however, it is useful to be aware of both formats for future reference.

Bibliography Templates:

BIBLIOGRAPHY WORKSHEET

MLA Bibliography Worksheet