As you read, note, quote and respond to the resources you find, it is important that you do so critically and ethically. To do so critically means to not only select resources that meet requirements of scholarship, but to examine the content for information that best improves your research. You are looking for resources that closely "fit" your angle of interest (relevance); that provide useful, reliable and accurate information (accuracy and authority); and are timely and testable (aware of other scholarship on your topic and verifiable through multiple sources). To research ethically involves the practices of referencing and citation - simply put: giving credit where credit is due. This includes paraphrasing sources, arguing with conclusions, reflecting on ideas and contextually quoting - however what you find influences or inspires your own work deserves to be credited (it's the law as well - see Avoiding Plagiarism!)
Here are some quick tips and checklists to consider when engaging, evaluating and eventually selecting the best resources for your research:
Citation and referencing is a very important part of academic research. Not only does it give credit to the authors who did the work of creating information, it also evidences the work you have done in constructing your research, and builds the conversation network between researchers - inviting more and more voices into the interaction.
Here are some guides to consult as you extend the conversation!
APA is an acronym for the American Psychological Association. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is often used for research work in the social sciences.
MLA stands for Modern Languages Association. The MLA Style Manual is often used for formatting and citing references when writing papers in the liberal arts and humanities.
Citation Builders:
These are sites that will help you "build" citations. They're pretty accurate, but be sure to cover your bases by comparing the citations against those in a style manual. Just choose MLA or APA and the type of source you need to create a citation for (a book, a journal article, etc.), and input all of the necessary information.
Ask a librarian if you need additional assistance.
Citation management software allows you to organize and retrieve citations to books, articles, etc. from library databases. Once citations are captured, they can be stored and manipulated in mini-databases. Citations and footnotes can be inserted into word processing documents and stand-alone bibliographies saved in common word processing program formats.
There are several citation management programs available to WSU students, faculty, and staff including EndNote, Endnote Web, Zotero, and Mendeley.
EndNote is software program produced by ISI that helps you store and manage bibliographic references for your research projects and papers. It can format references and automatically create bibliographies using a variety of studles such as APA and MLA. All WSU students, faculty, and staff can download the EndNote software for free. It is available for both Windows PC and Mac platforms. Click here for a handout on downloading and using EndNote. The web version is called EndNote Web. Click here for a guide on using EndNote Web.
Zotero is a free, open source, web-based tool for management citations, organizing pdfs, and creating bibliographies. Go to the Zotero library guide for more information. Tutorials and help are also available through the Zotero website.
Mendeley is a free, web-based took for managing reference, creating bibliographies, and pdf organizater. Tutorials and help are available through the Mendeley website.
