Pierce+U.S.+History+Research

** 1. Before you begin, you need to come up with a research question ** **.**

 * ====== What do you want to learn about? ======
 * ====== You will probably have to narrow or widen your scope, depending on the type of question you first come up with. Mrs. Walker and Mr. Pierce will be happy to help you with that. ======
 * ====== Video: Developing a Research Question (basics of developing a good research Q) ======
 * ====== Question Generator Form (questions that begin with "How" and "Which" lead to more in-depth research and stronger papers) ======

**2. One of the first things you will do, before finalizing your question, is a little** **preliminary research** **.**

 * Video: Using Wikipedia for Academic Research

** 3. Once you're ready to begin your in-depth research, you can use the resources below: **
= **I. ONLINE DATABASES** = ==‍ ‍A. Public Library of Cincinnati (you will need a public library card number & PIN...or you can use Mrs. Walker's. Check the back of the yellow bookmark) == == B. INFOhio (check the yellow bookmark for the username/password if using from home, or fill out this online form) == = **II. BOOKS** = == Use the **online catalog** to look for books on your topic in our library OR use iSearch to look for books as well as database articles. ==
 * **Biography in Context**
 * **Only use this if you're researching a person.**
 * If you don't know which person you want to choose, look through the categories (African Americans, Artists, Musicians, etc.).
 * If you do know, type your person's name in the search box.
 * Read through the results carefully to make sure that you're getting the right person (for example, Jane Austen the author, not Jane Austen the CEO).
 * You will see a box on the right titled "On This Page." Click on any of the categories (Featured Content, Reference, Primary Sources, News, Magazines, Academic Journals, Videos, Images, Audio, or Related Topics) and then click on "View All 26" (or whatever the number is) to see everything in that category. Click on the title of the article that sounds most relevant and read through it.
 * To find the citation for the articles, click on "Citation Tools" on the right side of your page under the heading "Tools." The citation will pop up and it should be in MLA format. Click on the EasyBib button on the right under "Export." If you are logged into EasyBib with your project open, the citation will show up in your list of sources.
 * ** Opposing Viewpoints in Context **
 * If you don't know what topic you want to choose, click on "Browse Topics" on the top toolbar, or look at topics within categories underneath the picture at the top of the screen.
 * If you know what topic you want to explore, type your topic in the search box (using only a couple of key words and using quotation marks around words that you want to keep together), and click on "Viewpoints" or "Featured Viewpoints" in the column of links on the left.
 * Read through the essay(s) carefully to see if there's anything in there that would help you with this project.
 * There are other categories that may also have good information: Primary Sources, News, Academic Journals, Reference, Magazines, and Related Topics.
 * Click on the titles of any articles that sounds most relevant and read through them.
 * To find the citation for the articles, click on "Citation Tools" on the right side of your page under the heading "Tools." The citation will pop up and it should be in MLA format. Click on the EasyBib button on the right under "Export." If you are logged into EasyBib with your project open, the citation will show up in your list of sources.
 * **Others that may be interesting:**
 * African American Archive Collection
 * **iSearch**
 * Searches all INFOhio databases as well as our very own library collection
 * Different tabs at the top of the page result in different types of sources:
 * My Library (books, ebooks, digital videos, videos, DVDs in our own library)
 * Basic Sources (magazine, newspaper, and scholarly journal articles with a lower reading level)
 * Advanced Sources (magazine, newspaper, and scholarly journal articles with a higher reading level; includes "research starters" which are great for providing background information on any topic)
 * Basic Encyclopedias (encyclopedia articles with a lower reading level)
 * Advanced Encyclopedias (encyclopedia articles with a higher reading level; includes "research starters" which are great for providing background information on any topic)
 * STEM (science related articles, videos, and diagrams)
 * Limit results on the left side of your screen (for example, format, type of material, reading level, subject, date, etc.)
 * To find the citations for the articles, click on the white icon labeled "Export" on the right side of the article. Choose "Direct Export to EasyBib" (the last one on the list). Click on the "Import" button. If you are logged into EasyBib with your project open, the citation will show up in your list of sources.
 * **Explora for Grades 9-12 from EBSCO**
 * If you have no idea about what topic you should choose, check out the categories and all of the topics within each category.
 * If you know what topic you want to explore, type one or two words (3-words, maximum) in the search box (ie. "gun control"). A database search box is different from using Google or other search engines. Use quotation marks around any words that you want to keep together.
 * This database automatically sorts the results by relevance.
 * Read the description and decide if any articles are worth reading in full detail. Click on HTML full text or PDF full text below the descriptions to read the articles.
 * To find the citations for the articles, click on the white icon labeled "Export" on the right side of the article. Choose "Direct Export to EasyBib" (the last one on the list). Click on the "Import" button. If you are logged into EasyBib with your project open, the citation will show up in your list of sources.
 * **Points of View Reference Center **
 * If you have no idea about what topic you should choose, scroll through the "In the News" section or the "Browse by Category" section and check out all of the topics within each category.
 * If you know what topic you want to explore, limit your search terms to just a few key words (example: use "self-harm" instead of "people who cut themselves"). A database search box is different from using Google or other search engines. Use quotation marks around any words that you want to keep together.
 * This database automatically sorts the results by relevance.
 * To find the citations for the articles, click on the white icon labeled "Export" on the right side of the article. Choose "Direct Export to EasyBib" (the last one on the list). Click on the "Import" button. If you are logged into EasyBib with your project open, the citation will show up in your list of sources.

= **III. WEBSITES** = ==Olympics==

A. Use the ** ABCs of website evaluation ** :
== B. Use **EasyBib's Research tab** to get an idea if certain websites are ** credible **, ** maybe credible **, or ** not credible **.==
 * ** A = authority **, ** accuracy ** (who is the author and what authority does he/she have to be writing anything on the subject? How accurate does it look? Are there typos or spelling mistakes?)
 * ** B = bias ** (is the author trying to convince you of something or persuade you to believe something, only giving one side of the story?)
 * ** C = currency ** (how recent is the information? Can we trust it to be accurate when information changes so quickly these days?)

** Beware: sometimes websites haven't been evaluated by EasyBib (or sometimes they go easy on sites like Wikipedia), so always use your powers of evaluation on any website that you find!‍ **
= **IV. WRITING A THESIS STATEMENT** = Video: Thesis Statements Video: How to Write a Thesis Statement Thesis Generator === *As you are gathering information, ignore everything that does not fit your thesis!! Don't get caught up in information that doesn't answer your research question.* ===

= **V. TAKING NOTES & CREATING AN OUTLINE** =

** A. ** Options include:

 * Evernote
 * Index cards (here's a helpful tutorial for using index cards)
 * Word or Google document
 * Read the EasyBib Taking Notes Summary
 * Read the EasyBib Outline Summary
 * Read the EasyBib Writing Summary

= **VI. CREATING YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY/WORKS CITED PAGE** = == A. **Create an EasyBib account** ==


 * If you already have an account, go to ** EasyBib ** and click on "Login" at the top right side of your screen. Your username is probably your Finneytown email address + student ID number.
 * If you do not have an account, go to **EasyBib**and click on "Sign Up" at the top right side of your screen. You'll need to give a first name, last name, email address, create a password (**MAKE IT ONE THAT YOU WILL REMEMBER, LIKE YOUR STUDENT ID #**), and confirm your password.
 * You can also sign up with your Google account by clicking on the "Sign in with Google" button.
 * Once you're logged in, you can create a project. Give it a title and make sure that you choose MLA 8 style.

B. Here is a sample Bibliography/Works Cited page: **@https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/**
==** C. Click on the Bibliography link in your project to start creating citations, or click on the Bibliography tab at the top of the page. **==
 * Make sure you center the title Bibliography or Works Cited at the top of the page.
 * Make sure that your citations begin at the left margin. The first line of your citation will be normal, but every line after the first will need to be indented. To do this, you will need to press "enter" at the end of your first line, then press the indent button for each line after the first.
 * Make sure that your citations are in alphabetical order according to the first letter on the first line of each citation. See the example for details.
 * Make sure that you double space in between your citations.

If you're citing Websites:

 * At the top of the search box, choose the Website tab.
 * Paste the URL (web address) in the search box and click "cite this."
 * If EasyBib recognizes the website, it will fill in the boxes for you.
 * Double check each of the boxes to make sure they've entered the correct information. Change or add anything that needs to be changed or added, especially website title/article title, author, and date of website publication.
 * Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Create Citation." Copy & paste the created citation into your Bibliography page if you've already got one started.
 * If EasyBib does NOT recognize the website, you will need to fill in the boxes manually.
 * Do your best to fill in all of the blanks, but ignore the ones you can't fill.
 * For author & date, look at the top and the bottom of the page to see if you can find that information. If there's not a specific date, you can use the date that's usually at the bottom of the page with a copyright symbol beside it. For example, if you see ©2006-2012, put 2012 in the year box for the date.
 * When finished, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Create Citation." Copy & paste the created citation into your Works Cited page if you've already got one started‍

If you're citing Books:

 * At the top of the search box, choose the Book tab.
 * Type the title of the book in the search box and click "cite this."
 * If EasyBib recognizes the title, it will show a list of books and authors with publishers and publication dates. Look for the correct one. If you are not sure which book is yours, you can click on the title and it will show you a picture of the cover. That should help. Look carefully at publication dates because sometimes that is the only difference between 2 very similar books.
 * Once you have found the right one, click on "Select" and it will fill in the boxes for you.
 * Double check each of the boxes to make sure they've entered the correct information. Change or add anything that needs to be changed or added.
 * Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Create Citation." Copy & paste the created citation into your Bibliography page if you've already got one started.
 * If EasyBib does NOT recognize the title, you will need to fill in the boxes manually.
 * Do your best to fill in all of the blanks, but leave the ones you can't fill blank.
 * The publisher should be listed at the bottom of the title page. If not, it is listed on the back of the title page along with the publication date (look for the "c" with a circle around it: ©).
 * Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Create Citation." Copy & paste the created citation into your Bibliography page if you've already got one started.