Be Critical
Doing good research requires different skills than searching. Searching online encourages ways of thinking that can create false expectations and poor research results. Here are a few tips:
- Slow down.
- Look at the advanced search page
- Iterative searching
- Learn from the search results
- Too many results? Too few?
- Look at citations from good sources
- Try
- Various keywords
- Various subjects
- Multiple databases (information silos!)
Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell)
Searching for scholarly sources
- choose the right database
- limit results to "peer-reviewed" sources
Cite your sources
- Citing Your Sources - a brief online guide to the main citation styles and a brief discussion on what constitutes plagiarism.
- The Chicago Manual of Style (UCB-only access)
15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003. Searchable, online version of the Chicago Manual of Style(15th edition).
Many print editions available throughout the UCB Libraries. - Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More (UCB-only access) Charles Lipson. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006.
Many print editions throughout the libraries. - Columbia Guide to Online Style (UCB-only access)
Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. 2nd ed. NY: Columbia Univ. Press. 2006.
Many print editions throughout the UCB libraries. - MLA handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
Doe Reference Reference Hall LB2369 .G53 2009
Main Gardner Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009
Many older editions available throughout the UCB libraries.
Last Update: December 05, 2012 10:15

