Reporting Your Own Research: Principles and Practices

Reporting Your Own Research: Principles and Practice page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
I.	Research is the core of the graduate academic experience. You simply must be aware of what other people have observed and recorded about your chosen topic. This means, of course, that you'll be spending many hours in the library, combing through articles, books, and journals written by professionals in your field. You'll also -- if you're in the sciences -- spend an equal amount of time in the lab or field, observing activities and experiments personally, and discussing material with experts. All of this information is of value to you as you become increasingly knowledgeable about your topic; and some of this information will likely find its way into your own papers as expert support for your thesis. You are using these authors and experts to testify on your behalf, to add appeal of authority to your arsenal of persuasive techniques.
This material is generically referred to as "secondary source" because it is used as back-up support for primary information. When you use a secondary source, put it in its place among your own ideas.
II.	When to use secondary sources:
To provide added support for your thesis. Show the reader that experts agree with your perceptions and interpretations. To extend your own explanations of important concepts. To give interpretations that you can shoot down with your superior evidence or logic.
III.	How to avoid plagiarism. Give credit not only when you use an expert's words, but also when you merely use one's ideas.
Documentation Remember to collect all the information you need about your sources, so you can write complete reference citations. (Usually, people don't write the citations until the last minute, but the last minute is a heck of a time to discover you don't know the publisher of a book, or the author. So write the information ON THE PHOTOCOPIES which you will probably want to make, or on notecards - whatever system you prefer. Just write it!)
Here is a list of information to record about each source: Authors' full names. Editors' names, when the work you are citing is contained in a larger collection. Translator's name. Full title of the book or chapter or article that you are quoting from. Full title of the collection which contained your article or chapter. Full title of the journal or magazine that contained your article. Edition used (2nd, 3rd, etc.). Also, volume number. Page references: a) Keep track of the page numbers of passages you want to refer to. b) For articles or essays by one author in an edited book or in a journal, note carefully the pages on which your source begins and ends. Place and date of publication. Publisher.
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© 2002 Dr. Kendra Gaines All Rights Reserved