Virgil: Online Advice on Essay Writing
Researching
If you’re just starting the research process, visit the UT library home page at www.lib.utexas.edu and click on the link “Get Started with Researching a Paper.” You can also type in www.lib.utexas.edu/help/howdoi/. The “For Undergraduates” page at www.lib.utexas.edu/students is a portal to nearly everything you need to do research using the UT Libraries. For example, if you click on “How to…” it will tell you how to find everything from articles to newspapers in foreign languages. UT has an extensive library of books, maps, dissertations, encyclopedias, DVDs and other resources. You can search for them at www.lib.utexas.edu. Click on “Library Catalog” under “Research Tools.” If you find a book in the library catalog that sounds good, click on the blue number next to the citation. The subjects of the book are listed at the bottom of that page. Click on the subject to find other books in that subject. UT subscribes to hundreds of databases containing magazine, newspaper and scholarly journal articles. You can find them at www.lib.utexas.edu. Click on “Databases and Indexes to Articles” under “Research Tools.” There are also links to newspaper sites under “News and Newspapers.” Many databases contain the entire article just as it appeared in print. If the entire article isn’t there, follow the "Find It at UT" link to find the article online in another database or in print in the library. Three useful, multi-disciplinary databases are LexisNexis, which lets you search local, national and international newspapers and some magazines for articles; Academic Search Premier; and InfoTrac OneFile, which lets you search scholarly journals, magazines, and some newspapers. When running searches, write down your search terms. Now brainstorm other terms that may bring up related information. List broader and narrower terms. Write them all down. When you find an article you want to use, write down its name and the search terms you used so you can find it again. Also e-mail it to yourself to keep the information accessible no matter where you are. Many scholarly articles are also sorted by subject. If you find a scholarly article you like, look at that article’s sources. They’ll likely be useful to you. If you need background information, find an authoritative web site or use an encyclopedia. Try the Gale Virtual Reference Library, one of UT’s databases of encyclopedia entries. Google Scholar, located at scholar.google.com, can help you locate scholarly articles on a subject. You may not be able to access all articles for copyright reasons. Many of the articles from Google Scholar that are restricted for copyright reasons are available through the library databases. If you search Google Scholar from the library home page, you will often be able to automatically connect to those articles using the "Find It at UT" button. If that doesn’t work, use the article citation to find the article in the libraries. Instructions on how to do this are available at www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.html?id=161 (or, from the Databases page, click on “About” next to Google Scholar). Before you use a source you find on the Internet, you need to consider four criteria:
For some projects, you may need to ignore one of these criteria. For example, if you’re writing a paper about web logs, you can use web logs as sources even though their authors may not be experts and the publisher is not reputable. If you need help with citations, consult the Undergraduate Writing Center’s handout on citations, a handbook, or use NoodleBib, located at www.lib.utexas.edu/noodlebib. NoodleBib lets you plug in information then builds a citation page for you in MLA or APA format. If you’re stuck, need help navigating, or can’t find anything on your subject, UT librarians are available for consultation. Go to www.lib.utexas.edu/ask to e-mail, call, or chat via instant messaging with a librarian. And, as always, if you are having trouble, talk to your instructor. You can also come to the Undergraduate Writing Center for help.
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