Contents

1. Introduction

2. 1-Research Questions

   1. 1. The Purpose of Research Questions

   2. 2. Narrowing a Topic

   3. 3. Background Reading

   4. 4. Regular vs. Research Questions

   5. 5. Influence of a Research Question

   6. 6. Developing Your Research Question

3. 2-Types of Sources

   1. 1. Categorizing Sources

   2. 2. Quantitative or Qualitative

   3. 3. Fact or Opinion

   4. 4. Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Sources

   5. 5. Popular, Substantive Popular, Professional, & Scholarly

   6. 6. Publication Formats and the Information Lifecycle

   7. 7. Scholarly Articles as Sources

   8. 8. News as a Source

   9. 9. Data as Sources

   10. 10. People as Sources

4. 3-Sources and Information Needs

   1. 1. What Sources to Use When

   2. 2. Which Kinds of Sources Meet Which Needs?

   3. 3. Planning Your Sources

5. 4-Precision Searching

   1. 1. Why Precision Searching?

   2. 2. Main Concepts

   3. 3. Related and Alternative Terms

   4. 4. Search Statements

6. 5-Search Tools

   1. 1. Library Catalog

   2. 2. WorldCat@OSU

   3. 3. Google Scholar

   4. 4. Specialized Databases

   5. 5. Web Search Engines

   6. 6. Tips for Common Search Tools

7. 6-Evaluating Sources

   1. 1. Thinking Critically About Sources

   2. 2. Evaluating for Relevancy

   3. 3. Evaluating for Credibility

8. 7-Ethical Use of Sources

   1. 1. Ethical Use and Citing Sources

   2. 2. Why Cite Sources?

   3. 3. Challenges in Citing Sources

9. 8-How to Cite Sources

   1. 1. Citation and Citation Styles

   2. 2. Steps for Citing

   3. 3. Citation Software

   4. 4. When to Cite

10. 9-Making an Argument

    1. 1. The Purpose of Academic Argument

    2. 2. Components of an Argument

    3. 3. Order of the Components

    4. 4. Where You Get the Components

11. 10-Writing Tips

    1. 1. Writing Tips

    2. 2. Helping Others Follow

    3. 3. Synthesis of Your Own Ideas

12. 11-Copyright Basics

    1. 1. What Is Copyright?

    2. 2. What Copyright Covers

    3. 3. Rights Granted by Copyright

    4. 4. Respecting Copyright

    5. 5. Exceptions to Copyright

    6. 6. Creative Commons - An Open Option

    7. 7. Public Domain and Term of Copyright

13. 12-Fair Use

    1. 1. What Is Fair Use?

    2. 2. The Four Factors

    3. 3. Evaluating Your Case for Fair Use

    4. 4. Common Examples of Fair Use

14. 13-Roles of Research Sources

    1. 1. Thinking About Roles of Sources

    2. 2. BEAM: A Solution That Might Shine

    3. 3. Using BEAM: An Example

    4. 4. Practice with BEAM

15. Credits

16. Glossary

17. Version History