Research Strategies for a Digital Age Chapter Summaries Christine Nagy

Chapter 1- Getting Off to a Good Start

Chapter 1 focuses on preparing to write a research paper. It defines the difference

between a report (an overview of information) and a research paper ( a synthesis of information
and data based on thesis statement or opinion).
DIRECTLY from the BOOK:
Discover a topic that will sustain your interest for the duration of the project.
Focus your topic into a statement that takes a stand on an issue.
Narrow your topic to meet the scope of the assignment.

Chapter 2 - Searching Versus Surfing: Locating Quality Sources

Start your research in the library
Google is not regulated and you dont always know that what you are getting is reliable
Google provides way too much information and is overwhelming
Learn about Keyword and Subject Search
Use Boolean Searching
Consider Advanced Searching
Refine search using Limiters

Chapter 3 - Become a Research Supersleuth

Ask questions in your search
Start investigating the topic.
If you find a No full text roadblock, attack it from another angle and look for interlibrary
loan
Make connections, track down leads, one good source will lead to another
Different resources will be available in different ways.
Consider the following when evaluating sources: purpose (are they selling something?
Opinion? Research?), reputation (where does it come from, who published it? Is an
organization involved or it is independent?), intended audience (what age range, how
deep is the information?), reliability (why was it produced?) , and timeliness (is it from the
last 5-10 years?) What does it Look Like? (start in a library to learn what reliable
sources look like), What do Others say about it? (reviews and recommendations)
Web sources require extra evaluation tools
Read the summary to see if its suitable

Chapter 4 - How to Surf the Web Without Drowning

Wikipedia is made up from responses from a Wiki - a shared online openly edited forum
- with no monitoring
Begin your search in a database - preferably at your school
Try Google Scholar - free, verified scholarly resources
If the article is not available for free, then note the bibliographic information and try your
schools library for the actual text
 Research Strategies for a Digital Age Chapter Summaries Christine Nagy

Dont quote the abstract. Abstracts are often not written by the authors. They are
written by editors, librarians, and catalogers. Cite the actual article.
Check the urls typically- .com - commercial, .gov - government, .edu educational
servers, .org - nonprofit, but not always, so beware.

Chapter 5 - Field Research Online

Interviews and surveys are fieldwork.
Interview experts In person, over the phone, through Skype, or through email.
Develop good questions that avoid the possibility for vague answers.
Record the interview if possible and take notes.
A survey is more objective and should be no more than 8-10 questions. Arrange from
easiest to hardest.
Make questions easy to follow and avoid asking for personal or revealing information.
Make sure to note that their responses are confidential.
Use percentages and ratios in your paper. Keep information statistical.

Chapter 6 - Academic Integrity

There are very strict rules about taking other peoples intellectual property and words
and not following those rules will put into question your academic integrity (and possibly
get you kicked out of school or fired from your job!)
When in doubt, cite it.
Many students end up plagiarizing and not getting caught, so they just continue to
plagiarize.
Plagiarism is everywhere and we need to quote, paraphrase and cite. Every time. Many
times students accidentally plagiarize.
Practice paraphrasing to ensure you are creating original thoughts.

Chapter 7 - Documentation Guidelines

Documentation is becoming more difficult and complicated in a world with such rapidly
changing technology.
Writers must take special care to create accurate references in order to establish
credibility.

Chapter 8 - Documentation: MLA Format

The MLa format is primarily used in the humanities.
MLA in-text citation all basically follow the same format, of quotation and then author or
title.
There are so many different variables - no author, no page, poetry. Websites, etc.
Writers have to determine the most accurate way to cite the resource based on format.
MLA format covers:
1. Author.
2. Title of source. (ex. Article)
3. Title of container, (ex. Journal)
 Research Strategies for a Digital Age Chapter Summaries Christine Nagy

4. Other information,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

Last name, First name. Title of source. Title of container, Other contributors, Version, Number,
Publication date, Location.

Formatting properly in a paper is critical.

Review the sample MLA research paper and Literary Analysis to see MLA style put to
actual use.

Chapter 9 - Documentation: APA FORMAT

The APA Format is primarily used for social sciences.
APA follows a Author, date flow for in-text citations.
Writers must be very careful when citing websites because much of the necessary
reference information is often not visible or noted.
The APA general layout provides very clear and precise instructions for referencing.
There are so many different variations for citation depending on the source. I did not
know that there should only be 1 space after every period, comma, and colon. End all
entries with a a . except for if you are ending with a website. There are a multitude of
varying formatting options which are very similar and follow the same basic patterns
(DVD, Films, YouTube Videos, Audio Recordings, Images, etc.).
DOI is a Digital Object Identifier - if you can find this use it instead of a URL.

Journal Article
(Print)
Author(s). (lastname, first initial, with comma and ampersand before last author) (year of
publication). Article title. Journal Title, volume number (issue number), (if there is
separate pagination) pages.
Journal
(Database)
Author(s). (last name, first initial, with comma and ampersand before last author) (year of
publication). Article title. Journal Title, volume number(issue number), (if there is
separate pagination) pages. doi:0000000/00000000 (or) Retrieved from Database
name.
Journal
(Web)
Author(s). (lastname, first initial, with comma and ampersand before last author) (year of
publication). Article title. Journal Title, volume number(issue number), (if there is
separate pagination) pages. doi:0000000/0000000 (or) Retrieved from URL
 Research Strategies for a Digital Age Chapter Summaries Christine Nagy

Books
(Print)
Author. (last name, first initial) (Ed.). (if there is an editor instead of an author) (year of
publication). Title (volume and/or edition number). (if there is one) Place of publication:
Publisher.

Books (Database/Website)
Author. (last name, first initial) (Ed.). (if there is an editor instead of an author) (year of
publication). Title (volume and/or edition number). (if there is one) Place of publication:
Publisher. Retrieved from database. (or) URL

Books/EBooks (Web)

Chapter 10 - Documentation: CSE Format

The council of Science Editors - for physical and biological sciences.
Not as common, but includes a variety of very specific mediums
The reference pages is titled, Cited References

Chapter 11 - Documentation: CMS Format

The Chicago Manual of Style
Used in history and some social science and humanities areas for essays.
Uses footnotes and endnotes and a bibliography at the end.
Footnotes appear on the bottom of the page where citation is used.
Endnotes should be listed on their own page, after the last page of the essay
Writers still have to include a Bibliography.

My summary
It is very important to give proper credit to resources. The way that students have to
present this information doesnt seem to gel with the way that we gather it in a digital age. I feel
as though the world of academia needs a paradigm adjustment. We need to come up with a
system of reference that works for the many different ways we source information in our digital
age.
Hanging indents, commas, and italics arent as precise and clear as columns in a
spreadsheet. Citations created in the traditional formatting were necessary in the day of
hand-written work. The abbreviations and punctuation were meant to save time for both the
writer and the reader. Our process has changed. Plugging the information into a spreadsheet
would allow for us to one-click sort by author, publisher, date, and author more effectively for
example. In the academic world and workforce we use the best tools we can find to organize
and produce work. Why arent we doing this for citations?
After all this, I feel like we need to create a new type of Reference system for our work of
evolutionary resources. I think that a spreadsheet with columns and cells would be a much
 Research Strategies for a Digital Age Chapter Summaries Christine Nagy

better platform for quickly and efficiently documenting and referencing information. I am calling
this the Christine Sherman Nagy (CSN) Style and it basically looks like this:

Source if
other
Locatio Medium
than
n in Retreiv
book
(Journal,
resourc ed from
Video, e (page (Interne
Magezine, number t,
Newspap , Databa
er,
paragra se,
Presentati
Title of on,
ph Place of Date of Print, DOI if
Author( Book/Article/W Publicatio number Publish Publicati Publicati Image, applica URL if
s) ork n, etc.) , etc.) er on on Video) ble applicable
New Databa
Smith, The Sky is Journal Pubish York, se - www.000.c
1 John Blue - Colors pp. 1-3 ers Co. NY 2017 EBSCO 16:39 om

I havent done much scholarly research on the this topic to see if maybe there is a movement to
update our methodology, but I plan to do some research on this for my next research topic!