Research Hunt Assignment
1) Using the electronic card catalogue on the Library webpage (OC Library Catalog) or the card catalog at your own school or public library, locate a non-fiction text related to your research topic (e-text/e-books work, too).
a. Look at the table of contents based on the chapter titles or information given, how might this text be useful for your research?
b. What is the most interesting sounding chapter/section of the work and what pages does it appear on in the text?
c. Cite this entire book on the Works Cited page.
2) Access the OC Databases from the LRC Website by clicking on FIND ARTICLES in the left-side menu. Select General Topics to access a list of databases. For the following four questions, you will use at least one of the following databases: Academic Search Complete, CQ Researcher, or FirstSearch Databases that are found on the OC library website.
a. You may choose to switch between them or only use one for all the questions; the choice is yours.
3) Using the basic search function, search for your research topic using the general terms of your topic/research question.
a. Select 2 of your results (at least 1 should be a journal article) from your search results. Based on a quick skim of the title, abstract (if available) and/or first page, which source do you think would be most helpful to your research and why?
b. Cite the source you chose as most helpful on the Works Cited page at the end of this assignment.
4) Use the basic search function again, but this time revise your search terms use specific vocabulary or key words/phrases. For example, instead of searching for how toys affect self-confidence search for how Barbie affects self-image.
a. How do these search results compare to the broader search in question 3?
i. Are any of the results from the general search present? Do you have more or less hits?
b. Select 2 of your results (at least 1 should be a journal article) from your search results. Based on a quick skim of the title, abstract (if available) and/or first page, which source do you think would be most helpful to your research and why?
c. Cite the source you chose as most helpful on the Works Cited page at the end of this assignment.
5) Use the Advanced Search two times to search for your topic, but change up your search terms each time. For example, if you search for gender, image and Mattel the first time, search for girls, self-esteem and Barbie the second.
a. Is there a large variation between your Advanced Searches?
b. Which search terms/phrases brought back your best hits?
c. Pick one article to cite on the Works Cited page from each of the two searches performed for this question (meaning youll cite two articles).
6) Use Advanced Search for your topic (you can choose to use the general or specific search terms), but specifically search in 3 ways:
a. Search for your terms in the title only. If you get any hits back, cite the #1 hit on the Works Cited page.
b. Search within the abstract only. If you get any hits back, cite the #1 hit on the Works Cited page.
c. Search using the NOT option. If you get any hits back, cite the #1 hit on the Works Cited page.
d. Out of the #1 results you get from these searches, which sounds most promising to your research & why? (If none of them sound helpful, explain that.)
e. If none of these searches produced any results: write a brief paragraph (3-5 sentences) as to why you think there was a problem and what you could do to fix it when you search for more sources.
i. If you got hits back on this question & have citations from it, you DO NOT have to write this paragraph.
7) Take the search terms/phrases that have proven most helpful from this assignment and use them to do a basic search with OC Super Search when your search results appear, select Full Text from under the Refine Results options at the left before looking at your results.
a. Are there any new results (compared to your individual database searches in earlier questions) that look helpful?
b. Looking under the Refine Results column on the left, how many of your current results are books, ebooks, and academic journal articles?
c. Select TWO sources located for this question (of any kind) from the first page of results that look helpful for your topic and cite them on the Works Cited at the end of the assignment.
d. cite 2 items on this question.
8) Create an MLA formatted Works Cited page with the results from the previous questions.
a. The Works Cited page will start on its own page, with Works Cited centered at the top.
i. The sources you cite need to be formatted in MLA 8th edition. This also includes the order of the sources you wont cite them in the order of the assignment. This isnt a bulleted or numbered list. Your sources will need to be in alphabetical order, arranged either by the authors last name or the title of the source, whichever comes first in the citation.
b. If you use Words reference/bibliography tool to create the Works Cited page, or easybib.com or any other automatic reference page creator you MUST check the results against the MLA 8th edition guidelines in the MLA folder on Blackboard or OWL at Purdue to make sure it is correct. Failure to do so will result in loss of points.
i. These tools rarely create entries correctly; they often get the order of information or punctuation wrong, or are in the wrong font/style when created or pasted into the essay. You MUST check to make sure it is correct.
