ENGL 150 - Wykes
Finding Material for Your Process Analysis Essay
Beginning Your Search
To find information about a topic, your best source is Credo Reference
You might also try one of the subject encyclopedias available from the FLITE web site.
Remember that you should never cite Wikipedia in an academic paper. Use it to find other sources only.
Finding Books at FLITE
For books and documents in the circulating collection (Main Stacks), use the Online Catalog.
Book Locations- Main Stacks, Call Numbers A-H - Lower Level
- Main Stacks, Call Number J-Z - Third Floor
- Reference - First Floor
- Government Documents - Second Floor
Magazines, Journals, Reports
Short articles about your topic might be helpful. Magazines and academic journals will be more current than encyclopedias and books.
Use this database of magazine or journal articals and reports/essays to find current and reliable information.
General OneFile with thousands of articles on all topics
Newspapers
To find current information, try Access World News.
Use Google News with the time limited search to find Newspapers too.
Trouble with Your Searches
Suggestions to retrieve better/more results:
- Search topic as both a keyword and subject
- Combine terms with AND or OR
- Set date ranges limit to a specific time
- Use quotes for phrases
- Subject searching: Search for the subject of your topic.
Example:
Topic: German Immigration
Subject: German Americans - Keyword searching: Search for keywords on your topic.
Example:
Topic: The invention of the car
Keyword(s): automobile history
Citing Sources
Citation Style Guide: MLA (PDF)
An online version of FLITE's MLA Quick Reference handout, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
MLA Formatting and Style Guide from OWL (Online Writing Lab at Purdue)
More examples of how cite different types of sources using the MLA format.
Citations - a FLITE guide
A guide to understanding citations, and a link to different online citation management tools that can help you input your sources and create your bibliographies.
Online Information
Internet Evaluation
Beware Content Farms on the Internet, like eHow, eZine and Mahalo.
Try this website instead: HowStuffWorks.com
Use this guide to help evaluate websites.
Check out urban legends, hoaxes, and misinformation.
Snopes.com
Look for the truth of political comments and attacks at PolitiFact.com
Politifact.com
Contact: Kristen Motz / Email / Phone: 231-591-3625 / Office: FLITE 140H
Don't forget, you are welcome to come to the Oval Information Desk and ask for help any time. You can also call us 231-591-3602 or chat with us.
Last update: March 15, 2011