Intro to Research

This module is about using information ethically.

You have found, read, and taken notes on the right number and type of resources to satisfy the assignment, that all appropriately address aspects of your research question; they include scholarly sources and primary information that you located in library databases and found to be credible.  You are ready to write, right? All you need is to toss a few properly cited quotes from your sources into your project, and you’re done.

Right?

Not quite… Using the notetaking guidelines from Module 4b, your notes on each article start with a full citation, in the required style, that clearly indicate whether each note is a direct quote, a paraphrase, or a summary, and includes your own thoughts on the material you read.  You’ll need to know this information to synthesize and analyze your research, and to integrate it, using properly cited and referenced quotations, paraphrases, and summaries, into a project that communicates in your own voice. This is easier than it sounds! Check out these lessons to learn how.

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll be able to understand: 

• Copyright and intellectual property
• Plagiarism and citation, including APA and MLA styles
• How and when to quote, paraphrase, and summarize
• Using signal phrases to integrate researched information into your project

Concepts from the module

Creative Commons = a set of defined licenses that allow the creator to waive certain rights granted to you under copyright law while still retaining your copyright, and might therefore freely allow others to use or reuse your work

Citation =  a process that allows content creators to use the copyrighted work of others within the scope of copyright law when acknowledged using defined conventions

Incorporating sources = bringing the synthesized and analyzed work of others into your own work to support your discussion and conclusions 

Intellectual property =  a set of legal rights that empower creators to restrict others from using their creative works, including copyright

Vocabulary from the module

Common knowledge = information that is widely accepted as fac that cannot be copyrighted and does not need to be cited

Copyright = legal recognition of exclusive rights of information creators, including the ability to copy, distribute, perform, adapt, or otherwise use that work.

Fair use = certain uses that are explicitly allowed and exempted from copyright

In-text citation = the portion of proper citation that happens within the body of a work, used in both MLA and APA styles

Paraphrase = rephrasing the ideas from a source in your own work, requiring a citation

Plagiarism = intentionally or accidentally stealing the work or ideas of another person, violating their intellectual property rights; easily avoided by proper citation

Public Domain = a work that is completely free from copyright

Quote = using the exact words from a source in your own work, requiring a citation

Reference list = a form of bibliography used by APA style publications

Signal phrase = a phrase that indicates the source of the information you are using and incorporates the evidence into your discussion

Style Guides = published conventions that define uniform rules for proper citation; MLA and APA are the two styles that you'll encounter at Gateway

Summary = rephrasing the ideas from a source in an abbreviated form your own work, requiring a citation

Works Cited = a form of bibliography used by MLA style publications