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Writing Your Paper And Citing Your Sources

Introduction

This page is designed to provide tips and resources to assist you in developing a research topic, finding and evaluating information, and writing your paper. It is broken down into six sections.

  1. Define Your Topic
  2. Find Books And Other Physical Materials
  3. Find Articles In Periodicals, Journals, And Newspapers
  4. Expand Your Topic By Adding Facts
  5. Find Internet Resources
  6. Write Your Paper And Cite Your Sources

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Define Your Topic

  • What is your assignment?
  • How many pages or sources do you need?
  • Try to state your topic as a question.
  • Write down concepts and keywords you can use in searching.

You may need to expand or narrow your topic as your research progresses. Remember, you can ask a Librarian for help in defining your topic and concept words.

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Find Books And Other Physical Materials

These sources give a broader view of your topic. Use them first to help get general ideas and start developing your information​.

Starting with books in the online catalog is a good way to get basic information about your topic.

Our library catalog lists books and government publications owned by NSU, including access to over 72,000 eBooks and more than 1.5 million books, audio recordings, and more. It also lists other resources like Audio Visual materials (e.g. CDs, Blu-Rays).

Write down or print the citation (author, title, etc.) and the location information (call number and exact location). Check the circulation status to see if the item is available. Below, there is a catalog record for the book Savages and scoundrels: the untold story of America's road to empire through Indian Territory. It is available at John Vaughan Library in the Main Collection under the call number E93 .V36 2009.

A catalog record for a book available at JVL.

 

The catalog record for a book located at the Broken Arrow Library Campus Stacks--in this case the book Tulsa: oil capital of the world, which has the call number HD9568.T85 K46 2004--will look similar to the image below.

A catalog record for a book available at BA.

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Find Articles In Periodicals, Journals, And Newspapers

These sources give more specific and recent information on your topic. Use them next to develop your research.​

In contrast to popular magazines, journals:

  • Are scholarly in tone and content
  • May contain the word "journal" in the title
  • Have articles that contain references to other scholarly works
  • Are usually published monthly or less frequently (though there are exceptions, e.g. the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

Get in-depth and recent information on your topic using databases to find articles in journals.

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Expand Your Topic By Adding Facts

These are resources on the internet that are comparable to books in the Library Reference collections. 

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Find Internet Resources

Add information from the internet, but be careful, and evaluate what you find!

Use these resources to help select reliable sources for your research.

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Write Your Paper And Cite Your Sources

Now that you have defined and developed your research topic and found suitable resources, it's time to write your paper. The Writing Centers on NSU's Tahlequah and Broken Arrow classes can provide personalized writing assistance.

The following links will help you develop your writing style and correctly cite your sources.