How to find good sources for a research paper or a term paper and determine its reliability
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Finding a source of literature for writing any research paper, whether it is an abstract or a monograph, is not a problem. You can easily find the original works of Cicero and Nietzsche thanks to the same Internet. However, it is just as easy to find what Cicero and Nietzsche allegedly once said. Can you feel the difference?
While preparing college research papers, you will need to pay as much attention to finding sources of information as you do to paper writing itself. Often students do not know how to determine which sources of information are trustworthy and which are worth skipping. Therefore, students need help writing my paper service to write a good research paper. With the experienced writers’ help, you’ll get through your college writing assignment faster. Feel free to contact experts when you need help with your academic papers.
In this article, we will tell you what sources you can use in your term and dissertation, what kinds of them exist, and how to find a reliable list of literature.
Source requirements for a term paper
Finding literature for a term paper is not the easiest task. After all, students always have a question about how to determine good sources on the Internet or in the library. Agree, it is unseemly to use in a scientific work what is fiction or dubious conclusions of a person who has absolutely no weight in scientific circles. Therefore, it is always important to check the citation authenticity and the author’s professional reputation also.
How can you check the authenticity of a quotation? There are two ways. The first is to go to the library and find the exact source. The second is to type the quote into Google in quotation marks. For example: “cogito ergo sum”. The search engine will give you results that are for this exact phrase.
It is worth remembering that literary sources have certain requirements:
- Use as many sources as possible. Universities often set minimum figures for different types of work. Choose modern monographs, popular scientific sources, and the latest editions of normative acts: the literature should not be older than five years.
- Make a selection only of the literature that corresponds to the topic of the term or thesis.
- Take into account different types of sources for the term paper: thematic monographs, encyclopedias, scientific articles, journals, and electronic sites. Textbooks and textbooks can be used, but not as the main sources.
- It is advisable to include several foreign literary sources on the topic.
- Always check that literary sources are reliable and scholarly.
- What literature can be used if you are studying historical aspects? You can refer to sources older than five years if the term paper topic is justified.
So, how do you learn to discard information garbage, false facts, and speculations and be able to find reliable sources of literature for your thesis, research article, and so on? Read on and you will learn how to search for such literature.
Why it is important to find the right source on the topic
For a reference list for a term paper, it is important to look for sources that you can trust. Now you can search for literature for a term paper or diploma online. You can find almost any source on the Internet. Especially for students are relevant sites for finding literature for coursework. Due to a lack of money and time, they cannot buy the book they need for their studies. At the same time, students often perform obligatory scientific work: writing reports, and essays, solving tests, and laboratory, independent work. And here it is important to be able to successfully search for a list of references, which will allow you to do the teacher’s assignment on the excellent.
Where to find a reference list
So, where can you find a list of reliable literature:
- go to the university library;
- ask your thesis advisor to pick up a list of literature on the topic;
- study monographs on the topic, and especially lists of references;
- to search for research papers and articles in verified Internet resources.
Methods for assessing source credibility: how to find the sourc
How to find the right literature? To do this, you will have to learn how to determine the credibility of information, which you can easily use not only in everyday life but also in scientific papers.
There are two main methods for this:
- The method of evaluating sources for scholarly papers.
- The method for evaluating sources for everyday life.
Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
Method for evaluating sources for research papers
Before you find a reference list online, follow this algorithm of actions:
- Find out the academic standards for your paper. Some types of papers have more serious requirements, while others have only light guidelines attached to them, such as newspaper or magazine articles.
- Find out about the author’s reputation. In any field of knowledge, there are names whose fame is unshakable. The main thing here is not the lack of reputation, but the absence of a bad reputation for the author. Today it is not difficult to find scandals on the Internet in which certain scientists have been involved.
- Mention those sources that will be essential to the scholarly work. It is perfectly safe to use lists of sources found in peer-reviewed or scholarly articles.
- Be wary of online information. Such sources are in the public domain, regardless of their professionalism or skill level. Where, then, do you get your sources from the Internet?
- Try to distinguish between scientific and non-scientific publications. Scientific publications include a presentation of new ideas, criticism of old ideas and publication of fresh data, discussion of theories, references to sources of information, and research done. Non-scientific publications may deal with a scientific topic (e.g., political science or sociology), but they are mostly created for entertainment rather than for information. They are also easily distinguished by the sources in which they are published. When working on a serious academic project, it is better to use scientific papers and articles.
- Evaluate the timeliness of the data. Science does not stand still, theories and concepts are constantly evolving. What seemed like revolutionary approach years or months ago may be outdated and sometimes incorrect today. So always pay attention to the date of studies and publications.
- Check with alternative opinions. If in doubt, you can always contact the department where you can find the literature and how authoritative the source of interest is. They are usually quite well-informed about the credibility of a particular author. However, you should always ask for an alternative opinion before you finish your work.
A method for everyday life: how to find sources
If you want to understand where to find a list of references used for everyday needs, you need a clear algorithm for what to do.
So, if you have a resource in front of you that needs to be evaluated for reliability, do the following:
- Determine the professionalism of the source. Try to estimate the amount of time and money spent on the article. In real life quite often there is a rule: the more time and money spent on the publication of the material, the higher the probability of its high credibility. Bad design, poor layout, too many ads, and spam, pop-ups – all this is a clear indicator that the resource is designed not to inform, but to make money. And if the main goal – is to make money, then they will publish what the user wants to see, but not the actual information. A good site with reliable information looks professional and serious. In this case, it is not necessarily that the creators had to pay a fortune for it.
- Find out the name of the author of the publication. Information from any source can be trusted only if it is signed by the name of the author, who has a certain scientific status in a particular field. Articles without authorship are better to discard immediately.
- But if you are going to emphasize the author’s name, it is worth highlighting the following points:
- where the author works,
- his goals and values,
- what reputable institution he is affiliated with, and what value his work brings,
- what kind of education he has,
- whether he has other publications,
- what experience the author has,
- whether the author’s work and ideas are cited in other authoritative sources.
- Try to determine the publication’s target audience. The broader the audience the publication is dedicated to, the more likely it is to contain contradictory and even unreliable information. It is just as harmful to us to specialized sources. People often misunderstand the essence of a publication and misinterpret information. If you do so, you risk damaging your reputation as much as you would if you used false information.
It is only at first glance that the process of determining whether a source is credible seems complicated and time-consuming. In fact, with a little practice, you’ll begin to notice the direct and indirect signs and know exactly how to find the right reference list. In the end, your work will be perfect, we believe it!
However, you can turn to the best college essay writing service if you have a desire but no time to search and write a term paper or dissertation. Experts know exactly where and how to look for reliable sources and prepare your work in time.
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