Introduction to College Level Research
When and Where Should I Cite?
Citing your sources is an essential part of research. Your professors will expect you to acknowledge the sources you used, and the ideas you are using within presentations, papers, and any projects you do while at SUNY Poly. It's important that you provide citations within the paragraphs of your paper, sometimes called "in-text citations" to indicate that ideas you're using are someone else's. In addition to "in-text citations," you'll also need to provide the full citation, including publication information at the end of your paper or as a footnote, depending on the citation style you're using.
Finding Scholarly Resources
Faculty will often require scholarly or peer-reviewed resources for research assignments. Although some peer-reviewed or scholarly articles are freely available, your library subscribes to thousands of journals, and is the best source for these. See the SUNY Poly Library Researching a Topic guide for additional information
3 Minute Overview of Peer Review Anatomy of a Scholarly Article
How Do I Tell Which Sources are Scholarly, and Which are Popular
Arizona's Scholarly Resources Guide
NC State Scholarly Vs. Popular Tutorial
Rider University Guide for Scholarly Vs. Popular Sources
Reviewing Web Sources
Whether they end up in your reference list or not, web sources are often places the first place we start with research. Depending on how you're searching, sites that are biased or contain inaccurate information are often among the first that come up in web searches. And, inevitably Wikipedia is one of the sources that we all consult on a regular basis. So, being able to think critically about what you're reading on the web is important.
Use the sites below to guide you through critical evaluation of web sources, as well as the SUNY Poly Library Evaluating Websites Guide.
Virginia Tech Library Evaluation Page
Kent State Criteria for Evaluating Web Resources
University of Maryland's Evaluating Websites Guide
