Library:Help for Distance Students/Research Toolkit

Assignment first steps

Develop a plan before you dive into your assignments. Below you'll find links to guides that will help you set priorities for the term, manage your deadlines and sharpen your research skills.

• Getting Started on your Research: covers how to check that you understand your assignment, how to develop your topic and to judge the quality of the sources you find.

• Library Research: describes the research process and has tips and strategies for making the most of what the Library has to offer.

• Time Management: has helpful plans for organizing your term, your week and even your day.

• Assignment Calculator:"is a time management tool that breaks down research assignments into a series of manageable steps, while providing expert tips for success. Enter the assignment start date and due date to get planning!"

Citing

Don't think of citing only as an end-of-the-assignment activity. Save yourself a lot of time and stress by tracking your sources as you encounter them.

• How to Cite: covers the basics of citing and gives a brief overview of some of the most popular citation styles used at UBC.

• RefWorks is a web-based citation management program that UBC students, staff and faculty can use to store, share and format citations.
  • Refworks will also create your bibliography and with its Write-N-Cite tool, can be used to format your paper within MS Word.

• Research and Documentation Online: is an excellent web guide to MLA, APA, Chicago and CSE styles. Includes sample papers formatted in each style.

Assessing your sources

Information sources vary wildly in terms of accuracy, currency, objectivity, depth & breadth of coverage and even the authors' qualifications. Judging the quality and suitability of your sources is a key part of the research process.

• Critical Thinking: includes how to examine an author's arguments to "identify (his or her) feelings, beliefs and cultural/societal influences."

• Evaluating Information Sources: explains how to critically analyze materials and to assess how appropriate they will be for your research.

• Scholarly versus Popular: distinguishes between scholarly and popular sources, with examples and a quick check-list.

Finding your sources

• In a Library Research Guide: A short video which explains how research guides connect you to the best sources of research on a topic-by-topic basis.

• In Summon: Guide to finding and using the Library's general search engine. Includes 2 quick videos explaining basic and advanced searching using the search box on the Library homepage.

• In the Search Collections Portal: brief video.

• In the The Library Catalogue: Basic Search video | Advanced Searching video.

• For Journal Articles: online guide to finding articles with and without a citation.

• For other materials - check out The Research Help Portal: with guides to finding specific material types such as newspapers, government publications, primary sources, maps and more.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is the foundation of university success.

• Academic Integrity & Plagiarism: covers "how to express original ideas, cite sources, work independently, and report results accurately and honestly." Includes an interactive tutorial.

• Academic Honesty: part of the UBC Digital Tattoo website and covers the pitfalls of cheating in an online world.

• Copyright at UBC: the official copyright website for UBC. Covers copyright guidelines and requirements for faculty, staff & students and includes an FAQ, resource guides and email support.