How to find and use
information
Extended essay workshop
May 16th and 18th 2007
Ásdís Hafstad, librarian
First steps
Analysing the topic
Deciding on the main aspects of your topic and
planning your search.
Finding keywords
Once you have worked out the main concepts of
your topic, you need to look for alternative terms or
keywords that describe each concept to use as search
terms.
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Finding information

The library catalogue
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Encyclopedias
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Britanica
Databasis


www.gegnir.is

Books

Journals /magasin
www.hvar.is
The Internet
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Evaluating Resources

Relevance
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Currency
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When
Reliability
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Depth, level, geographical, time, primary/secondary
Who is responsible
Accuracy

Propaganda, marketing...
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Referencing
Referencing involves letting your reader know exactly where you found your
information. It is a standard method of acknowledging the sources of your
information and others' ideas.
You must provide a reference for any information you
‘quote' (use the exact words),
'paraphrase' (use the idea in different words)
'summarise' (express the main points of)
When it is someone else's opinion, theory or information.
Readers can check your sources of information, to verify any quotations you
have used and to follow-up your 'cited' author's arguments.
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Referencing styles

There are many forms of referencing.
http://library.curtin.edu.au/referencing/index.html



Chicago Author-Date referencing
APA referencing (American Psychological Association)
Harvard Referencing
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Direct quoting
In-text citation.
Quotation marks placed around the quote and the author's
name and the year of
publication and the relevant page
number at the end of the citation.
‘The theory was first propounded in 1993’ (Comfort, 1997, p. 58)

Number citation
The citation source appears as a footer/footnote




‘The theory was first propounded in 1993’ 1
1(Comfort, 1997, p. 58)
or
1Comfort, A. (1997). A good age. London: Mitchell Beazl
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Reference list


The reference list at the end of your assignment
then gives the full details of all (the in-text citations
and number citations.
The example below is in different styles.
Comfort, A. (1997). A good age. London: Mitchell Beazl. (APA)
Comfort, A. 1997. A good age. London: Mitchell Beazl. (Chicago)
Comfort, A 1997, A good age, Mitchell Beazl, London. (Harvard)
Referencing styles follow strict rules of punctuation and
indentation. Check with your teachers to determine
which referencing style is preferred
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You need to cite

Whenever you borrow words or ideas, you have to
acknowledge their source.
 Whenever you use quotes
 Whenever you pharaphrace
 Whenever you use an idea that someone else hase alredy
expressed
 Whenever you make specefic reference to the work of
another
 Whenever someone else´s work has been critical in
developing your own ideas
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Important

Keep an accurate record of all the details of
every source you consult.


the author, title of the book or journal article, title
of the journal, year of publication, page numbers,
links, etc.
Acknowledge the source of the ideas that you
have used or mentioned in your work. If you
don't, you could be accused of plagiarism
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What is Plagiarism?

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
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Turning in someone else’s work as your own
Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving
credit
Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
changing words but copying the sentence structure of a
source without giving credit
copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes
up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not
(source: http://www.plagiarism.org/
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Copyright laws

the expression of original ideas is considered
intellectual property, and is protected by
copyright laws, just like original inventions.
Almost all forms of expression fall under
copyright protection as long as they are
recorded in some media (such as a book or a
computer file).
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Referencing recources

Referencing Resources. 2007.
http://library.curtin.edu.au/referencing/index.html/
(accessed May 13th 2007).
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