1. GEC 111
The art of the Arguement
Research Guide

2. Welcome to this Research
PowerPoint presentation!
My Name is Amanda Piekart and I
am a Berkeley College
librarian.
Today we will be focusing on your
research needs for your second
paper. We will be using the
Berkeley College library
resources.

3. Your Assignment
∗ Select ONE of the following issues.
Drug testing in the workplace
Couples living together before marriage
Random weapon searches of high-school students
∗ Decide whether you are for or against it. Construct an argument supporting your
side of the issue, organizing it into reasons and conclusions.
∗ Evaluate the strengths and/or weaknesses of your argument.
∗ Write a well-developed essay that includes valid reasons and conclusions for the
arguments presented.
∗ Include 5 Full paragraphs
∗ Use MLA Citation

4. Essay Rubric
This is the Rubric that is being
used to grade your papers. This
powerpoint will help you with
the following expectations!
Please go to the Course
information section on
BlackBoard to view the rubric.

5. In this
presentation
we will be
looking at 3
places to
find credible
resources

6. Before we
start our
research lets
take a
minute to
discover
what a
database is.

7. Maintained by academic professionals such as
They are accurate, reliable and
faculty members and librarians!
credible.
Databases are subscription based resources that
are hand picked to fit the research needs of
Berkeley Students

8. Now that we
know what a
database is
we are going
to start our
research by
going to the
library pg on
blackboard.

9. Where to begin your research?

10. YOU are now
on the library
page. Please
select
Databases

11. Please select
the database
A-Z list

12. The Database
that is most
useful for this
assignment
is: Opposing
Viewpoints in
Context

13. This is
Unlike the internet, databases
opposing
do not recognize questions.
viewpoints this was my first time
Let’s say in
context. I like in a database and I
researching
to call this question “What are
typed in the
databaseissues with high school
some the
one students and weapons?” Lets
stop shop.
see my results

14. My search returned 0 results.
When using a database you
want to conduct Boolean
searches that takes connector
words like and-or-not and gels
two topics together. Lets go
ahead and take my question
and create a short phrase and
use the Boolean operator and.

15. So I took my long
I like to call this
question and
the one-stop-shop
creating a search
because “high are
phrase there
school studentsof
so many types
resources
and weapons” this
availableterm
search through
generated search.
just one a lot of
Lets take a look
results.
at news articles.

16. Lets say we were
interested in this
article.

17. For example, if you agree that
there should be random
In these articles
weapons searches in HS you
you will be able to
could say “Random weapon
find credible facts
searches are effective because
to support your
according to an article in the ….
argument.
an LA high school has seen a
decrease in injuries”

18. Research is a process. You are
not going to find all the material
that you need in one day. In
order to keep yourself
organized you should consider
emailing the articles that you
find to yourself.

20. Another Great feature of
this database is under
each article there is the
citation. If you are
unsure how to cite you
can use this citation.

23. One way you could use
this statistic in your
Statistics are another
great resource.by saying
argument is They are
a “According to the study
way for you to solidify
by …. Female injuries
your argument.
from weapon have
increased from 5.4 in
1993 to 6.1 in 2005”

24. Since this is an online class we
are going to search the
libraries ebrary for eBooks so
that you can have instant
access.
The next few slides will help
you with the process.

25. YOU are now
back on the
library page.
Please go to
Find

28. Use the
This is the
simple search
ebrary. Please
box to type in
click on “sign
your topic. I
in” so you can
am looking for
save books to
info on drugs
your
in the
bookshelf
workplace
later.

29. Lets take a look
at this title.

30. You can search the
book for specific
keywords.
OR
You can browse
through the
chapters.
This is the ebook.
You have full
access to the
WHOLE
book. Lets check
out some of its
features!

31. You can highlight
words and get
definitions, news,
videos and images
all related to that
word.
Look to the left for
an example.

32. Another really useful
tool is that you can
add this book to your
personal bookshelf
and come back to it
whenever you want.

34. This is my bookshelf!
Now every time I sign
onto blackboard and
go to the ebrary I can
go straight to my
bookshelf and not
have to start my
search from scratch.

35. Researching on the web can be very
frustrating and overwhelming! The
next few slide will show you how to
reduce your frustration and narrow
down your search results on the
web.

36. When researching on the internet use this
acronym to find quality resources.
•Source- Who is the author of the website.(Hint look at the domain name and who
wrote any articles on the webpage)
•Currency- How often is the website updated?
•Objectivity- Is the website displaying all angles of a situation or being very one
sided?
•Purpose- Is there anywhere on the website that shows why they created the
website ( look for the “about us” tab it will allow you to further evaluate their credibility)
•Accuracy-Are they listing their sources? Is the information they are providing
accurate?

37. DOMAIN NAMES
What can a domain name tell you?
Domain names are 3 letters you
.Edu-educational website will find at the end of every web
address. For example the Berkeley
Website is:
.Gov-government website www.berkeleycollege.edu Their
domain name is .edu and that
indicates that its an educational
.Org-Organizational institution. Check out this list of
domain names to find out what
Website they mean.
.Net-Network Website
.Com- Commercial
Website

38. We are now going to search the web for
information on unmarried couples living
together. Once we find our website we
are going to evaluate it using S.C.O.P.A
to determine if it is credible enough to
use in a research paper.

39. Let’s say we are interested in this
website.

40. Website Evaluation
Report Card
Source-
About.com &
Deborah Fowles
Currency- No dated
included-

41. Website Evaluation
Report Card
Source-
About.com &
Deborah Fowles
Currency- No dated
included
Objectivity- seems
to be objective and
not trying to
persuade the reader
that living together
before marriage is
good or bad. Just
providing “facts.”
However, they do
not provide where
they found these
“facts” from.

42. Website Evaluation
Report Card
Source-
About.com &
Deborah Fowles
Currency- No dated
included
Objectivity- seems
to be objective and
not trying to
persuade the reader
that living together
before marriage is
good or bad. Just
providing “facts.”
However, they do
not provide where
they found these
“facts” from.
Purpose-

43. Website Evaluation
Report Card
Source-
About.com &
Deborah Fowles
Currency- No dated
included
Objectivity- Seems
to be objective and
not trying to
persuade the reader
that living together
before marriage is
good or bad. Just
laying out the facts.
Purpose-Sounds
like they are
knowledgeable in
their field.

44. Website Evaluation
Report Card
Source-
About.com &
Deborah Fowles
Currency- No dated
included
Objectivity- seems
to be objective and
not trying to
persuade the reader
that living together
before marriage is
good or bad. Just
laying out the facts.
Purpose- sounds
like they are
knowledgeable in
their field.
Accuracy- You can
get in touch with
them. But they have
not provided their
sources.

45. Website Evaluation
Report Card
Source-
About.com &
Deborah Fowles
Currency- No dated
included
Objectivity- seems
to be objective and
not trying to
persuade the reader
that living together
before marriage is
good or bad. Just
laying out the facts.
Accuracy-You can
get in touch with
them.
Does not list her
sources. Who are
“some Experts” and
Where are the
sources for “tenants
in common”

46. Website Evaluation Report Card
Source-
About.com & Deborah Fowles
Currency- No dated included
Objectivity- seems to be objective and not trying to persuade the
reader that living together before marriage is good or bad. Just
listing “facts.”
Accuracy-You can get in touch with them.
Does not list her sources. Who are “some Experts” and Where
are the sources for “tenants in common”
Based on our evaluation I
would NOT use this
website in my research
paper. I would not use it
because :
1.I do not know if the info
is accurate because
there is no currency date.
2.They are not listing any
of their sources and I do
not trust that they are
giving me accurate info.

47. There are a few ways that
you can narrow down
your search when using
Google. Please take a
look at the Advanced
search options.

49. You want to move your
search term from all these
words to this exact phrase.
This will tell Google that
you are searching for a
topic and not just a string
of words. Also, you can
limit your search by
domain name.
Lastly, you can narrow the
date range of info by
selecting a date range. I
selected past year.
These three options will
significantly narrow down
our results.

50. We eliminated over 1million
results. That is a lot of
results to narrow down in a
short amount of time. Now
you can look at just 120
resources. You can always
go back to the advanced
search and select a
different domain name.

51. Don’t Plagiarize….USE MLA Citation

52. To make sure you are
properly citing your
sources use
OWL Purdue website to
learn how to cite everything from
eBooks to websites.

53. Contact a Librarian
973-278-5400 x1230
adp@berkeleycollege.edu
Chat w/ a librarian
7 Days a week

54. Thank you for viewing this presentation! Please go to the Discussion Board Timeline to complete
the tasks for this weeks discussion board.
See you in the discussion board!