19
Using Research to Support Your Arguments
Creating a well-supported argument requires more than expressing your personal opinion; it also requires research. This process includes conducting background research, discovering what other sources and experts have to say about the issue, and evaluating opposing viewpoints.
In this project, you will use a wide variety of sources, such as books, Websites, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and scholarly articles. You have access to a wealth of information through the internet as well as McConnell Library resources. To be an effective researcher you need to determine which types of sources will be useful for the particular project you are working on, and what tools will help you locate such sources.
You most likely have experience finding popular sources using search engines like Google and McConnell Library’s SuperSearch. Articles published in magazines and newspapers, blog postings, and many Websites are written for general audiences who have limited knowledge of the topic. These sources tend to be fairly short and easy to read.
In Core 201, you will expand your source use to include scholarly sources, such as academic journal articles and books published by university presses. Scholarly sources are written by specialists for specialists; they are often lengthy with substantial reference lists. While scholarly sources are often more challenging to read and engage with, they are an important part of the information world. When making an argument, you want to include the most current research and expert opinions; these are found in scholarly sources.
This section discusses the research synthesis assignment, which is intended to develop your searching, evaluation, and source use skills. There will be answers to the following questions.
- What is a research synthesis?
- Why do I need to use different types of sources?
- What makes a source scholarly?
- What is peer review?
- How are scholarly sources different from popular sources?
- Is everything published in a journal a scholarly article?
- How can I identify a scholarly source?
- Why should I use scholarly sources?
- How can I best read scholarly sources?
- Are scholarly sources always better than other types of sources?
- Where can I find scholarly sources?
- Why are there different databases?
- Why should I use a subject-specific database?
- How can I evaluate the credibility of my sources?
- How do I synthesize my sources?
- How do I avoid plagiarism while incorporating sources into my own work?
1.What is a research synthesis?
A research synthesis is a paper that tells the “story” of your research process and helps you bring your sources together to construct your argument. Your professor may use it to help you organize your thoughts for your persuasive speech. It includes:
- Background information about your research topic or question
- Discussion of your search strategies and techniques
- Explanation of how you evaluated your sources
- Synthesis of you