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Research Guide

Tips, tools, and services to help you find, evaluate, and use library resources in your research and class assignments.

1. Academic Integrity: Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work (words, ideas, data, images) and presenting it as your own, whether you do it on purpose or by accident.

The Three Rules of Citation

  • 1. Direct Quotes: You must put the source's exact words in quotation marks and follow immediately with an in-text citation.
  • 2. Paraphrase/Summary: You must rewrite the source's idea entirely in your own words and sentence structure, but you still need an in-text citation for the original idea.
  • 3. Common Knowledge: You don't need to cite facts widely known to the public (e.g., "The Earth orbits the sun"). When in doubt, cite it!

Academic honesty violations are serious and can result in failing the assignment, failing the course, or even expulsion. Schreiner University’s Academic Code of Conduct.  

2. Integration Techniques: Weaving Sources

Avoid simply dropping quotes into your paper. Instead, learn to weave sources into your argument smoothly.

  • Effective Quoting: Use quotes sparingly—only when the author's exact phrasing is essential. Always use a signal phrase (e.g., "According to Dr. Smith...") to introduce the quote and explain its relevance.
  • Paraphrasing for Meaning: Focus on capturing the source's meaning, not just substituting a few words in the original sentence ("patchwriting"). You must change both the words and the sentence structure.
  • Synthesizing Sources: College writing often requires you to bring multiple sources together in one paragraph to support your central claim, showing how various experts contribute to the conversation.

3. Citation Basics: Managing Style

Proper citation requires consistency and attention to detail. Every paper needs two distinct components:

Component

Function

Example

The In-Text Citation (or Footnote)

Directs the reader to the exact spot in the text where the borrowed material or idea appears.

(Smith, 2022, p. 45)

The Works Cited/Reference List

Provides the full publication details for all sources used, placed on a separate page at the end of the paper.

Smith, J. (2022). College Writing Basics. University Press.

Tools to Help You

  • Choose Your Style: Know the difference between MLA (often for Humanities) and APA (often for Social Sciences), etc., and always confirm the required style with your instructor.
  • Purdue OWL: The Purdue Online Writing Lab is the most reliable, free guide for checking specific citation rules and examples.
  • Library Database Citation Tools: Many library databases (like EBSCOhost) have a "Cite" button that generates pre-formatted citations—but always double-check them against your style guide!

4. Time Management & Organization

Focus on structuring your academic life to reduce stress and maximize focus.

Beat Procrastination – Use the Pomodoro Technique (work in short bursts, take short breaks).

Prioritization – Use the Urgent/Important Matrix to decide which tasks to tackle first.

Digital Organization – Maintain consistent, clear folder and file names for all courses. Use tools such as Zotero (one of the top citation tools available) to manage digital sources. Use the “email” tool in the Ebsco Discovery Service to email articles to your Schreiner email account.