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ENG 112: Research Process

Welcome to the English 112 LibGuide! This LibGuide replaces a traditional textbook and is designed to be used with A Pocket Style Manual.

Topic Selection: Purdue OWL

 

Anniversary Logo Designs // Purdue Writing Lab

Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab from Purdue University) has put together a more detailed summary on "Choosing a Topic." (Click the title in quotes to see for yourself!)

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources

Introduction to Sources

You may have been told you needed to use a primary source for a project, or maybe you need to make sure you have both primary and secondary sources. What if your professor asks for tertiary sources? But what exactly is the difference?

Basic Differences

  Humanities Sciences
Primary Source
  • Original, first-hand account of an event or time period
  • Usually written or made during or close to the event or time period
  • Original, creative writing or works of art
  • Factual, not interpretive
  • Report of scientific discoveries
  • Results of experiments
  • Results of clinical trials
  • Social and political science research results
  • Factual, not interpretive
Secondary Source
  • Analyzes and interprets primary sources
  • Second-hand account of an historical event
  • Interprets creative work
  • Analyzes and interprets research results
  • Analyzes and interprets scientific discoveries

Tertiary

Source
  • Summarizes secondary sources
  • Provides topic overviews
  • Provides topic overviews or summaries

Examples

This is a more detailed breakdown of the difference in both the humanities and the sciences.

  Humanities Sciences
Primary Sources
  • Diaries, journals, and letters
  • Newspaper and magazine articles (factual accounts)
  • Government records (census, marriage, military)
  • Photographs, maps, postcards, posters
  • Recorded or transcribed speeches
  • Interviews with participants or witnesses (e.g., The Civil Right Movement)
  • Interviews with people who lived during a particular time (e.g., genocide in Rwanda)
  • Songs, Plays, novels, stories
  • Paintings, drawings, and sculptures
  • Published results of research studies
  • Published results of scientific experiments
  • Published results of clinical trials
  • Proceedings of conferences and meetings
Secondary Sources
  • Biographies
  • Histories
  • Literary Criticism
  • Book, Art, and Theater Reviews
  • Newspaper articles that interpret
  • Publications about the significance of research or experiments
  • Analysis of a clinical trial
  • Review of the results of several experiments or trials

Tertiary

Sources
  • Encyclopedias
  • Reference books
  • Review articles
  • Textbooks
  • Encyclopedias
  • Review articles
  • Textbooks
 

 Used by permission.  Created by Rebecca Hyams, Reference Librarian, Borough of Manhattan Community College Library.

 https://bmcc.libguides.com/primarysecondarytertiary

 

Summary & Paraphrase from Purdue's OWL

Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words

Purdue University's OWL (Online Writing Lab) has produced this useful instructional guide on how to paraphrase to avoid plagiarism.  Click the title above to review the site.

And remember:  Even though you paraphrase a section from a source, you still need to credit it!  Refer to the MLA or APA sections to learn how.

 

Paraphrasing and Summary

"Whether you are writing for the workplace or for academic purposes, you will need to research and incorporate the writing of others into your own texts. Two unavoidable steps in that process are paraphrasing (changing the language into your own) and summarizing (getting rid of smaller details and leaving only the primary points)."  Click the above link to learn more!