Research Paper 01: Biographical Data

Initially, we are conducting an Author Biographical Search.

Overall Objective: Gain understanding and expertise on the life of your selected author

Mini-Objective 1: Find source material 

While in the library Mrs. Bright revealed to you a variety of sources that will be helpful in the project, including:

• Infotrac > Student Resource Center – Silver and Bibliography Resource Center + Marquis’ Who’s Who
• Catalog > 800-899 Literature Criticism; 920 Collected Biography; 921 Individual Biography; REF 800; REF 920; REF 921

We asked you to vary the source locations where you identified material to familiarize you with the library and the kinds of source material you will likely use during the project. Initially, your primary focus should be on the reference (REF) section.

• Reference section as a starting point; find articles 10-30 pgs. for general background on author
• Targeted focus for later research of individual biography (921) and literary volumes (800s)

Key to your success is the collection of data with actual hard copies of your source material. As a result, there are a few issues regarding the printing of articles from the online databases and the photocopying of print articles, such as:

Printing:

• Print using the Print button within the page
• May need to use Print function of the browser; different sources function differently (pop-up formatted page; look for icon)
• Be aware of length, formatting, and have patience

Books & Photocopying:

• Check carts for volumes not on shelf; discarded by someone else
• Photocopying; spin the larger reference books on the photocopier to get one page per copy sheet
• Make sure that you photocopy the front and back of the title page for print sources (contains all necessary bibliographical information)

To get started you need no less than three (3) high quality sources about your selected author. You may need more. What’s more, you may find that you need to re-search for more material after you have thoroughly read and evaluated your original three sources. The three must be varied in form:

1. 1 Database (printed)
2. 1 Print w/ title page (photocopied)
3. 1 Free Choice (database or print)

Each class began to find that there are a number of quality resources from Reference section; series, volumes, etc. These included the following titles:

• American Writers
• British Writers
• Concise Dictionary of Literary Biography
• Notable American Novelists
• Beacham’s Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction

Having identified and collected your initial source materials you need to read them, thoroughly, marking-up the text to note sections that may be valuable.

Mini-Objective 2: Identify the common data across your sources – highlight (yellow) each instance of data that appears in all three or more sources

If you find data that is established in 3+ sources, it is generally considered common knowledge and need not be cited. This is a key, early step in avoiding plagiarism. Not doing this exposes you to possible accusations of cheating, at worst, or sloppiness, at best, neither of which is good. Moreover, either is considered plagiarism, which is also not good!