This video will show you how to develop a strong research question. Your instructor has given you a choice of paper topics. You need to choose a moderately specific topic for yourself. From there, create a focused research question, and it will help direct and guide your writing. A good paper should provide good discussion and answer your research question.
To find a list of useful reference books, go to the Reference Sources section of this course guide.
This video will show you how to search Summon, the UBC Library’s most comprehensive search engine. Summon will find information in any discipline and in just about any format, including print and e-books, journal articles, newspaper articles, CDs and DVDs and much more!
Tip: For your own research, use both Summon and other subject-specific databases. Go to the Newspaper and Article Databases section of this course guide to find the best databases for your research topic.
When you find information sources, make sure they are high-quality and authoritative. The following video will show you how to find and cite scholarly sources.
The UBC Writing Centre offers writing consultations and workshops to help you succeed in your writing assignments.
Citations, aka, references give credit to others for their work and ideas and allow readers to track down the original work if they choose.
Whenever you use someone else's words or ideas in your paper or presentation, you must indicate that this information is borrowed by citing your source. This applies to written sources you've used, such as books, articles and web pages, as well as other formats, such as images, sounds, TV/film clips, and DVDs. Failure to cite such sources may be considered plagiarism. Avoid distress and embarrassment by learning exactly what to cite – the who, what, where and when of your source!
For more information and help with citation, please visit the UBC Library's How to Cite guide.