North Seattle Community College North Seattle Community College
Library & Media Services

Research Guide for ENG101: Finding & Evaluating Online Commentary

Prepared by Elinor Appel
NSCC Librarian (contact info.)

NSCC Library (this will open in a new window)

After this workshop you will be able to

  • find two appropriate online sources for your paper
  • identify the author/authority and bias of the source

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagesource: Foxshop.com

Websites

It will be easy for you to find online reviews and commentary in blogs, movie-review websites, and some online publications. Don't forget to consider the author/authority (who), bias (what is the purpose of the site) and currency (is it up to date?) when quoting your source. The bias of the person being quoted or the mission of the publication is important information to include in your paper.

Looking for a specific bias? Try adding terms to skew your search results, such as: offensive, disgraceful, charming. Others?

In-class Task

With your partner(s) look at the link you are assigned and be prepared to answer:

  1. Who is the author of the content?
  2. Can you identify a bias or standpoint? What is it?
  3. Is this a useful source to quote in a college paper? Why or why not?

Articles

Periodical databases contain full-text articles from newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals. Search the database by combining terms using and, for instance: juno and film (to eliminate articles about Juno in mythology, etc.) or juno and teenage pregnancy to narrow your search further.

When you search a periodical database use the advanced search to add and change your search terms:

Always limit to full text.

Good periodical databases for your research are:

  • ProQuest - general database with articles ranging from news to scholarly
  • Academic Search Premier - another general database

These are only two of numerous library databases. Feel free to explore other databases that might be appropriate to your particular topic, such as Alt-Press Watch (alternative press) or Ethnic Newswatch (ethnic, minority publications).

Citing

For this assignment you are being asked to include in-text citations. Your instructor has given you the information you need, but the following web sites may also be helpful:

Part 1, Juno trailer from Moviefone