Welcome to the course guide for 
ESL 030!
This guide will help you find sources for your research paper.
Basic Requirements for Research Paper
(Check the professor's detailed instructions for more information.)
- 6-8 pages long
- Information from a minimum of 8 sources
- 12 in-text citations
- Must use physical resources (print books from library)
- Must use digital resources (articles from the library databases)
Outline for Today's Session (April 2)
1. What is the research and writing process?
2. Gale in Context is a very good database if you don't have a topic yet:
- Go to Campbellsville.edu/library
- Scroll down and click the red button that says Databases A-Z.
- Click Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints.
- Click the lightbulb icon that says Browse Issues.
- Click a topic and explore the resources given.
- You can also use the search box at the top of the page.
- Activity: Find an article about your topic and fill out the brainstorming web.
3. Idea for finding a topic and a book: Look at the Library Guides for different majors.
- In college, what do you want to major in?
- Go to Campbellsville.edu/library
- Scroll down and click Library Guides.
- Click on a guide for an academic major you are interested in.
- Activity: take a picture of the title and Call Number for a book that looks interesting or is related to your academic interests. (Bring the picture to the library and we will help you try to find it.)
4. CU Search basics: Use this to find books and articles.
- Sample topic to search: misinformation
- Sign in (see the link at the top right)
- For books: look at the search filters on the left side:
- Click Looking for a...
- Click Books.
- Click a source and read the summary.
- If you want to save it for your paper, click Cite and Share. Copy the citation and link into a Word Document on your computer and save it for later. Always edit the automatic citations since they often have mistakes in them.
- Take a picture of the Call Number. Example Call Number: ZA 3075 .C675 2018
- In the future, bring this call number to the library and we will help you find it.
- For articles: go back to the library homepages and type in your search term again.
- Click Looking for a...
- Click Articles.
- Click Show Only.
- Click Full text.
- Click Peer-reviewed.
- Click Year of Publication and select a date range if you want only the newest sources.
- Click a source, and read the summary.
- If you want to save it for your paper, click Cite and Share. Copy the citation and link into a Word Document on your computer and save it for later. Always edit the automatic citations since they often have mistakes in them.
- Boolean searching and quotation marks: see these animations
- Here are some tutorial videos if you need to review this process in more detail.
5. Here are other databases to check out. Each database can create automatic citations, so look at the top or right of a page for the citation tool. Go to the library homepage and click Databases A-Z, and click on the following:
- Britannica - Academic Edition - Get reliable articles about general topics. (It is an encyclopedia like Wikipedia, but Britannica is appropriate to cite in college papers.)
- Global Newsstream - Find news articles from around the world. This also creates automatic citations.
- Gale eBooks - Find encyclopedia articles about topics.
- Academic Search Complete - Click "Full text" here. This is similar to CU Search but often gives different results. It includes long academic articles and short news articles.
6. Citing Your Sources
- Make sure to create in-text and full citations at all stages of writing, even when making your outline and rough draft.
- Always edit the automatic citations since they often have mistakes in them.
- See our Citation Styles guide here for example citations.
