Enhancing Research Credibility and Impact

Building Ethos: Research What types of research will help you answer your question? What types of research will your audience consider to be legitimate and convincing?

Research and Audience Keep in mind that when you write for an audience, you are joining an ongoing conversation. To enter that conversation, you need to pay attention to what s being said and who the participants are. You can begin by reading the sources the participants in the conversation use. (Glenn, HGW, 417)

Research and Purpose To inform an audience by reporting on current thinking on a topic, including opposing views but not siding with either Ex.: To inform the audience of current guidelines for developing a city park To analyze and synthesize information and then offer tentative solutions to a problem Ex.: To analyze and synthesize various national healthcare proposals To persuade an audience or give an invitation Ex.: To persuade people to agree with your positive/negative evaluation of a film (Adapted from Glenn, HGW, 420)

Research and Fitting Response Is your researched response appropriate to the problem? Is your researched response delivered in a medium that will reach its intended audience? Will your researched response successfully satisfy the intended audience? (Adapted from Glenn, HGW, 420)

Books Books add a great deal of ethos to your argument. They show you are entering the broader conversation. Citing a book shows you worked hard to find authoritative support for your argument. PSU Library CAT (Catalogue) Under the search button, click Search the CAT http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/home.html Citation on Works Cited Page: Last name, First name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year Published.

Journal Articles Peer-reviewed articles add a great deal of ethos to your argument. They show you are entering the broader conversation. Citing an article also shows you worked hard to find authoritative support for your argument. PSU Databases Among the Start Here tabs, click Databases. http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/home.html Citation on Works Cited Page: Last name, First name. Author(s). Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Stanbury, Sarah. Feminist Film Theory Seeing Chr tien s Enide. Literature and Psychology 36.4 (1990). 47-66.

Databases: Online Journal Articles and Reference Works JSTOR: Search over a thousand journals. http://www.jstor.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/action/showBasicSearch Project MUSE: Search hundreds of journals. http://muse.jhu.edu.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/browse/ MLA International Bibliography: Arts/ Humanities http://collections.chadwyck.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/home/home_mla .jsp Oxford English Dictionary: Find History and Etymology of Words http://www.oed.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ Listen to Music Free! http://www.libraries.psu.edu.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/psul/artshumanities/m usicaudio.html English 15 Course Resources: CQ Researcher, Opposing Viewpoints, and Gale Virtual Reference Library http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/course/up/ah/eng015.html Columbia Encyclopedia: Info Please http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/ Literature Online: Critical References http://lion.chadwyck.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/initCritRefSearch.do?listT ype=ref Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html