Research Assignment
A research assignment that does not have sources to support arguments presented in the paper is as good as a fiction story. As such, it is important that research writers are careful about the research papers they use when writing a research paper. This article focuses on tips on how to select sources for research assignments.
a) Have a variety
It is advisable that researchers focus their search on books, although they should not limit themselves to books. In addition, using different sources such as journals, research papers, the internet, and magazines among others adds credibility to the research paper.
b) Understand the nature of your research
Is the research of qualitative or quantitative nature? This will help you know whether to capitalize on primary or secondary data and sources of information. Understanding the nature of research also helps a researcher in prior preparation of challenges that arise when looking for sources or sourcing for research materials.
c) Use relevant sources
When writing a research paper, researchers should focus on raising arguments that are supported by relevant facts from relevant sources. Relevant sources should focus on providing evidence suitable to either support or disapprove a thesis statement or hypothesis.
Researchers can identify the relevance of a source through reading the content table, speed-reading, or reading a commentary written on the source.
d) Use authoritative sources
Books are safe to use because before publishing the content is thoroughly scrutinized. Before using sources such as internet sources and journal articles, it is imperative that researchers ascertain that the sources are peer-reviewed.
e) Differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable search on the internet
Beginning a search for sources on the internet when writing a research paper is a good start, but rely heavily on the internet is not acceptable. The internet helps in giving a guideline on suitable resources that can be used for a research subject.