Literature

WRITING WORKSHOP PART 1

Use a Variety of Sources

Gather information from a variety of sources. Primary sources, such

as letters, diaries, and newspaper stories, are documents and personal

accounts from the time of the event. They are written by people who

actually experienced the event. Secondary sources, such as encyclopedias

and biographies, are based on information gathered from other sources.

almanacs newspapers DVDs

atlases surveys videos

encyclopedias scholarly journals CD-ROMs

magazines Web sites interviews

Evaluate Your Sources

Only use sources that you can trust. Authors should be unbiased and provide

supporting evidence. No matter what sources you use for your research,

make sure that they are

• authoritative—written by recognized experts on the topic


• reliable—published in trustworthy books, periodicals, or Web sites


• up-to-date—based on the most current research in the field

Be especially careful evaluating Internet sources. Unlike most books and

magazines, much of the information on the Internet is not approved by

anyone before it is posted. So you have to do the work of deciding

which information to trust.

Make a Note of It

• As you gather information, take notes on index cards. Summarize,
  paraphrase, or directly quote the information from your sources. At the
  top of each card, write the main idea of the note so you can easily sort
  and organize your cards later.


• Make source cards by writing the title, the author’s name, and the
  publication information of each source on a card. Then give the source
  card a number. As you take notes, you can track where each idea came
  from by writing the source number on the note card.

For more information about taking notes and documenting sources, see

the Writing Handbook, pages R21–R24.

Writing Tip

Questions Before and during

your research, ask questions

that will help focus and direct

your research. What might

your readers want to know?

What causes and effects are

related to your topic?

Writing Tip

Cause and Effect When

thinking about causes and

effects, be sure that the

cause-and-effect relationship

actually exists. An event that

came before another event

isn’t necessarily the cause.

Writing Tip

Researching The Readers’

Guide to Periodical Literature

can help you find magazine

articles on your topic.

Writing Tip

Text Features Save time by

using the title page, table of

contents, index, and appendix

to judge whether a source will

be useful and to find specific

information within a book.

Writing Workshop Part 1 Research Report 553