Library - Frequently Asked Questions

Peer-reviewed articles are often the best sources of information for research (although there are exceptions), and your teacher will probably ask you to use at least some peer-reviewed articles when writing your paper. The best way to ensure you are finding peer-reviewed articles is to search for articles using one of the library’s academic journal databases, found under the “Articles” link on the library’s homepage. The top two databases in this list (ProQuest Research Library and Academic OneFile (Gale)) contain the most peer-reviewed articles. Once you’re inside the database, look for a check box on the main search page that says “Peer Reviewed” or “Scholarly” and click it. This will ensure that all the results you get are from peer-reviewed journals. A screenshot of the "peer-reviewed" checkbox option is shown below.

One important thing to watch out for: when you search a database like ProQuest Research Library and you click the "peer-reviewed" option, you are finding content from journals that the database has designated as peer-reviewed, but they apply this designation at the journal level, not at the article level. As a result, non-peer-reviewed items may still show up in the results list, if they are present in a journal which is mostly peer-reviewed (see the FAQ question “What does peer-reviewed mean?” for more information about non-peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals).

Screen shot of ProQuest Research Library database

Screenshot of Gale Academic OneFile database

Tags: research, articles, peer-reviewed, scholarly, search strategies, databases, online resources

See also: “What does peer-reviewed mean?

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When you are using the same source multiple times in a row and are considering not citing after every single sentence, the question to ask yourself is whether or not it would be clear to the reader that this comes from the same source. If it would be clear, you can reduce the number of in-text citations. If it would be not clear, you should keep them in. You can also adjust the wording so that it is is more clear. (For example, by saying something like "Smith explains how X causes Y" (with in-text citation) and then elaborating on it.)

Take a look at the example below, in the text on the left, it is clear that both sentences are talking about the same study. In the text on the right, it is less clear.

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There are some instructions for the citing lecture notes at the bottom of the MLA Location page here.

Scroll down to the bottom where the Lecture or Performance section is. Click the + plus sign, there's an example for an English course lecture.

The in-text citation would depend on if you have an author or not. But most likely, you would use the teacher's last name. See MLA In-Text citations page for examples here.

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We have many article databases that you have access to. Start by looking at the Gather Information page on Unlocking research here.

Then take a look at the Find Articles page for the popular article databases here.

ProQuest Research Library and Academic OneFile (Gale) are both general databases with plenty of articles on a wide range of topics.

Watch : [Search ProQuest databases using] Advanced Search here

Watch : How to search Academic OneFile here

If you want more specific databases you will find a list of all the databases we subscribe to on the A to Z database page here.

Here we have a database for Agriculture, Business and Communications & Mass Media, just to name a few subjects.

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Tutors from The Learning Centre and The Writing Centre are available to help you with English, French, Math and other subjects.

Get access to these free services, you can sign up here :

Learning Centre : https://clctutoring.ca/  (For help with any course subject, except English Language)

Writing Centre: https://cwctutoring.com/ (For help with English writing skills like : thesis statements, grammar, spelling, topic sentences, essay editing… )

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Take a look at the following Microsoft Word help page here. It explains how to change your paragraph or document line spacing.

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There's an interactive practice template available here : https://style.mla.org/interactive-practice-template/

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Your Champlain student card (on the Omninvox app) is also your library card. Bring the books that you would like to borrow to the Loans Desk on the Main Floor of the Library and present your Champlain student card. For Library Opening Hours (click here).

To find books in print use the Library Catalogue (click here).

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You can start by using the ebook databases on this page here.

Ebook Central database has many titles on many topics.

Watch : How to use Ebook Central here

Canada Commons has Canadian content in the form of ebooks, reports, government documents and some fiction titles for leisure reading

Watch : Canada Commons Platform Tour here

Credo Reference contains mainly subject encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks, reference books for getting an overview of your topic. It's a great database to start doing your research in.

Watch : How to run a Basic Search on Credo here

Don't forget to use the filters or limiters to narrow your search and get more specific results. If you are not finding results, you may have to use a broader, more general search term.

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When you have more than one source with the same author and year, the APA rule says to distinguish them using letters.

For more information, take a look at this OWL Purdue webpage here and scroll down to where it says Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year.

So one of your citations will be (Author(s), 2020a), another will be (Author(s), 2020b), and so on. You must include these letters in your References list at the end of your paper.

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Have a look at this Microsoft Word help page here. It explains how to use the hanging indentation paragraph option.

See also : Are my research paper and bibliography formatted correctly?

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You can find instructions on this OWL Purdue page near the bottom here:

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year
If you are using more than one reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same order) published in the same year, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter. Then assign letter suffixes to the year. Refer to these sources in your essay as they appear in your reference list, e.g.: "Berdnt (1981a) makes similar claims..."

Berndt, T. J. (1981a). Age changes and changes over time in prosocial intentions and behavior between friends. Developmental Psychology, 17, 408-416.

Berndt, T. J. (1981b). Effects of friendship on prosocial intentions and behavior. Child Development, 52, 636-643.

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In the field of history, a primary source is something that was created or written at the time of the historical event, such as a letter, speech, eyewitness testimony, etc. Do an Advanced Search for your subject, person or event in the library database. On the Results page, you can filter or limit the results by Document types like audio, image, interview, letter, news, video, etc., depending on what your teacher allows you to submit as a primary source. The history databases might have Document type: primary sources for some topics.

In fields such as sociology when you are looking for a primary source you are looking for an article where the author(s) have actually conducted original research. When you are searching in one of the library databases, such as ProQuest Research Library, there is unfortunately no button you can check off in order to find only primary source articles (although you can check off the "peer-reviewed" button... but not all articles from peer-reviewed journals are actually primary sources). Instead, you have to look at the article itself.

A primary source source article will often begin with a literature review, where the author(s) talk about other related research that has already been done. Then the author(s) will describe their methodology for the study they are doing. For example, they might talk about how many people they interviewed and how they located their interview subjects. Then they will talk about their results, analyze them, make conclusions. They do NOT just write about research other people have done.

One clue when you are looking at search results in the database is that these articles normally are not very short. A primary source article is usually at least 5 pages long, often much longer. Peer-reviewed articles that are shorter than that are often book reviews or editorials, neither of which would be considered a primary source.

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This is what we call a block quotation. Here is a link to the instructions for how to insert a block quotation in your research assignment from the MLA In-Text citation page on Unlocking Research.

Scroll down to the section "Indented quotation (block quotation)" and click the + plus sign to see the Format and Example.

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Proofreading all your bibliography and footnotes is not something that we do. Part of your assignment is to proofread your own work. You can let us know if you have any specific questions about any of the bibliography entries or footnotes. For example, you could ask questions like, "If there are two cities of publication, which one do I put?" or "Do I capitalize all the words in the title?" or "What do I write if there are three authors?" or "Which number is the volume and which is the issue?"

Let us know if there is anything specific that you don't understand.

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Use the Insert Footnotes function in Microsoft Word in the Reference Tab OR keyboard shortcut (Alt+Ctrl+F). For complete instructions on creating footnotes look at this webpage.

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There are a couple of helpful links that we have provided on Unlocking Research here.

Plus an example of how to cite the Chemistry BLC lab manual.

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Have a look at the section entitled : Two or more citations from the same source

On this Chicago Style page on Unlocking Research here.

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This is a skill that you get better at with experience and practice. So a good place to start is knowing how to evaluate your sources. You can always find instructions on evaluating your sources, whether they are books, articles or website, on Unlocking Research. See the Evaluate Information section here.

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Go to Unlocking Research website on the MLA instruction guide here. You will see on the left hand side column, the 9 core elements found on the MLA template as well as links to MLA Examples and MLA in-text citation instructions. At the bottom of this page there are links to very useful Additional Resources.

See also : MLA Style : Where can I find a copy of the MLA template?

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