Library skills for English 1111 online: Assignment

The purpose of this library assignment is to help writers prepare for organizing, evaluating, and documenting sources for essays. In English 1112, you will use these skills as you apply the articles and information you find to your research essay. In English 1111, you will practice the skills by doing only the preliminary part of the process: finding and evaluating possible sources. A librarian is available to help you as you work through this assignment. Librarian contact information is in the box below.

Please note: The below assignment should be composed in a Word document, and you should use this example document as a formatting guide: Example: English 1111 online Library Assignment.

Instructions:

1. Choose a topic: Decide on a topic for a research essay you might write in the future.

• To get you thinking about ideas, you can explore the blue headings in the “Thematic Guide to the Readings” that begins on page xlvii in the front of The Norton Field Guide to Writing.
• As you think ahead to the proposal essay for our class, consider choosing a topic that relate to some problem in a community of which you are a part.
• Choosing a topic now in no way commits you to research this topic further, but you are welcome to use the ideas you come up with here to help shape your proposal essay later this term.

2. Locate sources: For this assignment, you will work to locate three sources for your topic:

• A book: Use the information on the Books tab and find a book on your topic.
• Two articles: Use the information on the Opposing Viewpoints tab to find at least two resources about your topic. Be sure to review the information on the Scholarly, Popular or Trade? tab and watch the related video in the Handouts and Videos tab to help you determine which kinds of resources would be best for an academic research paper.

3. Write up your findings: For each of your three sources, include the following in your Word document:

• An MLA citation for the source
• A sentence or two explaining why you chose the source

4. Submit your document: Send your completed Word document to your instructor through the link provided in your Blackboard course.

(937) 328-6022     library@clarkstate.edu     570 E Leffel Lane Springfield Ohio 45501

Summer semester Hours:  Monday - Thursday  8 am - 7 pm --  Friday 8 am - 5 pm

24x7 Reference Chat