What do the Experts Say?
Searching for Objective Information
So where might you look to find credible information? Head to the TCCD Library Homepage to begin your research. For the activity below, you will develop relevant keywords about gun violence or your topic and type them into the main search box on the left-hand side of the screen to find an article you think provides the most accurate and useful information. Don't forget what you learned from sifting earlier!
Activity
- Go to the Keyword Generator Tool and follow the steps for your topic. Stop when you see "Automatically search with your search terms." The links at the bottom go to the University of Texas' library resources.
- When you finish, make note of the keywords that have been developed.
- Type your search terms into the search box to see your results.
- In the left margin, under Availability, click "Peer Reviewed Journals" to narrow your results to research articles from academic journals.
- Click on the title of the article and scroll down to the description to read a summary (abstract) of the article.
- Click on the title of the article that you find most informative & factual to be taken to the article's landing page where you can access the PDF Full Text, or HTML Full Text, or Link to Full Text, or Full Text Finder. Once you locate the full text of the article, download the PDF, or look for the option to email the article to yourself.
- On the article landing page, click on the "cite" icon in the right-hand column of icons. A box with citations for the article in different formats will appear above the citation. Scroll until you see MLA on the left, then copy & paste the MLA citation into the box on your template. You will also be able to see any other citation you may be using for your course. These are machine generated citations, so you will want to check them against our Citation Guide.
