Handout for Finding Sources for Paper #2!

For those of you who missed Tuesday's class, or who have class on Thursday (since that's cancelled by Fall Break), here's the handout I gave the class about finding secondary sources for Paper #2. I'm going to post a video tonight to go along with this handout, but this is the basic information. Let me know if you have any questions, but do watch the video first because it will take you through the entire process.

FINDING LEGITIMATE SOURCES FOR PAPER #2

Q: What’s a legitimate source?

A: Something that has an author, and/or is from an authoritative source. Look for sources that come from accredited journals, magazines, websites, or other organizations. Wikipedia itself isn’t a good source since anyone can edit the articles and you can’t trace the actual author. Likewise, some dude’s website isn’t a great source since we don’t know what makes his ideas authoritative, or well-researched, or even credible.

Q: So where do I find legitimate sources besides a random Google search? 

1. Click on the “library” tab at the bottom of the ECU home page (go to the very bottom).
2. On the library page, you’ll see EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and a search bar. This gives you access to thousands of journals that will all lead to legitimate sources. Search for something here. For example, I searched for “drive-in movie theaters.” Click on “full-text” to make sure you get the entire article.
3. A variety of articles come up, and I’m interested in this one: “The Rise, The Fall, and the New Rise of Drive-in Theaters.” If you click on this, you get the full article (which you can listen to, as well as read!) and a variety of options to save, print, or even cite the article.
4. Read the article and see if it adds to your conversation: what new information does it tell you about your topic? Does it provide a naysayer perspective? Or do you agree with it? Find a passage you can quote in your paper so you can respond to the author’s ideas.
5. Click on “cite” and scroll down to MLA; cut and paste this for your Works Cited page (if you want to use it, that is).

Q: How do I integrate an article into my paper as part of the conversation?

A: Remember that you should introduce the article (author + title) and then respond to it, the way you would in a normal conversation when someone speaks: you listen and then respond.

EX: In Alisa Chang and Ari Shapiro’s article entitled, “The Rise, the Fall, and the New Rise of Drive-In Theatres,” Shapiro explains that a drive-in theatre “wasn't just appealing because it was cheap. Drive-in movies also felt more casual than the traditional theater experience” (Chang, Shapiro). This is important because with the drastic decline of drive-in theaters across the US, we’re losing that communal experience of watching movies outdoors, with your car packed full of your entire family (even your dog!) and not worrying about being too loud or having a kid snoring in the back seat.

Q: So what should my Works Cited page look like?

A: Remember, EBSCO tells you exactly how to cite the article. Then, simply cut and paste alphabetically (by author) into your Works Cited page like so…

WORKS CITED

Ailsa Chang, and Ari Shapiro. “The Rise, The Fall And The New Rise Of Drive-In Movie

Theaters.” All Things Considered (NPR), July 2020. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=6XN2020072706&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Jarvis, Brooke. “Paper Tiger.” The Best American Travel Writing 2019. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.