Academic Research

Whether you've never used citations or are an APA expert, you're in a good place on your academic journey.

The UCW Library is here to guide you through your time at university. We provide online and in-person help with research, citations, paraphrasing, and more.

In reading this guide, you will:

• Answer your research questions and stay organized with our tips.
• Prevent academic integrity issues by understanding APA citations.
• Learn what is acceptable and available in the library. 

Academic research is an organized process that helps you find information. Most academic research sources are scholarly, meaning they are peer-reviewed, expert-written texts. Depending on your instructor's guidelines, you may use non-academic sources for the assignment. These include newspapers, magazines, and websites.

TIP: look at the document to determine the source type. What visual clues indicate that you are looking at an academic source? If you're unsure how to answer, check the library's guide on assessing sources.
 

The following steps outline the typical research process.

1. Understand: Review your assignment's expectations. Pick a topic and read about it to gain a basic understanding.

2. Brainstorm: Develop a research question and think of some keywords. These help with your research and finding good information.

3.  Search:  To find scholarly information, go to UCanSearch in the UCW Library portal. Think about how you can broaden or narrow your results using the filters and keywords!

    
4.  Evaluate: Use the CRAAP model to find trustworthy and credible sources.
5. Cite: Create a reference list and in-text citations for every source you use.

It is important to keep track of all the sources you used for an assignment. Creating a reference list as you find useful sources saves time. It prevents you from having to track down where you found information later. Staying organized also helps you avoid accidental plagiarism.

These are the three different ways you can save your sources from UCanSearch:

Downloading Articles

• Transfer the article to your computer for safe storage. For each assignment, save all your articles to one folder. It will make them easy to access for reading and citing.
• Many articles on UCanSearch have a Download option available. Click the Download button or icon to save a copy to the device you're using.

Emailing Articles to Yourself

• Another way to save an article is to send it to your personal email address. This is especially helpful if you are not using your own device.
• When you are on the article page, click the Share icon. A dialog box will open. Select the Email tab to enter your email address, then click Send.

Copying the Hyperlink

• Lastly, you can copy the link to the article so that you can go back to the article page on UCanSearch. It's a good idea to save all article links to one document for each assignment. This will make them easy to access for reading and citing.
• To copy the link, click the Share icon and select Create Link.

Citing is giving credit to the sources you have used to write your assignment. You will likely use APA (or American Psychological Association) citations. Other styles, like MLA and Chicago, also exist. The following resources will give you a start on APA. 

There is a lot to learn, but if you ever get stuck, you can get help from a librarian.  

What are Citations?

What is APA?

What is Plagiarism?

Improper Paraphrasing

The Library is here to help with you through the research process! 

To get one-on-one help, or learn more about academic research, visit the resources listed below:

• Get Help From a Librarian
  • Book an appointment, send us an email, use the AskAway chat service, or visit us in person!
• Library Workshops
  • Workshops typically run from week 3 to week 7 of every term. Please use your Office 365 account (not your portal email) to register. If you have missed a workshop, we also offer a few asynchronous ones as well.

There are a lot of additional support services available while you are a student here at UCW - make the most of them!

• UCW Writing Centre
  • Writing coaches offer virtual or written feedback and work with you to develop strong writing skills.
• Peer Tutors
  • UCW tutors are students or alumni who have excelled in a course or shown extraordinary promise. They are available to meet with their peers for a 45-minute study session in order to clarify questions and work through questions related to course content.
• Learning Strategists
  • If you are having issues with study skills, feeling lost, or struggling to keep up with your studies, reach out to the learning strategists!
• Career Development Centre
  • Looking for a job? Need help developing your resume and cover letter? Not sure what career path you want to take? The CDC can help you!

This account gives you free access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and personal cloud storage. Your Microsoft 365 account is required to access all desktop computers and printing on campus.

See the Student IT Resources section of the MyUCW Portal for step-by-step instructions for setting up your Microsoft Office 365 account.

Having trouble? Contact IT via the helpdesk or email ([email protected]).

You can print in the library. You will need your Microsoft 365 login information in order to print.

At the start of your program at UCW, $5.00 of printing credit is applied to your account. If you need more printing credit, contact IT ([email protected]) or ask a librarian to add more credit to your account.

The library does not provide laptops. The library has a limited number of Microsoft Surface tablets that you can borrow for a maximum of 7 days at a time.

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