34 Chapter Summary
In this chapter, you have learned about information literacy and how to recognize when information is needed. Searching and finding various sources of information and learning how to evaluate them are important skills to develop. Even if a journal is identified as peer-reviewed, it is important to be critical when reviewing an article to determine its quality and suitability for your paper. Search for a journal’s homepage through Google and check the “About” or “Journal Info” sections to see whether it uses the peer-review process. You can search for individuals on the editorial board to verify that they are real people. Remember, do NOT reference or use Wikipedia and other similar websites when writing scholarly papers.
Your Writing Journey
Now that you have figured out your assignment and read all there is to know about a topic, you will need to find quality sources to support your writing. This chapter introduced you to the process of finding good evidence and how to be selective in what you include in your paper. Learners commonly write their papers and then seek citations to support their argument, but this approach limits you to a narrow understanding of the topic. Instead, be open to new ideas and really absorb what others have written. Take detailed notes about what you find in the literature and don’t forget to include citations, so that you don’t lose track of where you found the information. This is a good time to get started on a reference page to house all the sources you have found for your paper.