Write In Time

This guide helps you through the process of researching for your Winter 2021 Research Essay and Annotated Bibliography assignments.

From the Research Essay Assignment:

In a formal essay of 1500 words, answer ONE of the questions. (See the Assignment sheet for the question options.) 

The primary texts (available in the Readings section of the course website) will provide the context for the argument of the essay. Each essay question asks you to do two things:

1. Explain a specific argument within one of the two primary texts, and
2. Advance and defend your own argument about that issue, supported by your research.

You are required to incorporate at least TWO reliable, academic secondary sources into your essay, using these sources to develop your argument.
 

From the Annotated Bibliography Assignment:

Using the skills developed during the library workshop, locate THREE reliable, academic secondary sources that relate to the topic of your Research Essay.

These can include articles from scholarly journals, chapters from edited collections of academic essays, books published by academic publishers, or statistical data from reliable sources like government websites.

Material from popular websites, newspapers, and magazines will not be accepted.

Primary Texts:

• “Says Who? Teaching and Questioning the Rules of Grammar” by Ann Curzan
• “The Sound of Racial Profiling: When Language Leads to Discrimination” by Valerie Fridland

Read these texts before you start researching, because it's easier to find information on a topic you already understand a bit than to find something you know nothing about. As you read, think about what you want to search for to learn more.

All you should need to use to find your scholarly resources for this assignment is Omni. Find it at the top of any library webpage, or in MyTrent (ACADEMICS).

Once you've read the primary text, think about what you want to investigate further, and enter terms that will bring up publications on those topics. Then, use filters to limit to "Available Online", "Peer Reviewed Journals", "Articles", "Book Chapters", and/or "Books & eBooks" - depending on what you want to see most.

Take a look at some of the items you find and think about how you might APPLY them to your paper - don't expect them to write your paper for you. You're using these ideas to develop your own opinions. 

Examples

linguistic bias finds:

• 88,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals
• 6,000 book chapters
• 360 ebooks

social identity and language (limited to "Available Online") finds:

• 770,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals
• 32 ebooks
• 17 book chapters

nonstandard english bias (limited to Subject: Lanaguage) finds: 

• 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals

linguistic prejudice finds:

• 42,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals

dialect or language finds:

• 96,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals
• 12,000 book chapters
• 2,700 ebooks

Look for terms that are used in your readings or that appear in readings you find, like lexicography", "prescriptive grammar", "linguistic norms", "language authority". Search Omni for those terms, and see where it leads you.

Remember that Omni offers options to help you keep track of your research, but you must be SIGNED IN for it to remember you.

• Pin to your Favourites anything you might want to go back to later. Do this early in your search, so you can always find it again. (It's very easy to lose something you saw an hour ago!)
  • Your Search History will remember what you searched for in this session, but Favourites will remember it next week or next month.
• When you're ready to create your citations list, use Citation in Omni, and select the format you need to use. Just remember to check it over for details, because it's machine-written.
• As long as your searching "Trent Library" you'll only find items that are available to you, either online or in the library.