By Tess Bundoc
In my research, I found that Frost’s “I took the one less travelled by/ and that has made all the difference” approach was not always the most practical – although I’ve followed this path many times in other areas of life. One of my graduate courses modules began with a question, “Do you know that there is nothing new under the sun and that this notion came from the Bible (my paraphrase)? Ecclesiastes 3:15 says, “Whatever is has already been …” Researchers often draw on other scholars’ works to support their arguments and or findings.
Know What You Need to Research
According to Enago Academy, it is important to determine the scope and delimitation of your research at the outset to ensure that it is manageable, relevant, and able to produce useful results. In an interview with Dr. Tess Stockslager, Professor Elyse Pinkie recommends having a research question to guide your research. Moreover, she says, you need to focus on your audience from the start. She says further that sometimes she sees something interesting but it’s not relevant to her research question so she would leave it for now and maybe save it for a later project. You can do that, too. At some point in my research for a magazine article, I got carried away with exciting scholarship that I forgot my target audience. My professor’s feedback reminded me that my target readers were Christians who may react unfavorably to my ideas, which were based on some literary critics’ theories. In a course during my master’s, I learned one of the rhetorical elements in Aristotle’s “Rhetorical Triangle” is “pathos,” the audience’s emotion (Newbold). We need to be focused and sensitive to our audience, as Professor Pinkie says. In her feedback on my project, my professor advised me to include only source information that was relevant to my research question. It is helpful advice, as it is easy to get distracted and lose our focus.
Narrow down the scope of your research; establish perimeters (Bhosale). Consider your time allotment and resources. Researching my topic, reading the psalms as poems, I found an avalanche of materials on the subject matter, but, I eventually saw a pattern in those articles: the psalmists intentionally used certain literary devices to deliver their messages. As there were so many devices found in the Psalms, I limited my work to only several so I could discuss them in-depthly within the required number of pages. Moreover, instead of covering all the 150 Psalms, I chose representative Psalms to illustrate the genres. You can do similarly with your research project.
Where to Find Sources
Traditionally, we go to books and peer-reviewed journal articles to obtain sources for research projects. However, according to Dr. Stockslager, there are non-traditional materials that are also authoritative in themselves. In her dissertation, part of her materials came from interviews, blogs, and popular video channels. There are many websites and databases you can access, some of which are available through your institution. Here’s a partial list of sources I tapped for my research project: Google Scholar, Academia.edu, JSTOR, EBSCO Host, certain blog sites, online lectures on the YouTube channel, and university library websites. Liberty University Falwell Library is an example of university libraries you can tap to find sources.
In Working in the Archives: Practical Research Methods for Rhetoric and Composition, Barbara L’Pattenier et al. write that conversations, letters, museums, ephemera, schoolbooks, records, magazines, and old newspapers can be sources of research material, depending on your topic.
Sometimes, social media can also be useful, depending on the credibility of the post’s author.
How to Know if a Source is Credible and Appropriate for Your Project
Generally, you would know if an author were credible and authoritative in their field by looking at their biographic information (SUNY). According to SUNY (State University of New York) Oswego, books and scholarly journal articles are usually written by professors or researchers associated with a university or laboratory where they work. It also states that the author’s topic should match their expertise. For example, an English professor may be an expert in Jane Austen but not in chemical compounds. In her lecture on “Psalms and Poetry,” Professor Christie Hayes of Yale Divinity School often referred to Hermann Gunkel, an authority on the form of the Psalms. That’s another way of testing the credibility of your source – if they refer to other authorities in the field, SUNY says. Scholarly journals at websites like JSTOR.org, EBSCO-Host, and university libraries are usually peer-reviewed. It is helpful to search in these sites as well. Most of these sources are accessible through your educational institution, in my case, through Liberty University. SUNY further says that you can also look at the credibility of the publisher, and that university presses are generally reputable. In an empirical research, some benchmarks of credibility are: a well-designed research method, logical and reasonable conclusions, and the author’s use of sources to support their conclusions (SUNY).
Timeliness – is another factor to consider when using a source. What makes a study timely? My professor said that the time frame of your research depends on your topic. According to SUNY Oswego, for most subjects, your sources should be within the last five to ten years of publication. I chose an ancient topic, the Psalms as poems, hence, I went back to Old Testament times for historical and cultural contexts that would help me understand Hebrew poetry. Thus, my sources were old books, articles published earlier than ten years, academic lectures and discussions tracing the Psalms to the ancient Israelites, as well as contemporary research on the topic, which I found in online magazines and blogs.
How to Incorporate Sources into Your Writing
In my master’s degree program, I learned that paraphrasing was preferable to quoting verbatim. For poetry, the use of full blocks is inevitable from time to time as the form is made up of lines. I used the 9th edition of MLA, which recommends incorporating less than four lines in your text and double-indenting four or more lines in full-block quotes. If you need to quote authors, you can synthesize their statements with yours. While quoting or paraphrasing a source, retain the essence of the original ideas. You can also synthesize similar ideas in a sentence, then provide your sources in parentheses, in in-text citations. At the end of your paper, you need to have a list of “Works Cited” (MLA) or Bibliography (APA).
Probably the most important thing to remember when incorporating sources into your writing is knowing how to cite them properly. In the humanities field, we follow The Modern Language Association of America (MLA) citation style while the American Psychological Association (APA) is used in other fields, such as education. The Liberty University Falwell Library Research Guides state that citing sources is giving credit to the authors you consulted for your research; it is to avoid plagiarism. It helps your readers see where you obtained your data and makes it possible for them to access those sources if they want to (LU Falwell).
Get a copy of the MLA Handbook, if you can. Otherwise, there are free guides online. University library guides are generally reliable. Section 5 of the 9th edition of MLA lists these core elements when citing sources: (1) Author, (2) Title of Source, – Container 1 – (3) Title of Container, (4) Contributor, (5) Version, (6) Number, (7) Publisher, (8) Publication Date, (9) Location – Container 2 – (3) Title of Container, (4) Contributor, (5) Version, (6) Number, (7) Publisher, (8) Publication Date, (9) Location. Here’s the general format for an MLA citation: Author. Title. Title of container (do not list container for standalone books, such as novels), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition) number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs), URL or DOI (for internet sources). Date of Access. Example:
Quirk, Tom. “The Flawed Greatness of Huckleberry Finn.” American Literary Realism, vol. 45, no. 1, fall 2012, pp. 28-38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5406/alerlitereal.45.1.0038. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.
Section 6 shows you how to do in-text citations, which are brief references that direct readers to the works-cite list entries for the sources you consulted, and, where relevant, to the location of the source being cited.
Example: At least one researcher broke new ground on the subject (Baron).
Work Cited: Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
Where to Find More Information
SUNY Oswego. “Evaluate Your Sources.” Oswego State University of New York Penfield Library, https://libraryguides.oswego.edu/c.php?g=934126&p=6733245. This is a useful guide for evaluating sources in terms of authoritativeness, credibility, purpose, and timeliness.
“Using Sources: Citing Sources.” Research Guides at Liberty University,
https://libguides.liberty.edu/c.php?g=749313&p=5443537. This site provides useful guides on using and citing sources and why they are critical.
“Works Cited Page: Books.” Purdue OWL, Purdue University, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_form…
This guide is useful for knowing how to cite books and their format where there are one, two, three, or more authors or contributors.
Sources I used for this blog post:
Bhosale, Uttkarsha. “Setting Limits and Focusing Your Study: Exploring Scope and Delimitation.” Enago Academy, 22 Jan. 2024, https://www.enago.com/academy/scope-and- delimitations/#:~:text=Example%201,24%20in%20the%20United%20States.
L’Epattenier, Barbara et al. Working in the Archives: Practical Research Methods for Rhetoric and Composition. Southern Illinois UP, 14 Dec. 2009,
MLA Handbook, 9th ed., New York, 2021.
National Archives. “Watch: Primary Sources: English 602.” Liberty University,
https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/767476/pages/watch-primary- sources?module_item_id=78573373
Newbold, Curtis. “The Rhetorical Appeals.” The Visual Communicationhttps://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/rhetoric-overview/the-rhetorical-appeals- rhetorical-triangle/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
Stockslager, Tess. “Non-traditional Research Sources.” English 602 Module 5, https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/767476/pages/watch-non-traditional- sources?module_item_id=78573455
SUNY Oswego. “Evaluate Your Sources.” Oswego State University of New York PenfieldLibrary, https://libraryguides.oswego.edu/c.php?g=934126&p=6733245.
https://www.enago.com/academy/scope-and-
Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.
L’Epattenier, Barbara et al. Working in the Archives: Practical Research Methods for Rhetoric and Composition. Southern Illinois UP, 14 Dec. 2009,
MLA Handbook, 9th ed., New York, 2021.
National Archives. “Watch: Primary Sources: English 602.” Liberty University,
https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/767476/pages/watch-primary- sources?module_item_id=78573373
Newbold, Curtis. “The Rhetorical Appeals.” The Visual Communication Guy,
https://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/rhetoric-overview/the-rhetorical-appea rhetorical-triangle/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
Stockslager, Tess. “Non-traditional Research Sources.” English 602 Module 5, https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/767476/pages/watch-non-traditional- sources?module_item_id=78573455
SUNY Oswego. “Evaluate Your Sources.” Oswego State University of New York Penfield Library, https://libraryguides.oswego.edu/c.php?g=934126&p=6733245.
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