LibGuides: ENGL101: Home

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Librarian

Catherine Fravel

Finding Help in the Library

"I Have a Question.." Form
A form designed specifically for English 101 students to receive help on their research-related assignments.
The Undergraduate Writing Center
The Writing Center provides opportunities to improve writing and thinking skills in a comfortable and supportive atmosphere.
Ask Us! Button
An on-line chat service to answer questions about library services (staffed and monitored by librarians).
Email a Subject Librarian

The program is divided into two sessions. Each session builds essential research skills and cultivates an understanding of rhetorical analysis. The sessions are designed to reflect the students' stage in the research process, with early sessions focusing on brainstorming topics and later sessions focusing on evaluating sources for credibility and authority.

Schedule an Instruction Session here

Brainstorming Activity: Students are divided into groups and assigned a predetermined topic. To help develop a research question from a broad topic, they are asked to collaboratively answer the questions in the quadrant below. Groups will share their responses with the class and discuss how to refine their topic and develop search strategies. Students are then introduced to various search engines and article databases that provide scholarly and popular resources.

What?

What is your topic? What other issues/events are similar or related to your topic?

Who?

Who is affected by your topic? Who is involved?

How?

How does your topic impact society, culture, politics, economics?

Why?

Why does this topic matter to you? Why should it matter to others?

Evaluating Authority Activity: Students are given a brief article to read. Using the article, we have a conversation about evaluating sources for authority, relevance, and credibility. We also discuss some of the differences between scholarly and popular sources. Students are provided with a worksheet they can use to evaluate sources that they discover in their own research.

Students are grouped by overarching research topics for discussion and analysis of their work. This is a time for students to examine additional resources which they may incorporate into their research process. Session 2 emphasizes the integral role of the Libraries in the inquiry and research process.

For additional resources, please email Teaching & Learning Services directly (libues@umd.edu).

Student Resources

Helpful Databases
UMD Research Resources
Non-UMD Research Resources

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
Multi-disciplinary database providing information for nearly every area of academic study. Includes an enormous collection of the most valuable peer-reviewed full text journals, as well as additional journals, magazines, newspapers and books.
CQ Researcher (CQ Press)
Full-text database that provides comprehensive analysis of each topic, including history and background information, relevant pro & con arguments, current status, bibliographies, contact information, and outlooks on upcoming "hot topics" in current events.
JSTOR
Electronic archive of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Includes complete runs of journals with full-text of all articles published prior to the most current five years.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar searches academic publishers, professional societies, pre-print archives, and university institutional repositories. Making Google Scholar Work for You.

Database Finder

"I am an Undergraduate" page
Research resources specifically for undergraduate students.
Library 101 Tutorial
A step-by-step tutorial designed to give students an overview of the University Libraries.
World Cat Tutorial
A tutorial designed to teach students how to find books, journals, articles, and more by using the library catalog.
UMD Writing Center
The writing center provides students of all grade levels the opportunity to improve writing and thinking skills in their academic work.

From Topic to Research Question (Indiana U. Libraries)
A resource to help narrow down and add focus to a research question.
Evaluate Sources (OWL @ Purdue)
Evaluating the sources used in research is an important step. This link provides information about evaluating bibliographic citations, print vs. Internet sources, and more.
Anatomy of a Scholarly Article (NCSU Libraries)
A resource showing views of the first and last pages of a scholarly article, with interactive features to learn about the clues to look for when identifying scholarly work.
What is a Citation? (NCSU Libraries)
A brief video introduction explaining what a citation is and why they are used.
Creating an Annotated Bibliography (OWL @ Purdue)
A handout providing information about annotated bibliographies in MLA and APA formats.
MLA Formatting and Style Guide (OWL @ Purdue)
A resource offering examples for the general format of MLA research papers, citations, and the Works Cited page.
UMD Intro to Research
A list of available resources for any step of the research process.
Reynolds Community College MLA
An interactive resource, split up in four lessons, to help students master MLA. Instructors have the option to receive a completion email once students finish the course.

ENGL101 Workshops

Overview
Finding & Evaluating Sources
Mid-term Check In
Identifying Stakeholders
Integrating & Citing Sources
Finals Countdown

The Teaching and Learning Librarians host a series of ENGL 101 course-related Research Workshops. These workshops are designed to help students with assignments such as the argument of inquiry, digital forum, and position paper. Each session will start with a brief overview of a particular research skill and the remainder will be devoted to work-time while a friendly librarian is on hand to answer questions.

For those who can't make it to a workshop, they are always welcome to visit T&L for one-on-one research help!

Schedule of Workshops