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PS 2110 - Farm Practicum (Ricotta)

Finding Research

Welcome!

Welcome to the Research Guide for Farm Practicum with Dr. Ricotta!

Research Assistance

Library staff members are always willing and eager to help you with your assignments.  Please contact us by email, phone, or text message, and we will respond to your questions as soon as possible.

General Email: library@delval.edu
​Call or Text: 215-948-4171

Interlibrary Loan, also called ILL, is a free service for you as a student to use if you need an article or book that we do not own. 

  • If the resource you need is a journal article, check our Journal List to see if we have access to the journal.
  • Check the Book/DVD Catalog if the resource is a book or DVD.

To initiate an Interlibrary Loan request, fill out the form with as much information about the resource as possible, as well as your contact information. 

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Consumer/Demographic/Lifestyle Information

Use the Demographics button to find census data by zip code. Content includes income per household, average house value, and population breakdown. 

Use the Consumer Data button for lifestyle, purchasing habit, and hobby data. Use the Advanced Search for best results. 

Use the U.S. Consumers/Lifestyles database to search 314 million consumers for market research. Use the Advanced Search tab for best results. 

Identifying Peer-Reviewed Literature

Checklist for Peer-Reviewed Research Article

  Did the author(s) of the article do the actual research?
  Can you find a statement about when the article was accepted for publication?
  Is there a sizable list of references?
  Do the authors assume you are familiar with their topic?
  Is it challenging to read?

If you have answered "yes" to these five questions you have probably located a scientific article.

Peer Review Process

Research Articles

Research articles are also often known as scientific or peer-reviewed articles. If the article is NOT written by the person or group who did the research, it is NOT a peer-reviewed or scientific article. Research articles are important for knowing what new discoveries have been made. This is why it is important to use recent articles, since they will be the first things published on a new scientific development. 

Here's a quick overview of how to identify these journal articles:

  • written by the scientist(s) who actually did the research
  • follows a specific format 
    • abstract
    • introduction
    • materials & methods
    • results
    • conclusions
    • references 
  • assumes reader already knows background information about the topic has been evaluated by experts
  • Tip:  Look for a statement about when the article was accepted for publication. Most peer-reviewed articles will include one.
 
Example of a Research Article

 

Review Articles

Review articles are written when authors read and summarize research on a topic. Review articles are useful for learning about what kind of research has been done previously on a topic.
 
Here's a quick overview of how to identify these articles:
  • current state of knowledge in the field
  • recent developments 
  • limitations of previous research
  • suggestions for future research
Example of a review article

 

Popular Press Articles

Popular press articles are also often known as non-scientific articles. They are most useful for very current or general information. 

Here's a quick overview of how to identify these articles:

  • about current events, opinions, and general information
  • include color photos and everyday product advertisements
  • written by journalists/reporters, staff or freelance writers
  • easy to understand writing

Popular press articles are often published as a reaction to a research article, making the information available to the general public.

Books

Catalog

Click here to access our book and DVD catalog.

Some helpful Books...

Formatting your Bibliography

Paper Formatting

A title page is required for all APA Style papers, unless noted otherwise by your professor. Students should follow the guidelines fo their instructor when determining which title page format is mst appropriate to use. If not instructed otherwise, students should include the following elements on the title page. 

NOTE: Student title pages do not require a running head, unlike a professional title page. 

Title
Name 
University attended, including department or division
Course number and name
Instructor name
Assignment due date

In-Text Citations

Paraphrasing

When the author's name appears in the sentence, it does not need to be repeated in the citation.

Example: 
Recent literature has examined long-run price drifts following initial public offerings and other factors (Luna, 2020).
Luna (2020) reaches more or less the same conclusion.

Two or more sources within same parentheses

Order the citations of two or more works by different authors within the same parentheses alphabetically in the same order in which they appear in the reference list (including citations that would otherwise shorten to et al.). Separate the citations with semicolons. 

Example: 
Several studies (Adams et al., 2019; Shumway & Shulman, 2015; Westinghouse, 2017))...


Quotations

Example:

For people with osteoarthritis, "painful joints should be moved through a full range of motion every day to maintain flexibility and to slow deterioration of cartilage" (Flores, 2019, p. 20). 
(Gecht-Silver & Duncombe, 2015, p. 210) 


More than three authors

Example:
(Smith et al., 2014, p. 203)


No author
(Title Page #)

Example: 
(Plagiarism and You 1942) 
("Five Ways to Protect Yourself" 1993)


No page number

Because the material does not include page numbers, you can include any of the following in the text to cite the quotation:

  • A paragraph number, if provided; alternatively, you could count paragraphs down from the beginning of the document.
  • An overarching heading plus a paragraph number within that section.
  • A short title in quotation marks, in cases in which the heading is too unwieldy to cite in full.

Example:

(Anderson, 2013, para. 1).

Reference List

Start the reference list on a new page after the txt and before any tables, figures, and/or appendices. Label the reference list "References," capitalized, in bold, and centered.

Double-space all reference list entries (including between and within references). 

Use a hanging indent for all references, meaning that the first line of each reference is flush left and subsequent lines are indented by 0.5 in. 

Works are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first listed author. 

Journal Articles

 Last name, Initials. (Year). Article title, sentence style capitalization. Journal title, volume(issue, if available), pages. URL, if no DOI available

Example:

 Ahmann, E. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD coaching research: Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31(1), 17-39. https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped/archived-jped/jped-volume-31


Journal article with multiple authors

 Last name, Initials., & Last name, Initials. (Year). Article title, sentence style capitalization. Journal title, volume(issue, if available), pages. URL, if no DOI available

Example: 

 McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review, 126(1), 1-51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126

When a source has twenty-two or more authors, include first twenty-one … last listed author.

Example: 

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kitler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woolen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetman, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 77(3), 437-471. http://doi.org/fg6rf9

Books

 Last name, Intials. (Year). Title, sentence style capitalization. Publisher's name. 

Example:

 Burgess, R. (2019). Rethinking global health: frameworks of power. Routledge. 


Books with multiple authors

 Last name, Initials, & Last name, Initials. (Year). Title, sentence style capitalization (edition, if available). Publisher's name. 

Example:

 Christian, B., & Griffiths, T. (2016). Algorithms to live by: the computer science of human decisions. Henry Holt and Co.


Chapter in edited book

 Last name, Initials. (Year). Chapter title, sentence style capitalization. In Editor (eds.), Title, sentence style capitalization (pages). Publisher's name. 

Example:

 Weinstock, R., Leong, G., & Silva, J. A. (2003). Defining forensic psychiatry: roles and responsibilities. In R. Rosner (Ed.), Principles and practice of forensic psychiatry (2nd ed., pp. 7-13). CRC Press. 

Conference Papers

If a conference paper has been published (for example, in a proceedings), the published form is usually either a chapter of an edited book or an article in a journal.

Papers published in conference proceedings, book

Last name, Initials. (Year). Title. In Editor (eds.), Title of proceedings (pages). Publisher's name. 

Example:

Cismas, S. C. (2010). Educating academic writing skills in engineering. In P. Dondon & O. Martin (Eds.), Latest trends on engineering education (pp. 225-247). WSEAS Press.

Papers published in conference proceedings, journal

Last name, Initials., & Last name, Initials. (Year). Article title, sentence style capitalization. Journal title, volume(issue, if available), pages. URL, if no DOI available

Example: 

Chaudhuri, S., & Biswas, A. (2017). External terms-of-trade and labor market imperfections in developing countries: Theory and evidence. Proceedings of the Academy of Economics and Economic Education, 20

 

The presentation delivered at a conference may only be available as an informally published work online, or may only have been delivered live and is not available in full. 

Paper or session presented at conference, not formally published

Last name, Initials, & Last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). Title [Paper or poster presentation], sentence style capitalization. Conference name, Location.

Example:

McDonald, E., Manessis, R., & Blanksby, T. (2019, July 7-10). Peer mentoring in nursing - improving retention, enhancing education [Poster presentation]. STARS 2019 Conference, Melbourne, Australia. https://unistars.org/papers/STARS2019/P30-POSTER.pdf

Court Decisions

Name v. Name, Volume Source Page (Court Date)

Example:

Lessard v. Schmidt, 349 F. Supp. 1078 (E.D. Wis. 1972)


In-Text Citation 

To cite the reference in text, give the case name, in italics, and the year.

Name v. Name (Year)
(Name v. Name, Year)

Example:

Lessard v. Schmidt (1972)
(Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972)

Federal Statutes

​In APA Style, most legal materials are cited in the standard legal citation style used for legal references across all disciplines.

A statute is a law or act passed by a legislative body. As with court decisions, statutes exist on both the federal and state levels, such as an act by Congress or by a state government. 

Name of Act, Title Source § Section Number (Year). URL

Example:

Every Student Succeeds Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 (2015). https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ95/PLAW-114publ95.pdf


In-Text Citation 
The in-text citation format for a federal statute is similar to that for other APA Style references. Cite the name of the statute and the year.

Example:

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (2006)
(Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 2006)

Government Reports

 Last name, Initials, & Last name, Initials. (Year). Title, sentence style capitalization (Report number, if available). Publisher's name.URL. 

Example:

 National Cancer Institute. (2018). Facing forward: life after cancer treatment (NIH Publication No. 18-2424). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/life-after-treatment.pdf

Law Review

 Last name, Initials. (Year). Title, sentence style capitalization. Journal name, volume, starting page. 

Example:

 Martin, L. H. (1991). Case worker liability for the negligent handling of child abuse reports. University of Cincinnati Law Review, 60, 191.

Newspaper Articles

 Last name, Initials, & Last name, Initials. (Year, month day). Title, sentence style capitalization. Newspaper name. URL

Example:

 Guariano, B. (2017), December 4). How will humanity react to alien life? Psychologists have some predictions. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/12/04/how-will-humanity-react-to-alien-life-psychologists-have-some-predictions

Webinar

Last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). Title, sentence style capitalization [Webinar]. Organization name. URL

Example:

Anderson, K. (2018, January 23). Disease prevention basics [Webinar]. Montana State University. https://www.montana.edu/webinar/disease-prevention-basics-anderson

Websites

 Author or organization name. (Date of publication, if available). Webpage title. URL

Example:

 Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018, January 23). People at high risk of developing flu-related complications. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/high_risk.htm


When no date is listed

 Author or organization name. (n.d.). Webpage title. URL

Example:

 National Nurses United. (n.d.). What employers should do to protect nurses from Zika. https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/pages/what-employers-should-do-to-protect-rns-from-zika

YouTube Video

Account name. (Date of publication). Video name [Video]. Webpage title. URL

Example:

Asian Boss. (2020, June 5). World’s leading vaccine expert fact-checks COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy: stay curious #22 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQdLDMLrYIA

 (Asian Boss, 2020; Harvard University, 2019)

Is the example you need missing?

Contact the Library at library@delval.edu to request a new example and citation help!

Setting up RefWorks

RefWorks

RefWorks is a new way to collect, manage, and organize research.  You can read, annotate, organize, and cite your research as well as collaborate by sharing collections.

From simple bibliographies to papers formatted with in-text citations or footnotes, RefWorks handles it all. ​To learn more about RefWorks, use our RefWorks research guide.

To create a RefWorks account:

  1. Go to the link below and click Create account
  2. Fill in your information, making sure to use your DelVal email address.  
  3. Go to your inbox and click the email link to complete the activation process. 

Already have an account? Just go to the link below and click "Log In"

Online Tutorials

Getting Help

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The Writing Center

The Writing Center is staffed by DelVal undergraduate peer tutors who help with writing assignments in all your courses. We view writing as a process that involves planning, reading, drafting, revising, and editing—writing with substance involves discovering your meaning through brainstorming, sharing, and getting lots of feedback.

Tutors help you gain a fresh perspective on the writing process, and can assist with any stage of the process:  choosing a topic or working through writer's block, generating ideas, creating an outline, sharpening a thesis, arranging and organizing paragraphs, citing correctly and fluently, editing grammar and mechanics, and more.

Instructors receive a copy of the tutor report completed during the session, to illustrate your engagement with the writing process and meeting the demands of writing across disciplines.

Services are on a walk-in basis, so no appointment is necessary. Schedules are posted in the Writing Center, on Inside DelVal, and on professors' Blackboard course pages.

Tutors look forward to working with you!