This page provides a summary of the Library resources and research tools we will explore in the HORT 1104 library orientation on January 20, 2023, I will keep it up for you for the remainder of the semester so you can refer to it as you do your course work.
Before joining the live session, please take a minute to watch the following 3 short videos, in the boxes below.
1. Finding ebooks @ KPU Library
2. Understanding Peer Review
3. Evaluating Sources for Credibility
Celia Brinkerhoff, Horticulture Librarian (Celia.Brinkerhoff@kpu.ca)
From North Carolina State Libraries.
Start your research with the library's search engine Summon (default search on the library's homepage).
Our research topic is vegetation and soil erosion and we are trying to determine what kinds of vegetation or land-use is associated with the least amoung ot soil erosion.
Identify the key terms in your question.
How does vegetation impact the process of soil erosion?
| vegetation | plants, plant matter, land-use, vegetative cover |
| soil erosion | runoff, surface erosion, topsoil |
Use one of the library's science databases to locate scholarly, peer-reviewed articles on your topic. Start with a general keyword search, then use the filters to narrow by topic or discipline.
Here are a few open (freely accessible) resources that offer basic principles of soil science, with a Canadian focus.
Extension literature is science-based information about a range of agricultural topics of interest to farmers and growers, most often produced by U.S. universities and governmental bodies charged with communicating this information to their user groups. Resources include reports from on-farm and participatory research, factsheets and best practices written for producers, as well as training materials and grant opportunities.
The easiest way to access this body of literature is to include the word "extension" in your Google searches, and to limit your search to the .edu domain.
Here is an example of a quick search for biochar on the extension sites. Click on the image to see the results of the search.
Add Google Scholar to your suite of research tools. Google Scholar is a search engine that covers much of the scholarly, peer reviewed literature from academic publishers, plus conferences, theses and dissertations, abstracts and more. Some of the content is available full text, and some will be citation-only.
You can configure your settings to include links to articles available from Kwantlen Polytechnic Library subscription journals to avoid hitting publishers' paywalls. See the screenshot below.
Why Citations are Important
In science communication, include citations to external and reliable sources in order to:
Direct Quotation, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
There are certain conventions in science writing that make it a little different from other academic and non-academic writing:
Be sure you are familiar with KPU's Student Academic and Integrity Policy and it's accompanying Procedures. You can read more about these policies and the issues of Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism on the Library's Academic Integrity and Plagiarism guide.
In HORT 1104, you will be writing and submitting various assignments and lab reports. As part of the KPU community of researchers and scholars, students are expected to conduct themselves with honesty and to approach their work with integrity. This includes understanding and using a system of citation that clearly tells your readers (your instructors and student peers) where your sources of information are coming from, and by extension, what ideas or data are your own.
Use the library's APA Citation guide for details on formatting papers, creating references, and using in-text citations.
The APA Style Site contains helpful information on the following:
Student paper set-up guide, APA 7th edition.
This guide offers formatting details for your APA-style assignments. See the details for how to organize your Reference list on page 16 of the pdf.
Use the signal phrases suggested on the template PDF attached below for some ideas on how to incorporate your references into your writing.
It's important to vary the way in which you incorporate sources into your writing; this makes for better flow and keeps your reader engaged, while at the same time, being very clear about whose work you are referring to.
The APA Style site has excellent examples of both narrative citations and parenthetical citations.
Together in class we are going to practice summarizing some research and using it to support statements we make.
L01: Use this Google Doc [link opens in a new window].Your answers will be anonymous.
L02: Use this Google Doc [link opens in a new window].Your answers will be anonymous.