Agriculture Graduate Student Orientation: Help!

Been a while since you have researched? We have some awesome tutorials to help clear away the cobwebs. 

Other useful and informative "How-Tos" can be found on our "How-To" page.   

"A research article is a primary source...that is, it reports the methods and results of an original study performed by the authors. The kind of study may vary (it could have been an experiment, survey, interview, etc.), but in all cases, raw data have been collected and analyzed by the authors, and conclusions drawn from the results of that analysis.

A review article is a secondary source...it is written about other articles, and does not report original research of its own.  Review articles are very important, as they draw upon the articles that they review to suggest new research directions, to strengthen support for existing theories and/or identify patterns among existing research studies.  For student researchers, review articles provide a great overview of the existing literature on a topic.   If you find a literature review that fits your topic, take a look at its references/works cited list for leads on other relevant articles and books!"

From http://apus.libanswers.com/a.php?qid=153014, "What's the difference between a research and a review article?"

Research articles follow a particular format.  Look for:

• A brief introduction will often include a review of the existing literature on the topic studied, and explain the rationale of the author's study.
• A methods section, where authors describe how they collected and analyzed data.  Statistical analysis are included.  
• A results section describes the outcomes of the data analysis.  Charts and graphs illustrating the results are typically included.
• In the discussion, authors will explain their interpretation of their results and theorize on their importance to existing and future research.
• References or works cited are always included.  These are the articles and books that the authors drew upon to plan their study and to support their discussion.

"What is Plagiarism?

Nearly everyone understands that copying passages verbatim from another writer's work and representing them as one's own work constitutes plagiarism. Yet plagiarism involves much more. At LSU plagiarism is defined to include any use of another's work and submitting that work as one's own. This means not only copying passages of writing or direct quotations but also paraphrasing or using structure or ideas without citation. Learning how to paraphrase and when and how to cite is an essential step in maintaining academic integrity." From LSU Student Advocacy & Accountability

Here are some links to help you avoid plagiarism when working on your papers.

Is writing not your strongest suit? That's okay! If you need writing assistance, we HIGHLY recommend the CXC writing center. They can help you.