Welcome!
Welcome to the Bahrain Polytechnic Research process Guide. This is a step-to-step guide to help you through your research process.
Confused about how to start your research? Check out the link below to get started!
- Basic Steps to Creating a Research Project- CRLS Research Guide. A step-by-step to help you think about the research process
Get Started
Choosing your Topic
Your topic has to meet the requirements of the assignment as well as what you are interested in. These resources should help you find a topic that is academic and relevant, and that inspires you. Please don’t hesitate to talk with your instructor or a librarian to help you find the best topic for you.
View Clip to help develop your topic.
Resources to help you choose a topic
Here are a few places you can start your research.
Google collects up to date news links from around the world and categorizes them. You may be able to find an interesting topic from here!
This site collects news from Bahrain. You may find a topic that is relevant to your country!
Research news that are easy to understand!
Coolest site ever! Pick a topic from the list and explore!
A step-by-step guide to help you think about the research process
Locating Information
In the past, you used to go to different databases, such as ProQuest or EBSCOhost, to find articles. Those days are long gone. From now on, you can use Summon to search for books we currently have in the LLC as well as articles from our databases.Evaluate Information
Evaluating Information
- Who wrote it?
- What gives them the right to write about it?
- Who published it?
- Why do they want to convince you of their argument?
- Do they talk about their methods and data and research?
- Can you find the background resources they used?
- Do they talk about other, seminal research?
- Is it current?
- Does it need to be current?
View a useful clip on evaluating information
Useful links
Here are some useful links that will provide tips on evaluating information.
- Evaluating pring vs. internet sources from Purdue OWL. This page helps you understand the differences between print and internet sources and how to evaluate them.
- Evaluating during reading from Prudue OWL. This website shows you the questions you should be asking yourself while you are reading a source.
- Evaluating information from the SWITCH Information Literacy Web Tutorials. This is an interactive tutorial that walks you through the steps to evaluate information.
The CRAAP Test
Are your sources credible and useful ?! The CRAAP Test is a list of questions that help you determine if the sources you found are accurate and reliable. Keep in mind that the following list is not static or complete. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need.
Cite Information
Useful Tutorials
Here are some online tutorials for APA that you might find helpful.
- Son of Citation Machine
- Here is a tool that will make referencing easier! Select the appropriate type of resource you want to cite and input all the fields accordingly. Please do make sure to double check the citation(s) to ensure that they are correct before handing in your assignment.
- The Basics of APA Style
- This is an online tutorial for someone who has never worked with APA style before. There is a menu on the right hand side of the tutorial and you can skip to the relevant section. For example, “Citing References in Text” starts on slide 13.
- What’s new in the sixth edition?
- If you are already familiar with APA Style and would like to know the changes in the sixth edition, this is the tutorial for you! You can navigate the menu on the right hand side of the tutorial and skip to the page that is relevant to you.
- Purdue online writing lab: APA formatting and style guide
- This is a comprehensive resource for those who are not familiar with APA Style. Navigate to the relevant secions using the menu on the left hand side of the page.
APA Style Blog Updates
- And In Other Research News: Student Research Webinars From APA and Psi Chi
- Happy Valentine’s Day!
- How to Cite a Hashtag in #APAStyleView WebsiteView Feed
APA Handouts Did you miss a class on APA in your class? You can print the handouts from here.
In-Text Citations
Direct Quotations & Paraphrasing
APA Style uses parenthetical, author-date citations. After a quote, add parentheses containing the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number of the work.
- Example: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).
- If you use more than one work by the same author, use the letters a, b, etc., after the year.
- Example: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (Seuss, 2007a, pp. 7-8). If more than one author has the same last name, add their first initial. Example: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (D. Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).
- If two or more authors wrote the work, see the chart below.
- If using the author’s name in your text, do not include it in the parentheses.
- Example: In his scholarly study, Dr. Seuss observed that “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (2007, pp. 7-
- Example: In 2007, Dr. Seuss suggested that “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (pp. 7-8).
- If no author name is available, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title). Use quotation marks around titles of articles or web pages and italicize titles of books, periodicals, etc.
- Example: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (Fox in Socks, 2007).
- If no pagination information is available, use paragraph numbers instead.
- Example: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (Seuss, 2007, para. 5).
Note: When paraphrasing or mentioning another work, it is helpful to still provide pagination information if the source text is long or difficult, or if it would help the reader find the text being paraphrased.
Basic Citation Styles
| Type of Citation | First Citation in Text | Subsequent Citations in Text | Parenthetical Format, First Citation in Text | Parenthetical Format, Subsequent Citations in Text |
| One work by one author | Walker (2007) | Walker (2007) | (Walker, 2007) | (Walker, 2007) |
| One work by two authors | Walker and Allen (2004) | Walker and Allen (2004) | (Walker & Allen, 2004) | (Walker & Allen, 2004) |
| One work by three to five authors | Bradley, Ramirez, and Soo (1999) | Bradley et al. (1999) | (Bradley, Ramirez, & Soo, 1999) | (Bradley et al., 1999) |
| One work by six or more authors | Wasserstein et al. (2005) | Wasserstein et al. (2005) | (Wasserstein et al., 2005) | (Wasserstein et al., 2005) |
| Groups as authors (readily identified through abbreviation) | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003) | NIMH (2003) | (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2003) | (NIMH, 2003) |
| Groups as authors (no abbreviation) | University of Pittsburgh (2005) | University of Pittsburgh (2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) |
Works Cited
Books (Print & Online)
| Book: General | AuthorLastname, F. N. (Year). Book title. Location: Publisher. AuthorLastname, F. N. (Year). Book title. Retrieved from http://www.xxxxxxxx AuthorLastname, F. N. (Year). Book title. doi:xxxxx |
| Entire Book: Print Version | Gutman, R. W. (1999). Mozart: A cultural biography. New York: Harcourt Brace. |
| Entire Book: Electronic Version | Gutman, R. W. (1999). Mozart: A cultural biography. Retrieved from http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/dxeprint/index.asp Gutman, R. W. (1999). Mozart: A cultural biography [Adobe Digital Editions version]. doi:10.1036/0034586772 |
| Entire Book: Print Version (Two Authors) | Hock, R., & Price, G. (2004). The extreme searcher’s Internet handbook: A guide for the serious searcher. Medford: CyberAge Books. |
| Entry in Online Reference Work | Graham, G. (2005). Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2007 ed.). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism |
| Entry in Online Reference Work (No Author) | Trebuchet. (2009). In Merriam-Webster online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.merriam -webster.com/dictionary/trebuchet |
| Book: No Author | Begin citation with title. For example: NAICS Desk Reference: The North American industry classification system desk reference. (2000). Indianapolis: JIST Works. |
| Book: Multivolume | When citing a multivolume work: Wright, Sewell. (1968-1978). Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. (Vols. 1-4). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. When citing only one volume: Wright, Sewell. (1969). Theory of Gene Frequencies: Vol. 2. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. |
| Chapter in a Book | Willson, Jr., R. F. (2005). William Shakespeare’s theater. In J. Rosenblum (Ed.), The Greenwood companion to Shakespeare: A comprehensive guide for students (pp. 47-64). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. |
For additional examples, see pages 202-208 in the APA Publication Manual (2010).
Journal Articles (Print & Online)
| Journal: General | AuthorLastname, F. I. (Date). Article title. Journal Title, Vol, pages. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx (Note: Include the digital object identifier (DOI) if one is assigned. If you retrieved the article online and no DOI is available, include the journal’s home page URL.) |
| Journal Article with DOI | Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225 |
| Journal Article without DOI | Graham, S. (2006). Impossible to hold: Women and culture in the 1960s. Journal of American Studies, 40, 156-159. Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediate between perceived early parental love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2), 38-48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap |
| Journal with Non-Continuous Pagination (each issue begins on page 1) | Simmons, C., & Becker-Olsen, K. (2006). Achieving marketing objectives through social sponsorships. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 154-169. |
| Magazine Article | Reed, S. (2006, August 21). Seeing past the war. Business Week, 16(4), 35-36. |
| Online Magazine Article | Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). Retreved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/ |
| Newspaper Article | Seward, Z. (2006, December 14). Colleges expand early admissions. Wall Street Journal (Eastern ed.), pp. D1-D2. |
| Online Newspaper Article | Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com |
For additional examples, see pages 198-202 in the APA Publication Manual (2010).
Audiovisual Media
| Entire Albums | The Beatles. (1967). Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club’s Band [Record]. United States: Capitol Records. |
| Individual Songs | Glover, Frank. (2009). One way ticket. On Politico [CD]. n.l.: Owl Studios. |
| Rerecording by Artist other than Writer | Goodenough, J. B. (1982). Tails and trotters [Recorded by G. Bok, A. Mayo, & E. Trickett]. On And so will we yet [CD]. Sharon, CT: Folk-Legacy Records. (1990) |
| Spoken Word Recording | Darling, S. (Speaker). (1988). To Kill a Mockingbird (Cassette). United States: Recorded Books. |
| Musical Score | Beethoven, Ludwig van. (1932). Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. Boston: Oliver Ditson. |
| Podcast | Van Nuys, D. (Producer). (2007, December 19). Shrink rap radio [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/ |
| Motion Picture | Spielberg, S. (Director). (1982). E.T. the extra-terrestrial [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Pictures. |
| Video | Ryan, K. O., & Schrank, L. (Writers). (2008). Body language I: Beyond words [DVD]. Available from http://www.learningseed.com/ |
| Single Episode from Television Series | David, L., & Seinfeld, J. (Writers). (1995). The soup nazi [Television series episode]. In Seinfeld. New York: NBC. |
| Map Retrieved Online | Lewis County Geographic Information Systems (Cartographer). (2002). Population density, 2000 U.S. Census [Demographic map]. Retrieved from http://www.co.lewis.wa.us/publicworks/maps/Demographics/census-pop-dens_2000.pdf |
List the primary contributors in the author position and use parentheses to identify their contribution.
For additional examples, see pages 209-210 in the APA Publication Manual (2010).
Other Online Sources
| Online Posting: General | AuthorLastname, F. I. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Description of form]. Retrieved from http://www.xxxx (If only author’s screen name is available, use that for the author’s name.) |
| Entire website | It is sufficient to give the website address in the text (in parentheses). |
| Message Posted to Newsgroup, Discussion Group, Online Forum, etc. | Rampersad, T. (2005, June 8). Traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions [Online forum comment]. Retreived from http://www.wipo.int/roller/comments/ipisforum/Weblog/theme_eight_how_can_cultural#comments |
| Message Posted to Electronic Mailing List | Smith, S. (2006, January 5). Re: Disputed estimates of IQ [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved from http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ForensicNetwork/message/670 (Note: “Listserv” is a trademarked name for a specific software program, so use “electronic mailing list” instead.) |
| Blog Post | MiddleKid. (2007, January 22). Re: The unfortunate prerequisites and consequences of partitioning your mind [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/01/the_unfortunate_prerequisites.php (Note: “MiddleKid” is a screen name, which the author used when posting to this blog.) |
For additional examples, see pages 214-215 in the APA Publication Manual (2010).
Performances & Personal Communications
Personal communications may be private letters, memos, non-archived electronic communications, personal interviews, etc. Because they do not provide recoverable data, they are not included in the reference list. The same is true of live performances. Instead, you should cite these sources in your text with initial and last name of the communicator and as exact a date as possible.
Samples: M. E. Daniels, Jr. (personal communication, July 4, 2009), explained in an email that . . . (Butler Ballet, performance, December 13, 2008)
If you are citing a recording or archived copy of the performance or personal communication, these forms are recoverable and should be referenced in your Works Cited list as a video, online forum post, tape recording, etc.
Read More
Read More
Read More
Read More
Read More
