1. Researching and Writing Responsibly

One desired outcome of many college‐level writing assignments is active intellectual engagement with other thinkers, whether they be experts in your field, professionals outside your field, or just fellow citizens sharing common concerns and facing similar issues. Quite often, students will demonstrate their intellectual engagement in writing, especially by responding to or drawing upon the thoughts and ideas of other writers. To participate responsibly in these “academic conversations,” you have the obligation both to analyze the varying perspectives on your topic and to represent those perspectives fairly and appropriately for the purposes of each particular assignment. In other words, as a researcher, you will need to be curious about other views and diligent in finding and analyzing them; as a writer, you will need to present your own ideas and analysis without plagiarizing or misrepresenting the words or ideas of others.

• 1.1 Finding Sources
• 1.2 Evaluating Sources
• 1.3 Using Sources Effectively
• 1.4 Avoiding Plagiarism with Proper Citation and Quotation