Tweens & Teens 

Research Overview

Jackie Sipes

Education Librarian

jsipes@temple.edu

Research Guide

guides.temple.edu/teensandtweens

Text

Narrowing your topic... & coming up with a research question 

Broad teen trend

I'm interested in teens and social media. 

Narrow teen trend

I'm in interested in how social media apps, like Snapchat, influence teen dating.

Research Question

How have mobile apps like Snapchat or texting changed the way that teens date and socialize?

Questions You'll Have to Answer

• What does the trend involve? How did it start?
• How pervasive is this trend or teen behavior? How m any teens are involved?
• How does this trend address the needs of adolescents to experiment, try out different identities?
• What are the demographics of participants? 
• Is there a belief system or ideology?
• What do researchers/scholars/journalists say about the trend?

What do researchers/scholars say?

What are some of the characteristics of scholarly/academic sources?

What to look for

• Author 
• Usually lengthy (5-20 pages)
• Type of Publication (academic, scholarly, or peer-reviewed journal)
• Cites other sources
• Reports on original research 
• May include charts, graphs, numbers, etc.

Scholarly  Sources

Using Sources

Using Sources

Summarize

Identify gaps or lingering questions

Are they relevant to my topic?

Scholarly  Sources

Literature Review

Popular Sources

Popular Sources

Popular Sources

What to look for with popular sources

• Relevant to research question?
• Author (journalist? scholar? researcher?)
• Site purpose?
• Audience?
• 'About us' link
• What kind of publication is it? (newspaper, report from a research organization, magazine, blog, conference talk)

Database Demo/Activity

guides.temple.edu/teensandtweens

Types of Citations

In-text

Reference List

In-text Citation

A parenthetical notation of relevant source information after a quote or a paraphrase. Used whenever you quote or paraphrase ideas from a source.

In-text Citation

Author named in sentence

Mullen (2001) argues that writing should be taught at the postgraduate level. (p. 199)

Author not named in sentence

“…legislation has helped schools progress toward narrowing the gap.” (Spellings, 2005, p.87)”

Paraphrase or Quote?

Paraphrase: A brief summary of a source's ideas, using your own words and structure.

Use to draw in another writer's ideas or information, but with an emphasis on your interpretation or reflection on that information.

In-text Citation

Paraphrase or Quote?

Quote: quotation taken directly from the source text.

Use when the original author has expressed something so well that you could not replicate it or when only the words of an expert will suffice as evidence for your claim. 

In-text Citation

Appears on a separate page(s) at the end of your paper.

Must correspond to the works cited in your in-text citations.

Reference List