Using computers in
research paper
Teacher: Safarova M.D
Most signifi cant inventions in human history are credited to one or two people with
whom their name is closely identifi ed—Edison with the light bulb or Ford with the
assembly line spring to mind as examples. But while the computer does have some
ancestral history traceable back to the laboratory, no unanimity exists about its
inventor. Some historians give credit to Scotsman John Napier (1550–1617), inventor of
logarithms and of Napier’s bones, a working abacus; some to Charles Babbage (1792–
1871), the English inventor of the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine; and still
others to Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), French mathematician and inventor of the
Pascaline, a mechanical calculator.
The computer has also changed the process of
research in other practical ways:
In some quarters, computers have done away with note cards. Many students prefer to
make notes on their laptops, where they can use the cut-and-paste function to easily
and accurately transfer notes to the emerging paper. This procedure eliminates the
possibility of error in transcribing handwritten notes from the cards onto the paper. ■
In some schools, instructors prefer the submission of papers by e-mail to the
traditional submission of hard copy. The upshot: You don’t have to be physically
present to turn in a paper; you can submit it from, say, a beach in Jamaica
The whole laborious business of research, of digging for primary and secondary
sources, has been speeded up enormously by the use of computers and the easy
access they offer to full-text databases
Internet
The Internet, or net, is a planetary brain without a skull. It consists of untold millions of
computers called hosts connected by a common protocol or way of “talking” that
enables them to communicate. In the early days, computers were connected to a
network through a modem and a telephone line. Today, much faster connections are
available through a high-speed cable modem or a digital subscriber line (DSL). The
introduction of Wi-Fi in 1997 added to the mix a wireless technology connecting
computers worldwide. More and more businesses such as motels and restaurants offer
free Wi-Fi connections to their patrons with laptops, fueling what is already a
stupendous growth
The world wide web
Although the terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably, they
are not the same thing. The World Wide Web, or Web, is part of the Internet. Also part
of the net are Usenet (a bulletin board for special-interest discussion groups), e-mail,
and fi le transfer protocol (FTP). The web, as you will fi nd out, uses a specialized
vocabulary. But it is not one that you need to understand to use the web. For example,
knowing that http is webspeak for hypertext transfer protocol or that URL refers to
uniform resource locator and is technobabble for an address at the web, will not help
you fi nd essays on the work of American poet Charles Bukowski. But it might help you
sound cool among a group of geeks.
Online resources
The Internet is a treasure trove of data, facts, statistics, images, opinions,
speculations, graphics, and viewpoints—everything that comes under the general
heading of information. The best sources of this readily available material are
databases, electronic journals, online public-access catalogs (OPACs), and blogs.
A database is a collection of data organized and stored electronically for easy retrieval.
Typically, databases are available through a fee-based membership, which for many
students will be too costly, or, more commonly, through a local public or college
library. One of the most attractive features of a database is that it can be searched in
several ways, usually by keyword, author, or title. A popular database to which many
libraries subscribe is InfoTrac® College Edition, which indexes an incalculable number
of articles and titles. Some states maintain vast databases that can be accessed with a
password available at local libraries. One example is the Galileo system of Georgia
(http:// www.galileo.usg.edu/scholar/dekalb-pl/subjects/). The databases in the Galileo
system are vast and varied. They include encyclopedias; business directories;
government publications; thousands of magazines and scholarly journals that are fully
indexed; the full text of many of these articles; dictionaries; corporate reports; and
more.
Electronic journals
Electronic journals are serial publications that can be accessed by a computer through
the Internet. Many libraries subscribe to electronic journals on a variety of disciplines
and subjects. One website, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ, www.doaj.org)
catalogs thousands of journals and alphabetized articles covering a wide range of
topics. Most of the material you use in a research paper will probably exist in a
database. Many databases store the electronic equivalent of printed journals whose
content has been subject to peer review and is therefore trustworthy. (Peer review
means that the article has been gone over by a panel of experts in the author’s fi eld
and judged publishable.) Some electronic journals, however, are strictly that: They
have no print equivalent. Depending on who publishes them, they vary widely in
trustworthiness and have to be individually evaluated
Blogs and social networks
Blogging and tweeting sound like words that belong in a sci-fi movie, not in a textbook
describing two of the hottest trends lately to appear on the Net. Short for weblog—like
the log of a ship’s captain—a blog is a personal website maintained by an individual
and refl ecting its owner’s point of view. Blogs may include images, text, and
conversations. With their links to other websites, as well as the capacity to
accommodate feedback from readers, blogs have been described as personal
interactive diaries. The fi rst blog appeared in 1997. Although blogs vary widely in
focus, tone, and personality and make no bones about refl ecting the subjective point
of view of their owners, they have this in common: they multiply like housefl ies. As of
this writing, some estimates put the number of blogs at over 50 million. Twitter is one
of many social networking sites whose members are tied together by common
interests, ideas, ambitions, or goals. You can post information or messages known as
tweets on the site for other members to read.
