Ohio University Libraries

"Things I thought I knew before I began reading"  is supposed to CHANGE into "What I wrote,"  which will be a mix of:

• what I used to think,
• the information I found that I trusted,
• the information I found that I decided not to trust, and
• what I think about all those things now. 

Academic papers do not base their arguments on personal experience or knowlege, but on scientific studies, historical data, and information from trusted witnesses. 

From the world of ALL THE INORMATION THAT EXISTS,

   Some things about my topic I already know (or think I know) from experience or previous reading

           Some of it will be findable in Google and some in library databases and some in other places

                  Searching in Google and library databases will bring me a large set of things

                          Of these, some will be too old, too off-topic, poorly researched, too biased….

                                  Some will turn out to be not what I need-  too old, too off-topic, too hard to read…

                                          The things that are left I will read and try to understand

                                                Of these, I will put the only best and most useful in my reference list

                                                       Some of these will agree with my point of view

                                                             Some will disagree; often these make me think or rethink

                                                                   A few will be from those things I thought I knew.

 What I write will be a blend of all these things; it will be something NEW.