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First-Year Composition

For all first-year composition classes: ENG 101, ENG 107, ENG 102, ENG 108, ENG 105.

Welcome!

ASU Library is here to help you learn about academic research and find sources for your composition class assignments. This Library Guide will direct you to ASU Library resources that will help you successfully complete your English Composition papers.

Click on the boxes at the left for information about selecting a topic, coming up with a research question, finding background information, learning about effective search strategies, finding research databases appropriate for your topic, evaluating the sources you find, and citing correctly to avoid plagiarism.  You can also get help by using our online Ask a Librarian service, or by directly contacting librarians who regularly work with first-year composition classes and students.

Instructors, please visit our First Year Composition Instructor's Guide for more information regarding instruction support for your classes!

What Is Research?

Research is the process of collecting information and data, then conducting analyses to test hypotheses and present findings. Research often follows methodologies and protocols set up by specific academic disciplines. Library research is a type of research that involves finding and using library resources to help answer questions.

There are many different kinds of research and ways to do it. This guide focuses on academic research, which usually requires high-quality, peer-reviewed sources. Because research can be thought about in many different ways and broken down into many different steps, this guide presents but one way to break down the research process.

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.