Research

"The systematic, rigorous investigation of a situation or problem in order to generate new knowledge or validate existing knowledge." [1]

Research is a careful and detailed study into a specific problem, concern, or issue using the scientific method. It's the adult form of the science fair projects back in elementary school, where you try and learn something by performing an experiment. This is best accomplished by turning the issue into a question, with the intent of the research to answer the question.[2]
Thesis/Dissertation Support:

1. Research Proposal, Writing Format
2. Thesis Writing Manual
3. Thesis/Dissertation Format 
4. Dissertation/Thesis of Library and Information Science
5. DART-Europe E-theses Portal

Systems of Referencing:

The way in which the basic information (i.e. the author, the title, and the publication details) is presented in the body of the text and at the end of the text differs from one referencing system to another.

There are two broad types of referencing system

1. Parenthetical systems: 
• Author-date: APA style, SIR style, Chicago style
• Author-page: MLA style
2. Notation systems:
• Footnote or endnote: Chicago or Turabian style
• Series of numbered references: Vancouver style

Referencing Styles:

1. APA:  APA is an author/date based style. This means emphasis is placed on the author and the date of a piece of work to uniquely identify it. citation machine cm
2. MLA:  MLA is most often applied by the arts and humanities, particularly in the USA. It is arguably the most well used of all of the citation styles. citation machine
3. Harvard: Harvard is very similar to APA. Where APA is primarily used in the USA, Harvard referencing is the most well used referencing style in the UK and Australia, and is encouraged for use with the humanities. citation machine
4. Vancouver: The Vancouver system is mainly used in medical and scientific papers. citation machine
5. Chicago and Turabian: These are two separate styles but are very similar, just like Harvard and APA. These are widely used for history and economics. citation machine, cmachine

Supporting software for research:

1. mendeley: Mendeley is a free reference manager and an academic social network. Manage your research, showcase your work, connect and collaborate with over five million researchers worldwide.
2. zotero: Zotero is a free, easy to use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.
3. endnote: EndNote is a commercial reference management software package, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. It is produced by Thomson Reuters.

Software for Data Analysis:

1. spss - spss is a software package, used for statistical analysis
2. top free data analysis software: ELKI, Dataiku DSS, ITALASSI, R, Tanagre, Waffles, Weka, Gephi, OpenRefine, Fusion Tab, DataMelt, Orange, Wrangler, Data Applied, DevInfo, RapidMiner, PAW, SCaVis, ROOTM, Encog, ILNumerics.Net, Julia, NodeXL Basic, Fluentd, Tableau Public, NumPy, SciPy, MOA(Massive On-line Analysis), SAP Lumira, NetworkX, KNIME, SymPy, Scilab, FreeMat, jMatLab, IPython, matplotlib

Copyright

Copyright (or author’s right) is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.

Copyright law and treaties

Copyright law aims to balance the interests of those who create content, with the public interest in having the widest possible access to that content. WIPO administers several international treaties in the area of copyright and related rights.

Copyright-related treaties administered by WIPO

1. Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances.
2. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
3. Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Program-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite.
4. Geneva Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms.
5. Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.
6. Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations.
7. WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT)
8. WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas as your own. You are plagiarising if, for instance, you quote someone’s exact words without using quotation marks and including the source of the quote, or if you re-write another writer’s ideas in your own words without acknowledging the source of those ideas. It is important to remember that plagiarism is not simply using another writer’s words; it is using another writer’s words or ideas without acknowledging the source.

Plagiarism is a very serious offence in academic institutions since it is considered a form of theft. Often, students plagiarize accidentally rather than intentionally. You can reduce the risk of unintentionally plagiarizing by following a few key steps:

1. Be meticulous in your note-making: Keep full records of the bibliographic details of the sources you consult. If you forget to write down those details while you are taking notes, you might have difficulty finding the source again when it comes time to write your assignment. In your notes, clearly identify information you have quoted and information you have paraphrased. A quote is a passage you have copied exactly from the original source; a paraphrase is a passage that includes ideas from the source that you have written in your own words, sentence structure and style. When you copy the exact words from someone else’s writing, always put quotation marks (“ ”) around the words in your notes. Later, when you are writing your assignment, the quotation marks will remind you that those words are not yours.
2. Improve your paraphrasing skills: Paraphrasing requires you to make substantial changes; it is not sufficient simply to change the occasional word. 
3. Focus on analysis when writing your assignments: Academic assignments require you to use information from a variety of sources to show your understanding of the topic. To do this you need to use sources to support the points you are making, not simply describe or reword those sources.
4. Make sure you understand the mechanics of referencing.

APA Formatting 6th Edition in MS Word 

MLA Essay Format

   

  Harvard Referencing System

 

References:

1. http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-research-definition-purpose-typical-researchers.html
2. http://www.slideshare.net/vaisalik/types-of-research?from_action=save
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EndNote
4. http://182.93.84.134:9991/lisd/browse?type=title
5. http://www.dart-europe.eu/basic-search.php
6. http://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?searchfrom=header&q=c+p+rijal&ud=any&ft=all&lang=en&sort=
7. https://library2.lincoln.ac.nz/documents/ReferencingWhyWhenHow.pdf
8. http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/