(Photo credit: Ken Whytock)

For some the writing process is cathartic, while for others it’s more like torture. As a college student, having good writing skills is more critical for certain majors than others. However, once college is over, to compete in today’s job market, good writing skills aren’t an elective — they are a MUST. We could all use a lesson or two on how to brush up on our writing. Here are some useful tips on how to become a better writer.

Listen with attention

How many people do you know who are good listeners? I’d bet not all that many. Listening is a highly undervalued skill, but it can do wonders in helping your writing to get better. Like novelist Chuck Wendig says in his terribleminds.com blog post, “25 ways to become a better writer,” a good listener can tell how words sound on the page (be advised this post has some naughty language).

“We read with our ears as much as with your eyes and so it’s critical you know what sounds good as well as what reads well,” Wendig writes. “Sit down at a bar, listen to a conversation. Turn on an audio book or a radio show. Listen to a stand-up comedian deliver jokes and stories. Write it down if you must — see how it lays on the page.”

Read aloud

Hearing yourself reading your own work out loud may seem strange at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll notice right away those areas of your writing that just don’t jive. If it doesn’t read well while you’re reading it aloud, it probably needs some tweaking.

Dave Kerpen, CEO of Likeable Local and NY Times best-selling author, posted to LinkedIn February 21, 2013, in “Want to be taken seriously? Become a better writer,” how reading out loud has saved him.

“It’s great to hear my writing the way others will ‘hear’ it as they read,” Kerpen said. “Especially since tone in emails is difficult to convey, it’s valuable to say what you’re writing aloud, and then consider a quick edit, before you put it out there.”

Honor your inner weirdo

Stretching that proverbial writing muscle takes some creativity. Whether you’re writing a term paper, thesis or presentation, we can all benefit from some off-the-wall hilariousness. Have an idea for a sci-fi romantic comedy? Jot down a short story or let the ideas flow. The point is to just let the words flow and it’ll be much easier to get back to that boring assignment you’ve been circling for days.

Let the criticism fly

So you know that I know that we are our own worst critics. Sometimes those criticisms are true, but usually they are inflated insecurities floating around in our heads. To get some perspective, it’s always a good idea to tap a friend for some good advice on said work in question. Encourage honesty and keep your trap shut, and you might just get the real answers you’re looking for.

Proofread like your life depends on it

Think no one will notice a couple of typos in that email you sent with your resume? Well, maybe if if the reader is your mom. Otherwise, good luck with denial. The worst case scenario is your potential new boss will zoom in on the error and not hire you. Nothing feels worse than telling yourself, “If I’d only…” We’ve all been there. One of the best ways to avoid this scenario is to get in the habit of proofreading your work, all the time. It’s amazing how even one pass over can save you from disaster.

In a March 9, 2013, post to the Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Be careful what, how you write,” Anita Bruzzese Gannett interviewed Helen Cunningham, author of The Business Style Handbook, to get the skinny on the benefits of proofreading.

“Take time to proof your writing,” Cunningham said. “Read over your emails before sending to make sure they’re well written, and ask a colleague to review important messages or reports. Never put anything in writing that you would not want to see on the front page of a newspaper.”

For more information on writing, visit Questia’s topic page on Communication.

 What tips/exercises have helped you to improve your writing?

How far back does the oldest human (hominid) date from?

A)     250,000 years
B)     500,000 years
C)     1,000,000 years
D)     2.3 million years
E)     4.4 million years

Before I give you the answer (and before you search it online), you might want to know that back in 2005, National Geographic launched its Genographic Project. National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Spencer Wells and his team of renowned international scientists began using the latest in genetic computational technologies to analyze historical patterns in DNA from participants around the globe to obtain further insight into our genetic origins.  The project is ongoing and you can participate and discover the migration paths your ancient ancestors followed thousands of years ago.

Ardipithecus ramidus

And the answer to question #1 is E. Named “Ardi,” (short for Ardipithecus ramidus) an international team of paleontologists discovered the oldest known skeleton of a potential human ancestor in Aramis, Ethiopia back in the early 1990’s. Some debate still remains whether Ardi is indeed the oldest human ancestor ever found. According to Tim White, paleontologist at the University of Berkeley’s Human Evolution Research Center, “It’s not a chimp. It’s not a human. “

Pop Quiz question #2.

What time period is generally considered the dawning of the Industrial Revolution?

A)     1760
B)     1780
C)     1800
D)     1820
E)      1840

Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)

Before we pick a date, let’s quickly remind ourselves of the one of the most influential and unsung heroes of the Industrial Revolution, Richard Trevithick.  A British inventor and mining engineer, it took years of experimentation and frustration for Trevithick to finally bring to life the world’s first high pressure cylindrical boiler and the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive, all around the turn of the 19^th century.

Did you answer question #2? It was Arnold Toynbee, famous 19^th century British economist and social reformer, who is first credited with describing England’s economic development from 1760 to 1840 as the “Industrial Revolution.” Answer A.

To encourage further study and learning on the major historical developments of humanity’s past, Questia is opening its doors to five of the top most researched history books and articles from our library. These books and articles were individually selected by our librarians and each one will spur you on as you plow into your history studies.

Prehistory: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Chris Gosden

This VSI to prehistory will introduce the reader to four and a half million years of human existence. Many of the familiar aspects of modern life are no more than a century or two old, yet our deep social structures and skills were in large measure developed by small bands of our prehistoric ancestors many millennia ago. Chris Gosden invites us to think seriously about who we are by considering who we have been.

Women’s Influence on Classical Civilization

Editors: Fiona Mchardy, Eireann Marshall

Written by an international range of renowned academics, this volume explores how women in antiquity influenced aspects of culture normally though of as male. Looking at politics, economics, science, law and the arts, the contributors examine examples from around the ancient world asking how far traditional definitions of culture describe male spheres of activity, and examining to what extent these spheres were actually created and perpetuated by women.

The Oxford History of Medieval Europe

Editor: George Holme

Covering a thousand years of history, this volume tells the story of the creation of Western civilization in Europe and the Mediterranean. Now available in a compact, more convenient format, it offers the same text and many of the illustrations which first appeared in the widely acclaimed Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe. Written by expert scholars and based on the latest research, the book explores a period of profound diversity and change, focusing on all aspects of medieval history

The Industrial Revolution in World History. Edition: 2nd

Author: Peter N. Stearns

This concise, accessible new edition from noted historian Peter N. Stearns examines the industrial revolution as a global phenomenon, in terms of causes and results extending through the 20th century and into the present.

The “New” Cold War History and the Origins of the Cold War

Author: Joseph M Siracusa

Siracusa writes his own analysis on the meaning and significance of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1998, the United States Congress passed legislation recognizing the dates of the Cold War as starting in September 2, 1945 and lasting until December 26, 1991.

For more information on human history, check out Questia’s topic page on archeology. 

Here’s a checklist of things to do before handing in your term paper:

1) Don’t write a high school paper.

This is college now. The tricks you learned in high school to write a paper won’t cut it in the more academic world of college. “Old formulae, such as the five-paragraph theme, aren’t sophisticated or flexible enough to provide a sound structure for a college paper. And many of the old tricks — such as using elevated language or repeating yourself — will fail you now,” noted Karen Gocsik in “What is an academic paper?” on the Dartmouth Writing Program site at Dartmouth.edu.

2) Make an outline and follow it.

So it doesn’t sound like you’re rambling through 10-15 pages, do some research first, get a good idea of what you want to write about, make an outline and stick to it. This will make your paper sound professional.

3) Ask your teacher.

Pay attention to directions if your teacher or professor tells you exactly what he/she wants: How many pages, on what topic, how many sources needed.

4) Go with your research.

Research today is easier than ever with electronic resources. In addition to Google and Bing (stay away from Wikipedia), there are Worldcat.org, InfoTrac, OneFile, LexisNexis Academic, EBSCOHost and ProQuest. You can also find professional journals and international books and periodicals. Consult your school librarian or city librarian.

5) Evaluate the credibility of scientific information.

If your paper is for a science, medical, health or engineering class, make sure your science and math are correct. No one likes sloppy science. Get your information from a credible source, not from a place that has an agenda or passes off personal experiences or public relations as real science. “Unethical lobbying groups who have particular political or business interests can take advantage of this, and work to perpetuate the disconnect between scientific and public understandings,” reported Kristen St. John in “The Need to Teach about Ethics and Science, and the Credibility of Sources,” in Journal of Geoscience Education, February 2013, found in Questia.com.

6) Don’t plagiarize.

Yes, you’ve heard it before. But it’s really true. Plagiarism gets you nowhere. You need to learn to write your own ideas in a clear and persuasive manner. And, professors are on to you — they know how to scan your paper into plagiarism detection software. Matt Petronzio’s August 29, 2012, article “How to Detect Plagiarism Online” in Mashable.com highlights ten online services that check text for plagiarism, including TurnItIn, Viper and PlagiarismChecker.com, all geared toward college term papers.

7) Check spelling and grammar.

Don’t forget to spell check. But also don’t forget to proofread your paper. Your spell checker doesn’t know the difference between synonyms and homonyms. If your grammar is a bit fuzzy or English is not your first language, ask a friend to read over your paper for good measure. A second set of eyes never hurts.

8) Use term paper format.

In addition to grammar and spelling, presentation is important. For easy reading and so the teacher has room to make comments, format your paper with:

• an easy-to-read serif font, such as Times New Roman
• one-inch margins, double-spaced text
• a header or footer on each page with your name, paper title, page number and course name
• on plain standard white 8 ½ x 11 paper (no onion skin, pink paper with hearts or resume paper).

What are your tips for writing a high-quality term paper?

Science articles and science books

We at Questia know that college students will never want to be faced with such a drastic situation as poor Varvara, but it sure helps to know that as a resource, we’re able to offer you a bundle of excellent source materials to guide you in your research. Science students using Questia’s rich database can find the following:

• More than thirty four thousand online books that cover a wide range of scientific writings, case studies, popular culture
• More than five thousand academic journal articles taken from science trade books and journals
• More than seven thousand magazine articles
• Nearly twenty thousand newspaper articles ranging from quantum mechanics to scientific ethics

A sample of Questia’s top archived science books include: Connected Knowledge: Science, Philosophy, and Education; Science, Technology, and Society: An Encyclopedia; A House Built on Sand: Exposing Postmodernist Myths about Science, and The Einstein Paradox and Other Science Mysteries Solved by Sherlock Holmes by Colin Bruce. Readers of The Einstein Paradox are introduced to the bizarre concepts of modern physics as the only way to solve a casebook of otherwise impossibly paradoxical crimes.

Below is a snapshot of science books and articles taken from Questia’s archives. We’ve included short descriptions of each book to provide you with a preview of just what’s in store for you when you begin exploring Questia.

Disease and Medicine in World History

By Sheldon Watts

Publisher: Routledge. Place of publication: New York. Publication year: 2003

Drawing on case studies from ancient Egypt to present-day America, Asia and Europe, this survey discusses concepts of sickness and forms of treatment in many cultures. Author Sheldon Watts shows that many medical practices in the past were shaped as much by philosophers and metaphysicians as by university-trained doctors and other practitioners.

The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate

By David Archer

Publisher: Princeton University Press. Place of publication: Princeton, NJ. Publication year: 2010.

In The Long Thaw, David Archer, one of the world’s leading climatologists, predicts that if we continue to emit carbon dioxide we may eventually cancel the next ice age and raise the oceans by 50 meters. The great ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland may take more than a century to melt, and the overall change in sea level will be one hundred times what is forecast for 2100.

How Mathematicians Think: Using Ambiguity, Contradiction, and Paradox to Create Mathematics

Contributors: William Byers – Author.

Publisher: Princeton University Press. Place of publication: Princeton, NJ. Publication year: 2010.

To many outsiders, mathematicians appear to think like computers, grimly grinding away with a strict formal logic and moving methodicallyfrom one black-and-white deduction to another. Yet mathematicians often describe their most important breakthroughs as creative, intuitive responses to ambiguity, contradiction, and paradox. A unique examination of this less-familiar aspect of mathematics, How Mathematicians Think reveals that mathematics is a profoundly creative activity and not just a body of formalized rules and results.

“Curiosity Goes to Mars: NASA’s Rover Looks for Life-Friendly Environments“

Contributors: Drake, Nadia – Author.

Magazine title: Science News. Volume: 182. Issue: 13 Publication date: December 29, 2012.

This is an essay on NASA’s recent feat of safely landing a rover, called Curiosity, on the planet Mars. Curiosity’s principle objective is to characterize habitable environments on the Martian landscape.

100 Greatest Science Inventions of All Time

Contributors: Kendall Haven – Editor.

Publisher: Libraries Unlimited. Place of publication: Westport, CT. Publication year: 2006.

This book presents fascinating facts about 100 amazing inventions, a panoramic overview of the history of science, and a collection of engaging reads. It is a useful tool for teachers and students to learn about inventions and their critical role in human development.

This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War

Author: James M. McPherson

One of America’s preeminent historians on the American Civil War, Pulitzer Prize winner McPherson compiles a number of his essays, several previously unpublished and all updated and revised, in this 2007 collection. Dealing with everyday topics, such as the love soldiers had for newspapers, to larger topics, such as the creation of the Lost Cause mystique in the postwar South, McPherson provides an interpretive history of the war and its meaning for America. McPherson spotlights famous figures including Harriet Tubman, John Brown, Jesse James and William Tecumseh Sherman, and offers new insights into General Robert E. Lee’s goals in the Gettysburg Campaign, Lincoln and Grant in the Vicksburg campaign, and Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief.

Why the Civil War Came

Editor: Gabor S. Boritt

Turning Points of the Civil War

Author: James A. Rawley

Freedom, Union, and Power: Lincoln and His Party during the Civil War
Author: Michael S. Green

Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War

Author: Gary W. Gallagher

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire in (476 A.D.), The Dark Ages saw a precipitous decline in Western performing arts. It was not until the Renaissance when plays, dance, and live music were rekindled, prompting the first opera in 1597, Dafne, composed by Italian poet, Ottavio Rinuccini. Landmarks of 18^th century classical European opera include Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. At the turn of the 19^th century, some of the most famous opera ever composed came of age under composer, Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi. Some of his most famous works, La Traviatta and Aida remain opera staples to this day.

The 19^th century saw an explosion of organized performance art, in particular, ballet. It would culminate with the arrival of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes from 1909 to 1929. Diaghilev’s emphasis on collaboration saw composers, designers, musicians, and choreographers collaborate on an unprecedented level. Thomas Edison’s inventions of the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope in the late 19^th century would pave the way for the Hollywood movie industry by the 1930’s. Film forever altered the landscape of performance art as it became easier to mass-produce to a larger audience and ushered in the movie actor as an entertainment icon.  Performance art would also find itself influenced by the Futurists; these were Italian artists who sought to discard the art of the past and embrace the new technology of the 20^th century, in particular, the automobile for its speed and power.

By the 1970’s, performance art saw its embodiment in such activities as body art, guerilla theater, conceptual art, and/or “happenings.” Famous American performance artists include Laurie Anderson and her use of elaborate media spectacles and Blue Man Group, a performance ensemble made up of a trio of humanoid characters called Blue Men.

For the performing arts, the only constant is change. According to Ben Cameron, Program Director, Arts, at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, how can today’s consumer justify paying $100 for a symphony, ballet, or opera ticket when h/she is so comfortable downloading entertainment off of the Internet 24 hours a day for as low as 99 cents a song or for free?

The Internet has forced a realignment of culture and communications. For Cameron, we live in a world defined not by consumption but by participation. Today’s performing artists, for the first time in history, have the ability to control their own means of artistic distribution thanks to YouTube, Facebook and other social networking platforms. This democratization has enabled anyone to take on the moniker of “professional hybrid artist,” according to Cameron, making nearly anyone an author, dancer, writer, or singer.

Questia is openings its doors this month, making available a list of performing arts articles that delve into all aspects of this fascinating form of human expression. If you are knee-deep into your research, please take some time and explore Questia’s rich archive.

Acting

Book title: Acting (Re)considered:  A Theoretical and Practical Guide. Edition: 2nd. Contributors: Phillip B. Zarrilli – Editor. Publisher: Routledge. Place of publication: London. Publication year: 2002.

Contributor Phillip B. Zarrilli put together this collection of essays that were prompted by the desire on the part of many actors to know one just one but many paradigms and approaches to acting; to answer questions about acting and process, including information on principles, techniques, and approaches to acting drawn from both Western and non-Western sources.

Music

Book title: The Science & Psychology of Music Performance: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning. Contributors: Richard Parncutt – Editor, Gary E. McPherson – Editor. Publisher: Oxford University Press. Place of publication: New York. Publication year: 2002.

How well do music psychologists, music educators, and practicing musicians communicate with one another? In this book, contributing authors attempt to bridge the interdisciplinary gaps that currently separate music psychologists, music educators, and practicing musicians by developing new approaches to teaching, learning, and making music that are informed and inspired by the results of recent research in music psychology, music education, and acoustics.

Dance

Book title: Dance Anecdotes: Stories from the Worlds of Ballet, Broadway, the Ballroom, and Modern Dance. Contributors: Mindy Aloff – Author. Publisher: Oxford University Press. Place of publication: New York. Publication year: 2006.

This is a book of stories about dancing from all over the globe. Author/contributor Mindy Aloff put together a diverse collection for the casual reader but choosing examples that might be unexpected and less focused on the more famous dance anecdotes of the past century.

Opera

Book title: The Birth of Opera. Contributors: F. W. Sternfeld – Author. Publisher: Clarendon Press. Place of publication: Oxford. Publication year: 1995.

The spirit of opera was born out of Renaissance humanism, and author F.W. Sternfeld takes his youthful passion for opera to review its origins and building blocks. The book sketches the main themes behind the Orpheus myth, in particular, Ovid Metamorphoses and Heroides, and chronicles the employment of repetition and echo.

Comedy

Book title: Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-Soul America. Contributors: Bambi Haggins – Author. Publisher: Rutgers University Press. Place of publication: New Brunswick, NJ. Publication year: 2007.

Black comedy, in its literal and literary construction, has always overtly and covertly explored the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of African American communities. Black comedy is tied inextricably to the African-American condition according to author Bambi Haggins. Haggins examines black comedic social discourse through influential performers such as Richard Pryor, and illuminates the place of African Americans in mainstream American comedy.

Playing such an important role in our society, it’s no wonder that it is a hot topic for debate on the political level as well as in classrooms and school boards. Education reform aims to make the highest quality public education available to as many citizens as possible, but with varying opinions, classes, cultures and needs to be considered, finding the best solution is no easy task.

In contribution to the education reform debate, we at Questia are sharing the top five most researched books on education reform from our library. And all of them are librarian-selected and research paper-approved. Enjoy!

Dewey’s Dream: Universities and Democracies in an Age of Education Reform: Civil Society, Public Schools, and Democratic Citizenship

Authors: Lee Benson, Ira Harkavy and John Puckett

This timely, persuasive, and hopeful book reexamines John Dewey’s idea of schools, specifically community schools, as the best places to grow a democratic society that is based on racial, social, and economic justice. The authors assert that American colleges and universities bear a responsibility for-and would benefit substantially from-working with schools to develop democratic schools and communities. Dewey’s Dreamopens with a re-appraisal of Dewey’s philosophy and an argument for its continued relevance today.

Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik

Author: Chester E. Finn Jr.

Chester Finn tells how his experiences have shaped his changing views of the three major strands of postwar school reform: standards-driven, choice-driven, and profession-driven. Of the three, Finn now believes that a combination of choice and standards has the greatest potential, but he favors this approach more on pragmatic than ideological grounds, arguing that parents should be given more options at the same time that schools are allowed more flexibility and held to higher performance norms. He also explains why education reforms of all kinds are so difficult to implement, and he draws valuable lessons from their frequent failure.

Children as Pawns: The Politics of Educational Reform

Author: Timothy A. Hacsi

In the first book to bring together the recent history of educational policy and politics with the research evidence, Timothy Hacsi presents the illuminating, often-forgotten stories of these five controversial topics. He sifts through the complicated evaluation research literature and compares the policies that have been adopted to the best evidence about what actually works. He lucidly explains what the major studies show, what they don’t, and how they have been misunderstood and misrepresented. Hacsi shows how rarely educational policies are based on solid research evidence, and how programs that sound plausible simply do not satisfy the complex needs of real children.

Critical Voices in School Reform: Students Living through Change

Editors: Beth C. Rubin and Elena M. Silva

School reform of one kind or another is a priority for education systems the world over. Yet the voices of students – those most affected by, and most pivotal to, the success or failure of any program of school reform – are rarely heard on this topic. This is the first book to look at school reform from the perspective of the students.

Women in American Education, 1820-1955: The Female Force and Educational Reform

Author: June Edwards

Recounts the remarkable achievements of women who dared to defy customs, break legal barriers, and endure hardship and discrimination in order to provide education for girls, young children, female teachers, homemakers, disabled students, the immigrant poor, and African American youth–the people excluded from traditional institutions of their day. Excerpts from the women’s own writings are provided as well as discussion of their unique teaching methods.

Visit Questia for even more research on educational standards in the U.S.

What are some of the biggest educational concerns facing your community? Let us know in the comments below.

As we all know, nutrition is a hot topic in the United States all year round and makes for fascinating research as more and more information is discovered on subjects from health and fitness to nutrition and dieting. To celebrate National Nutrition Month here at Questia, we’re sharing some of our best content on nutrition for free for a whole month! These books are all librarian-selected and approved for use in high-quality research papers. Check out the five below books to get your research started, and you’ll be ready to write and research like a pro.

The Nature of Nutrition: A Unifying Framework from Animal Adaptation to Human Obesity

Authors: Stephen J. Simpson and David Raubenheimer

Nutrition has long been considered more the domain of medicine and agriculture than of the biological sciences, yet it touches and shapes all aspects of the natural world. The need for nutrients determines whether wild animals thrive, how populations evolve and decline, and how ecological communities are structured. The Nature of Nutrition is the first book to address nutrition’s enormously complex role in biology, both at the level of individual organisms and in their broader ecological interactions.

Public Health Nutrition: From Principles to Practice

Editors: Mark Lawrence and Tony Worsley

A systematic, research-based overview of the central principles and practice issues in the growing field of public health nutrition. With chapters by leading international experts, this is essential reading for practitioners and students in public health, nutrition, health policy and related fields.

Controversies in Food and Nutrition

Authors: Myrna Chandler Goldstein and Mark A. Goldstein

You can never have too many vitamins, until they kill you. Eat meat, but avoid beef, chicken, turkey, and pork. Packaged foods are more efficiently preserved than they were 100 years ago — but should we actually eat the stuff? Consumers are besieged with conflicting messages about food and nutrition, making it difficult for the average customer to know what to believe. Is anything safe at McDonald’s? Do carbohydrates cause obesity? This provocative new resource explores 15 common controversies in the field of food and nutrition.

A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition

Authors: Arnold E. Bender and David A. Bender

This leading dictionary contains over 6,150 entries covering all aspects of food and nutrition, diet and health, including 150 entries new to this edition. From absinthe to zymogens, the volume offers jargon-free definitions that clearly explain even the most technical of nutritional terms, covering types of food (including everyday foods, little-known foods such as payusnaya, and dishes from around the world, from accoub and fair maids tomushy peas and zakuska), nutritional information, vitamins, minerals, and much more.

The Psychology of Eating and Drinking. Edition: 3rd

Author: A. W. Logue

Our fascination with eating and drinking behaviours and their causes has resulted in a huge industry of food-related pop science. Every bookstore and magazine stand is filled with publications promising to get your child to eat his vegetables, to tell you if someone you know has an eating disorder, or to show you how to lose weight. But the degree to which any of these works is based on scientific research is very limited: the information offered is at best incomplete and often simply incorrect. However, in contrast to this popular literature, the scientific research on eating and drinking behaviours is usually too technical for the general reader. Alexandra Logue’s The Psychology of Eating and Drinking, Third Edition, is unique in being a textbook that can also be comprehended by the educated general reader.

Visit Questia for even more research on Nutrition and the Psychology of Eating. Check out the National Nutrition Month page on Facebook for tips and info on nutrition.

We at Questia continue to pursue our goal of providing high quality, scholarly books, articles, journals and when it comes to quantitative research, we make no exception: 

• More than 11,000 full-text online books across a wide range of subjects
• Nearly seven thousand academic journal articles
• Nearly two thousand magazine articles
• More than one thousand newspaper articles

For example, on social sciences you’ll find 32 thousand books, 8,000 + academic journal articles, 4,000+ magazine articles, and 5,000+ newspaper articles, including more than 100 encyclopedia articles. If you’re studying quantitative models in marketing research, Questia has 8,000+ books, 7,000+ academic journals, 22,000+ magazine articles, and 25,000+ newspaper articles.

Sourcing qualitative and quantitative data can help you in your research. Today’s major brands are routinely conducting quantitative research in order to better understand their customers. For example, games giant Sega is currently monitoring the long-term brand performance and positioning for one of its games, looking at its strengths among its core target audience and the competition. According to Lucy Rolf, senior European research executive, “it’s important for us to move more towards quantitative research, ensuring we get a long-term detailed view of audiences.”

If you are in the midst of conducting quantitative research as part of your studies, you can find and cite high-quality, scholarly articles and books in the Questia digital library. We’re making available a list of excerpts from books below that tackle various topics through a quantitative methodology. Enjoy!

Social Sciences

Book title: A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences. Contributors: Gary Goertz – Author, James Mahoney – Author. Publisher: Princeton University Press. Place of publication: Princeton, NJ. Publication year: 2012.

This book analyzes quantitative and qualitative research in the social sciences as separate cultures. The authors repeatedly discovered ways in which qualitative and quantitative researchers vary in their methodological orientations and research practices.

History

Book title: Making History Count: A Primer in Quantitative Methods for Historians. Contributors: Charles H. Feinstein – Author, Mark Thomas – Author. Publisher: Cambridge University Press. Place of publication: Cambridge, England. Publication year: 2002.

Authors Charles H. Feinstein and Mark Thomas focus on three principal objectives: Provide an elementary and very informal introduction to the fundamental concepts and techniques of modern quantitative methods; help students understand and interpret the content and terminology of statistical packages available for computers; appreciate how using case studies and other examples of quantitative methods can open up new of an enquiry and can supplement and strengthen other methods of research.

Psychology

Book title: Mixing Methods in Psychology: The Integration of Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Theory and Practice. Contributors: Zazie Todd – Editor, Brigitte Nerlich – Editor, Suzanne McKeown – Editor, David D. Clarke – Editor. Publisher: Psychology Press. Place of publication: New York. Publication year: 2004.

Qualitative methods are a growth area in psychology. Few books have attempted to bridge the gulf between the newer qualitative methods and the older quantitative methods used in psychology and social sciences. It is the aim of the authors to explore some of these issues around the qualitative-quantitative divide in psychology, looking at both the theoretical and practical considerations of a mixed-method approach.

Marketing

Book title: Quantitative Models in Marketing Research. Contributors: Philip Hans Franses – Author, Richard Paap – Author. Publisher: Cambridge University Press. Place of publication: Cambridge, England. Publication year: 2001.

Authors Philip Hans Frances and Richard Paap present the most important and practically relevant quantitative models for marketing research. Each model includes a demonstration of the mechanics of the model, empirical analysis, real world examples, and an interpretation of results and findings.

Social Work

Book title: Social Work Research and Evaluation: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Edition: 7th. Contributors: Richard M. Grinnell Jr. – Editor, Yvonne A. Unrau – Editor. Publisher: Oxford University Press. Place of publication: New York. Publication year: 2005.

Contributors Richard M. Grinnell Jr. and Yvotte A. Unrau continue to emphasize how the goals of social work are furthered by the research process.  This book is the longest standing and most widely adopted text in the field of social work research and evaluation. It provides social work students with a rock-solid foundation for future statistics courses, program evaluation courses, and case-level evaluation courses.

That’s right! We’ll trade our research for yours

Entering the drawing is quick and easy:

1. Download our new Questia iOS app here - Questia – College Research Library for Writing Essays and Homework
2. Put the Questia iOS app through it’s paces while enjoying some of these features:
   • Quickly find credible books, scholarly articles and topics for your research papers
   • Read full-text books and articles in the app
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