1

I am currently a senior high school student whose study is about producing homemade paper using coconut husks and testing for their certain properties. However, most studies that I have come across are vague and or use a document called the TAPPI T 205 which is used for forming test handsheets for physical testing. The said document contains machinery and materials that I do not have access to nor do the facilities around my local area have as well.

The creation of papers as I've seen on YouTube and other non-scientific articles is quick and easy but I simply cannot cite them because they are non-academic and lack specificity for certain materials and methods. In my research, the papermaking process is really arbitrary as my main goal is really to just test coconut husk's properties as a potential paper-making material. The reason for this is that my professor emphasized that these methods should also be easy to perform as to also be of help to any locals as I hail from a third-world country and don't have a lot of access to complex research facilities.

Any advice?

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    Did you already ask your professor how to proceed?
    – MisterMiyagi
    Commented Jul 12 at 12:41

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

I think you do not need to find the references doing exactly same thing as yours. There are some journals such as Journal of Natural Fibers that might contain some paper tightly or loosely connected to your research. A quick research gives me this paper that could be cited. You can search similar papers and journals using the right keywords.

Improve this answer
1
  • Yes, thank you, I have seen that paper before and actually, that paper is the entire basis for our research but the methods of their paper are quite out of reach. Thank you for your comment, will look further into it.
    – Nathan Palanas Hazel
    Commented Jul 14 at 0:58
1

As @user23644521 mentioned, these are references which can be a sort of comparison - those don't have to line up exactly. Look for any kind of similarity between what's written in academic journals and your project. Even if you are saying something along the lines of "I would use a similar process to 'this YouTube video' but adopt the rigor of methodology used by the researchers in 'this academic journal article'.

I would be of the opinion that if it makes sense, and you are striving to make it academically relevant and citing some academic journals, then including YouTube videos as citations because they are great examples of relevant materials or processes you're using/considering/discussing, there's nothing inherently wrong with doing this. So long as your reasoning is sound.

I've seen kids in US High Schools that have done graduate-school-level work and won national competitions on semester-long research projects that cited YouTube Videos and some even made their own for their papers and presentations. Good Luck!

Improve this answer
1
  • This is incredibly insightful, thank you so much. In our school, citing youtube videos isn't that common so its quite reassuring that even grad-school-level students do it too.
    – Nathan Palanas Hazel
    Commented Jul 14 at 1:01

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .