HAVE FUN!

What are you looking for?

• When you begin the research process, it is important to have a general idea of what you need. You can use your class textbook, your instructor, or even your classmates to help you generate ideas.
• You can browse the Library's reference resources, journals, magazines, or newspapers to help you identify a topic.

• Before you start your research, jot down any words, significant names, phrases, or subjects that will help you get started. At this point, it can be fairly general; such as, domestic violence, World War II, eating disorders, smoking, sharks, or diseases.
• The Library has some resources that can help you do basic background research on your topic; for example:

Focus your research topic

• Once you have a basic idea what information you would like to find, it is important to become a little more specific.
• Ask yourself questions like these:
  • Do I need brief information or something more involved?
  • Do I want to use articles or books or government documents?
  • Do I need to find articles in popular magazines, or do I need to use research studies?
  • What specifically about this topic that is important to me?
  • What would I like to learn about this topic?
  • What do I need to find that will help support my position?
  • How will I find this information?
  • Am I researching an event that occurred a long time ago?
  • Do I have personal knowledge that I would like to expand?
  • Am I interested in finding articles from a particular perspective?
  • Do I need an historical overview?
  • Do I need current information?
  • Do I need statistics?
  • Do I need to locate pictures?
  • Do I need to talk to a person with a specific organization?
  • Does it matter when the material was published?
  • How long is my paper?
  • How much time do I have?
  • What class level am I?
  • When is my paper due?
  • Will I have time to obtain the resource(s) from another Library (InterLibrary Services) if this Library does not have it?
• An important aspect of doing research is being flexible and willing to change your research topic as you discover a new focus, discover a lack of available information, or you ran out of time.

Turn your research topic into a specific research question

• By turning your research topic into a question, you focus on what you really want to research. Also, the research question will help define your search term(s) before you begin the actual search. You can do this step before you begin your actual research or after you have done some preliminary investigation on your topic.
• If you are researching domestic violence, here are sample research questions:

 Should self defense be used as a legitimate excuse when a woman kills her husband after years of abuse?

 How does abuse impact the family structure?

 Are men more apt than women to be abusive?

 It seems that domestic violence has been a recent issue. How severe was abuse to women in the nineteenth century?

Identify the key or major search term(s) of your research question

• Once you have turned your general research topic into a question, it is important for you to identify the major search term(s) of your research question.
• For the research questions on domestic violence, here are possible search term(s):

 Should self defense be used as a legitimate excuse when a woman kills her husband after years of abuse?

 How does abuse impact the family structure?

 Are men more apt than women to be abusive?

 It seems that domestic violence has been a recent issue. How severe was abuse to women in the nineteenth century?

• Defining your major search term(s) is especially important when you use the subscription Research Databases/Indexes which use Boolean and truncation search techniques to be able to combine the major search term(s).

Identify possible synonyms for each major search term(s)

•  It is important for you to identify alternative words for your major search term(s) You can find more information on your research question if you have several words that you can use to search. Some subject disciplines have specific words or phrases used to describe a particular event or situation, and unless you search using that word or phrase, you may miss some information.
• Look at dictionaries, encyclopedias, Library of Congress Subject Headings, and thesauri to help determine other words for your your major search term(s).

Examples:

• For the research questions on domestic violence, here are possible synonyms:

 Should self defense be used as a legitimate excuse when a woman kills her husband after years of abuse?

 How does abuse impact the family structure?

 Are men more apt than women to be abusive?

 It seems that domestic violence has been a recent issue. How severe was abuse to women in the nineteenth century?

Determine the subject discipline(s)

• It is important for you to think about what area(s) or subject discipline(s) that will have information on your research question. This will help you determine which resources to use later.
• If you are researching the domestic violence research questions, ask yourself if I would find anything in:

1. criminal justice? history? law? medicine? psychology? sociology?
2. or do I just need an overview?

• You can use more than one subject discipline to find information!

What resource(s) to use

 The types of resources you use depend on the questions asked in Step 2.

Citations/Results

• As you continue your research, it is important for you to write or print out the results which are also known as citations. A citation will help you locate a specific book or article, whether it is in this Library or in another Library. Citations are also crucial when you are preparing your bibliography.
• It is especially important to have the correct citation when you order materials through InterLibrary Services.

Locate the resource(s)

Once you have the citations, you now have to locate the resource(s).

Evaluate the resource(s)

 It is very important to evaluate the information you find, applying critical thinking and analysis skills.