Research Strategies

Getting Started

About this Tutorial

Faculty:• This tutorial was made using Microsoft PowerPoint 2007.• This tutorial will help students

– broaden or narrow their search terms for research topics.– determine information needs– select the best resources for finding information

Students:This tutorial will help you:• Choose a research topic• Identify key terms• Determine information needs and what resources to use• Understand the publication cycle of information sourcesIt should take you about 15 minutes to complete.

This tutorial meets the following ACRL standards:1.1a1.1d1.2a1.2c1.4a2.1a

2.1d2.2b2.2c2.4c3.2c3.7a

What to watch for…

Notes – These are to let you know there is important information you need to know about what is being covered.

Research doesn’t have to be difficult. It is simply a matter of finding the right tools for the job. This tutorial will introduce you to some of the tools you will use and what steps you need to

take to start a research project.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ebarney/3348964025

Choosing a TopicMost research projects are assignments given by a professor.

The project will be easier if your topic:Is applicable to the assignment guidelines andIs something that YOU are interested in.

Key WordsOne of the first steps to finding good research materials is determining the key words or phrases to use in a search. First you need to decide what question you want your research to answer.

For example: If the topic your professor gave you was drug use in your community, your question might be

• Does drug use influence the drop-out rate among high school students?

• How does drug abuse affect the local economy?

In the questions above the key words or phrases are highlighted to show what terms you might use when searching information resources.http://www.legis.state.wi.us/senate/sen11/news/images/questions.jpg

Things that you should consider when forming a question you want to answer in your research are:

Time, Place, Population & Viewpoint

Consider if your history professor asked you to write a paper on the Civil War. That is a lot of history to cover in a few pages. You need to narrow your topic.

By using the limiters above you can refine your topic to a more specific topic, which will be easier to manage within the time frame of the assignment.

Once again, if your topic is the Civil War, here are some ideas that might help to narrow the topic:

Time – When? What has happened since then? Between what years?

Place – Consider customs or traditions and language as well as geographic considerations.

Population – Think about gender, age, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, education, etc.

Viewpoint – What social, legal, medical, ethical, biological, psychological, economic, political, philosophical concerns arose from the Civil War?

• Instead of looking at the whole war, you could pick a specific year or event that took place.

• How did the location affect the outcome? What cultural influences were there?

• How did the war affect children? What contributions did women make to the war? Who were the African American heroes of the Civil War?

• You could look at the political parties, or the legal or economic effects of the war. There are a lot of possibilities!

If your search doesn’t provide enough information, then you might want to be less specific or add different keywords to

b r o a d e n your search.Topic Broad Related Narrow

Civil War Civil War Battles •The Battle of Antietem •Maryland Campaign of 1862.

•General George B. McClellan•Preliminary drafts of the Emancipation Proclamation

To b r o a d e n a topic you may need to find synonyms to the words you are already using. Some writers may use

different terms to describe an event or place. This will give you more results as you search for information resources.

Term Synonymmilitary soldiers, armed forces

battle campaign, siege

Remember:

Asking questions can help you determine how much information is available on your topic and whether you need to narrow or b r o a d e n your search terms.

Where do I begin?There are countless resources for doing research – books, magazines, newspapers, journals, websites and more.

When looking for and refining a topic, here are a few great places to start –reference materials, books indexes, and article bibliographies.

Reference MaterialsEncyclopedias – These provide a quick reference to a topic and give you a brief outline of events, key people and places that might help you chose a topic.

Almanacs – These books are great for quick references of statistics and key current events (for the year published).

Thesaurus – A helpful guide to synonyms that might be used as keywords for searching information resources.

Indexes and Bibliographies

Indexes and chapter headings can give you ideas for breaking down topics into more specific terms.

Bibliographies are a great place to find additional resources. If you have a great article and need more information, look in the bibliography to see sources the author used.

Publication Cycle

It is important to know how current the information is regarding your topic. Also you need to know how thorough the information is that each source provides.

If you are researching the U.S. Civil War, then you have countless resources that could be current or published in years past, but if you were going to research the present civil war in Chad, you need information that is days, weeks or months old rather than years.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Radio / Television –Pros: Current information, discussion, opinions and commentary. Timely updates. Cons: Can be biased. Information comes in pieces and is not always a complete picture of a situation.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Newspapers –Pros: Information current to the day or week of publication, quick resource for names, facts and immediate reactions to what is happening. Cons: Can be biased so check several sources before using the information for a more complete view of a topic. Not as in-depth .

Websites –Pros: Usually very current , but can contain historical information also. Cons: Sometimes can be difficult to determine the reliability of the source. Not always significant depth to the information. May be more opinion or bias than facts.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Gov Docs – These can be federal, state or local publications.Pros: Official government documents, good source of statistics and reports, current and historical.Cons: Lacking in personal narratives if that is what your topic needs. Can be time consuming to comb through all the information.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Popular Magazines – Anything from Time, Life and Newsweek to Good Housekeeping and Sports Illustrated.Pros: Written for the general population, they make good quick references for current events. Cons: Information is a broad overview of topics, may not give the specific details required for good research.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Scholarly Journals –Usually has the word “journal” in the title, like the Journal of Comparative Social Welfare or the Journal of Microbiology. Very subject- specific. Pros: In-depth research from peer- reviewed

sources. Serious research done by experts in the field. Cons: It might be too specific and

jargon-filled to understand without basic, preliminary research.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Books –Pros: Lots of ready information, strong contextual explanations, and can also provide quick reference by using chapter headings and indexes.Cons: Takes time to get published so they are not always as current as the issue you may be researching.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Reference Materials –Dictionaries, Almanacs, EncyclopediasPros: Quick facts, statistics, and synonyms. Great for getting started.Cons: Takes longer to publish so information is not as current. No in-depth material.

Websites –Pros: Usually very current , but can contain historical information also. Cons: Sometimes can be difficult to determine the reliability of the source. Not always much depth to the information. May be more opinion or bias than facts.

Gov Docs – These can be federal, state or local publications.Pros: Official government documents, good source of statistics and reports, current and historical.Cons: Lacking in personal narratives if that is what your topic needs. Can be time consuming to comb through all the information.

Publication Cycle

Timeline

Popular Magazines – Anything from Time, Life and Newsweek to Oprah, Good Housekeeping and Sports Illustrated.Pros: Written for the general population, they make good quick references for current events Cons: Information is a broad overview of topics, may not give the specific details required for good research.

Scholarly Journals –Usually has the word Journal in the title, like the Journal of Comparative Social Welfare or the Journal of Microbiology. Very subject specific. Pros: In-depth research from peer- reviewed

sources. Serious research done by experts in the field. Cons: It might be too specific and

jargon-filled to understand without basic, preliminary research.

Books –Pros: Lots of ready information, in-depth in context and also provides quick reference by using chapter headings and indexes.Cons: Takes time to get published so they are not always as current as the issue you may be researching.

Reference Materials –Dictionaries, Almanacs, EncyclopediasPros: Quick facts, statistics, and synonyms. Great for getting started.Cons: Takes longer to publish so information is not as current. Not in-depth material.

Newspapers –Pros: Information current to the day or week of publication, quick resource for names, facts and immediate reactions to what is happening. Cons: Can be biased so check several sources before using the information for a more complete view of a topic. Not as in-depth .

Radio / Television –Pros: Current information, discussion, opinions and commentary. Timely updates. Cons: Can be biased. Information comes in pieces and is not always a complete picture of a situation.

Take a moment to

review.

When starting research:• Choose a topic that interests you and fits the

assignment guidelines.• Develop a question that you want your research to

answer.• Determine the keywords or phrases that you will

use to search.• Choose the best information resources based on

how current and detailed you need the information to be.

Remember…

Remember this is just how to start your research. The next few modules will be more specific on how to use the information resources outlined in this tutorial.

You’re off to a good start, but you can review this or any of the modules anytime you need by going to the Tutorials page on the Library’s website.