Research Strategies & tips
Choosing a topic
Before you begin to do any research, you'll need to decide on a topic.
- What are you interested in?
- What is current, both in social media and the news?
- What is important to you, or affects you personally?
Narrowing your topic
In order to gather information, you'll need to narrow that topic.
- What are the main points of the topic? How can you break it down?
- What issues are involved in this topic? How do plan to incorporate them into your thesis?
- What are the key terms of the topic? What terms will you use to do your searches?
Finding articles
Using the key terms and concepts identified above, you'll want to start looking and gathering information on your topic. Here are a few different ways to search:
Boolean SEARCHES
Using the terms AND, OR, NOT to broaden or narrow search terms
example: ducks AND geese
AND will return fewer results and must contain both ducks and geese
example: apples or bananas
OR will return more results, records need to contain apples, bananas, or both
example: rivers NOT lakes
NOT will return fewer results, rivers is present, but lakes is not. Try not to use this too frequently, records that have lakes, even if it has good information on rivers, will not be retrieved. Instead use AND to narrow down the search results.
Order of Boolean Operators:
NOT operators are performed first.
Then AND operators are performed
Finally OR operators are performed.
example: ducks AND geese
AND will return fewer results and must contain both ducks and geese
example: apples or bananas
OR will return more results, records need to contain apples, bananas, or both
example: rivers NOT lakes
NOT will return fewer results, rivers is present, but lakes is not. Try not to use this too frequently, records that have lakes, even if it has good information on rivers, will not be retrieved. Instead use AND to narrow down the search results.
Order of Boolean Operators:
NOT operators are performed first.
Then AND operators are performed
Finally OR operators are performed.
Truncation Searches
This is an efficient way to search, by looking for all variants of a word. Truncation allows you to search using the stem root word.
For multiple characters use the asterisk
example: metho*
This will return results for method, methods, methodology, etc. (The asterisk is the most common symbol for multiple character truncation, but each database is different. If you are not sure what symbol to use look in the database help section.)
For single characters use the question mark
example: wom?n
This will return results for woman or women. (The question mark is the most common symbol for single character truncation, but each database is different. If you are not sure what symbol to use look in the database help section.)
For multiple characters use the asterisk
example: metho*
This will return results for method, methods, methodology, etc. (The asterisk is the most common symbol for multiple character truncation, but each database is different. If you are not sure what symbol to use look in the database help section.)
For single characters use the question mark
example: wom?n
This will return results for woman or women. (The question mark is the most common symbol for single character truncation, but each database is different. If you are not sure what symbol to use look in the database help section.)
Adding quotations around phrases
This will ensure retrieval of exact phrases.
example: "gourmet cheese"
This will return results that contain the exact phrase "gourmet cheese".
example: "gourmet cheese"
This will return results that contain the exact phrase "gourmet cheese".
Check spelling and check key terms
If you are not returning any results, first check your spelling. If you are still having issues, then check your key terms. Most databases have a subject terms/thesaurus feature, look at it to make sure you are using the correct terms.
Finding Books
Use the library catalog to find books and other resources that are in the library. Books are a treasure trove of information, but many people are reluctant to use them. Doing a library catalog search is similar to doing a database search, use the key terms established earlier.
Types of sources
You'll need to understand the types of sources that you will be accessing
Primary sources
These are first-hand accounts; original works that other research is based upon.
- such as: novels, surveys, letters, and photos
Secondary Sources
These are second-hand accounts; based on original work, reviewed or discussed.
- such as: histories, commentaries, criticism, and textbooks
Tertiary Sources
These are summaries and collections of either primary sources, secondary sources, or both.
- such as: manuals, guidebooks, almanacs, and bibliographies
Evaluating sources
There are five things to look at when deciding if a source is credible.
- Timeliness - How recent was this published? This will let you know how current the article is, and whether the information is outdated.
- Authority - Was it written by an author or an organization? Is it peer-reviewed? Are there cite credentials, footnotes, bibliographies, credits or quotations?
- Audience - Who is the intended readers? What is the published purpose?
- Relevance - How does this relate to your topic? You'll need to make the connection between the information and your topic, and then apply it to your thesis statement. Review the abstract/summary before downloading the article, it may save you time if it does not relate to your topic.
- Perspective - What is the bias of the article? Biased sources can be helpful, but make sure that they can help you see the other side as well.
EVALUATING Websites
Since you cannot always rely on information that you find on the internet, here are some website specific criteria to look at to help in the evaluation process.
- Advocacy Resources - These are sponsored by an organization, which has an
agenda of its own, trying to sell their ideas or sway opinions (.org)
- Business & Marketing Resources - These are selling products (.com)
- News Resources - These are hot topics and extremely current, but they are not
as credible as a peer reviewed journal or article (.com)
- Personal Webpages, Blogs, Social Media, & Resources - These are good for
getting an idea for what the average person thinks or feels about a topic, but they
are not credible and should not be used in academic situations.
- Look & Feel - Reliable sources look professional
- Ads - These are less credible, because the host receives something in exchange for allowing the ads to be placed on their site.
- Links & Last Updated - These will indicate if the website is current. Check the links to make sure they work, if the links are broken or incorrect, this indicates that the website hasn't been updated in a while or is no longer maintained.
- The URL - This will tell you about the website and help to evaluate it. (.edu, .com, .gov, .org)
- Advocacy Resources - These are sponsored by an organization, which has an
agenda of its own, trying to sell their ideas or sway opinions (.org)
- Business & Marketing Resources - These are selling products (.com)
- News Resources - These are hot topics and extremely current, but they are not
as credible as a peer reviewed journal or article (.com)
- Personal Webpages, Blogs, Social Media, & Resources - These are good for
getting an idea for what the average person thinks or feels about a topic, but they
are not credible and should not be used in academic situations.
Accessing Sources
Once you are ready to do your research, here is what you are likely to find
- Full Text - Most articles are available in PDF or HTML formats. Most databases allow you to email these, which will give access to them at anytime.
- Other Databases - Just because you are unable to get a full text article from one database, do not give up. It is very likely you can access the same article through another database. All you need is the title of the article, journal, issue, and date.
- Interlibrary loan - If there is not a full text article available through a database, it is possible to get it from another library that owns it, you just have to do an ILL.
Citing your sources
Whenever you use a source, you need to make sure that it is cited properly. Most database have a citation built in, you can even choose the style. Keep in mind, anytime you access a source that you plan to use, make sure you get the citation. It is much harder to find the article after the fact then it is to just cite it when you originally access it.
This information has been adapted and modified from several sources including:
BYU Harold B. Lee Library, Step by Step Guide & Research Rescue
ESU William Allen White Library, The Research Paper
Bell, S. S. (2012). Librarian's guide to online searching.
BYU Harold B. Lee Library, Step by Step Guide & Research Rescue
ESU William Allen White Library, The Research Paper
Bell, S. S. (2012). Librarian's guide to online searching.