STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Understanding Your Project

OK- at this point, you have your assignment and you’re thinking about how you’ll meet the requirements. It helps to read the assignment carefully.

Determining Scope

Now, you decide how widely or narrowly you want to address your topic. Keep in mind that a topic that is too broad will give you too many resources to look through.

Finding a Research Question

Not every paper requires a research question, but sometimes asking a question can help you think about how to find sources and determine an approach.

Determining Keywords

Keywords are just general terms (like the ones you type into Google). Good keywords are also useful in he library catalog or databases.

Determining Search Strings

Search strings help you do a more sophisticated search within a database.

For example to find articles on people aged 2-18, a search string might be:

(child OR teen) NOT (infant OR baby OR toddler)

Identifying Types of Searches

Thinking about what types of library sources make the most sense.

Locating Sources

You’ll find your sources: electronically, in print or through Interlibrary Loan.

Evaluating Sources

Determine if your source is trustworthy and if it can contribute to your research.

Organizing Sources

Creating a record of your sources so you can create a bibliography and properly cite your sources.

Writing

In this step, you synthesize your findings and compose your paper.

Citing

You should cite sources in your paper, whether you quote or paraphrase someone else’s ideas. You can do this parenthetically or by using footnotes.

Bibliography

Create a list of sources you used in your paper.

Proofreading

Read your paper before turning it in!