Research Tips
Identify your research interest and articulate your research question.
  • Writing down your topic will help you identify your research needs and interests. Your topic can be a keyword, a phrase, a complete sentence, or a paragraph that describes your research.
Determine what types of materials you will need for your topic.
  • Do you need books, articles, statistics, audiovisual materials, government documents, book reviews, biographical information, primary sources, etc.?
Formulate a search strategy.
  • If your topic is phrased in a sentence, can you identify the key terms which are unique?
  • What synonyms or other similar concepts might you use to make your search more comprehensive or inclusive?
  • Is your topic too broad that you might want to consider making your topic narrower and more focused by adding another term or using a more precise term?
  • Is your topic too narrow that not enough information is found?  Do you want to make your topic broader by using a broader concept?
  • Are there thesaurus, index, or subject terms that are specific to a database and to your subject  that you should be aware of?
Select relevant research sources or databases.
  • What database would you use to look for books owned by the Pollak Library, by CSU Libraries, or by other libraries?
  • What is the primary database to locate articles on your topic?
  • What other relevant databases would you consider? Why?
Evaluate your search results.
  • Is the database appropriate?
  • Are your search results relevant? Why or why not?
  • Is the information (e.g., articles or books) written in an authoritative, accurate, and objective manner?
  • How might you improve your search results?

 

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