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Research Process
- Select a topic that interests you.
- Brainstorm ideas: use concept maps and identify keywords and synonyms
- Define and refine your topic: not too narrow or not too broad
- Formulate your research questions.
- Factual questions - You may need to investigate some factual questions before you begin your research. For instance: What does hydraulic fracturing mean?
- Research questions - What do you want to know about your topic? Is your question researchable and answerable?
- Develop a focused thesis statement.
- State the purpose of your paper
- Present your arguments
- Identify type of resources that you need for your paper.
- Journal articles, books, encyclopedias, World Wide Web
- Primary sources vs. Secondary sources
- Primary sources - original works or first-hand information recorded at the time of an event
- Secondary sources - discussions or reviewed materials after the event took place
- Academic vs. Non-academic
- Academic - peer-reviewed articles or reviewed articles
- Non-academic - newspaper articles, editorials or letters to the editors
- Find information on your topic using library resources.
- Subscription databases
- Catalogs
- EDS (EBSCO Discovery Service)
- Conduct the search.
- Keyword
- Subject Heading: Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH)
- Boolean Operators: to limit or broaden your search
- Quotes " " - search for an exact phrase
- Parentheses ( ) - combine multiple search terms
- Asterisk * - add to the root of a search term
- Evaluate and identify materials that support your paper (CRAAP Model).
- Currency
- Relevance
- Authority
- Accuracy
- Purpose
- Cite your sources.
- Properly quote, summarize, or paraphrase the original sources that you use in your paper.
- In-text citations
- List of references