Thought Lab 2
Getting Started
Consider the Assignment
Always refer to the guidelines and requirements provided by your instructor.
- If writing a paper, is there a required page or word count?
- Is there a minimum number of sources?
- What type(s) of sources are required?
- Do your sources need to be scholarly?
- Do you need to annotate any of your sources?
- What citation style is required? (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.)
These factors will influence your topic and research question, as well as where to look for sources and how to use and incorporate them effectively.
Do Preliminary Research
Do preliminary research before finalizing your topic, research question, and thesis. This will help you:
- Adjust your topic—as you discover how much (or how little) information is out there, you must determine what is doable within the requirements (e.g., due date, length) of your assignment
- Discover specific aspects of the topic that you may want to research more deeply
- Determine keywords to help you search strategically
Research does not simply entail dreaming up a topic, searching online, and dumping the findings into a paper. In fact, research, reading, and writing (including editing) are interconnected processes that inform one another. As you research and begin to write, your topic, research question, and/or thesis will likely shift.
Use Encyclopedias (including Wikipedia)
Encyclopedias and other reference sources are great places to do preliminary research. The information they provide can help you identify keywords and concepts to search for in library databases. They can also provide background information and suggested sources.
Wikipedia can be a good starting point for your research. However, Wikipedia entries do not qualify as a quality source. You may refer to them for a brief history, quick facts, terminology, controversies, related topics, and suggested sources. They can also indicate alternate names, titles, and spellings.
Even so, the information you find should be cross-referenced and evaluated. Also, pay attention to the types of sources that are referenced and when the information was last updated. Wikipedia's greatest strength is also its weakness: anyone can add to and edit it. (Note that there is a hybrid moderation process involving automated tools and community checkers.) Want to learn more? Check out our Wikipedia LibGuide.
Keep Track of Your Sources
Compile the sources you find in a single, consistent location. This makes writing citations and annotations easier.
What to include:
- Information to return to the source; this could be:
- Publication info
- Creator, title, date, publisher, periodical name, volume and issue numbers, book/anthology title
- Note the database you found it in to make it easier to return to and cite
- A citation copied from the database's tool bar
- A permalink/stable URL generated within the database's toolbar
- Publication info
- Notes about the source
- Why it's interesting to you, how it's relevant to your project, how you might use it, the author's argument, etc.
Practical Searching
A search strategy is an organized method to retrieve information about a specific topic. It is often referred to as the Research Cycle.
Use the techniques described below to become a better researcher.
Keyword Searching: In databases and search engines, it is possible to do a broad search for information by typing in a term which you feel describes your topic and using it as a keyword. Every occurrence of your keyword from all the searchable fields will be found. The searchable fields could include the full-text of an article or an entire web page.
You may retrieve a large number of hits. Look carefully at a couple of the relevant hits to get ideas for other terms which could help you refine your search. Keyword searching can be time consuming and exhausting because it is such a broad method of searching. Remember: Finding too much information is just as problematic as finding too little information.
How can you refine a search? The best thing about databases is that they contains records with fields that can be sorted, arranged, and searched. When confronted with many results in a first broad keyword search, you can narrow your search by limiting it to specific fields, like the subject field.
Searching Subject Headings: Subjects are created from a "controlled vocabulary" by a human after carefully reading or looking at the item. Each item will have only a few subject terms which must be chosen from a list of allowable subject headings, a controlled vocabulary. If you find one book or article that meets your needs, look at the subject assigned. It may not be what you expect. Often these are highlighted links.
Research as Inquiry
"Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field." —ACRL.
This refers to an understanding that research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex questions whose answers develop new questions or lines of inquiry in any field. One thing leads to another. It is important to stay open to the process and to new ideas.
Why Use Library Databases?
We recommend using library databases because you are much more likely to find quality information, especially for academic research. The articles and eBooks found in our databases:
- Are vetted and selected by experts
- Have reputable publishers
- List the credentials of authors and publishers
- Include descriptive subjects in their metadata, which improves searching
Going Beyond the Surface (Web): Internet Search Engines vs. Databases
A database is a collection of records (or data) that is organized and retrievable. Unlike a broad Internet search through Google or other search engines, databases have information that isn't indexed on the surface web and have more descriptive metadata to improve search results.
The surface web (also referred to as the "visible web") is made up of websites that are available to the general public and have been indexed by Internet search engines like Google. This includes content from sites like Wikipedia, Reddit, social media, and e-commerce sites. It does not include sources from the deep web (also known as the "invisible web" or "hidden web"), including content from library databases. Sources indexed in databases include scholarly journals, substantive news articles, and other high-quality sources that are behind publisher paywalls.
Please note that not all information is available online. Print books and periodicals are vital resources!
Above: Graphic representing what sources make up the surface, deep, and dark web. From UCSD Library.
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