1. Writing the Research Paper
Beginning Your Research

2. Beginning Your Research
Sometimes the hardest part of starting your research is choosing a topic, especially if the topic is not assigned.  However with just a few preliminary words-of-advise, you will be in good start-up mode. 
Conduct a well-organized search:
A successful research paper begins with planning.  Before you even begin researching your paper, you should do two things:
Choose a manageable topic about a subject you are interested in, and
Determine the type of information about your topic that you need or would like to find.

3. Search for topics:
Preliminary searching use the databases/ catalogs/ books/ conferences papers look at the different areas of research being written about
Browsing the journals
Comprehensive searching
Cited reference searching
Using limiters – research techniques 

4. Refining a Topic Ask yourself?
Is my topic too broad?
Is my topic too narrow?
Is it just right?

5. Define your search terms: keywords, subject headings
Keyword Activity : Create a concept map: concept maps help you explore your topic and helps identify connections
Searching Activity: Search a database and explore your topic, look at the article subjects, types of publications…..
Revisit your concept map and add new keywords, names, places and dates

7. Refine and Limit Search Results
Phrase Searching
Nesting:
Use quotation marks around a phrase (not a single word) or select "as a phrase" in a pull-down menu.
Examples:
"acid rain"
"Martin Luther King, Jr"
Use parentheses ( ) to nest related search terms.
Example: (bay OR harbor) AND pollution

8. Refine and Limit Search Results
Truncation:
Limiters:
Use a symbol to search word variants.
Truncation symbols vary from database to database - an asterisk (*) is the most common truncation symbol.
Examples:
pollut* = pollution, pollutant, pollutants, polluting
environ* = environment, environmental, environmentally
Many databases give you options to limit search results by:
type of publication
publication date
language, etc.

9. Using Boolean Operators

10. Evaluating resources Why is it important?
What do you think its important in academic research?

11. Evaluating resources Why is it important?
When you do research, you want to find the best information to support your ideas. This requires careful evaluation of the information you find.
Evaluate information...
To find the most relevant information for your assignment
To add quality and reliability to your research
To find expert views, opinions, and research on your topic
To weed out unreliable, biased, and incorrect information
To make sure you get the information your professor is seeking

12. Evaluation Criteria   Apply the following evaluation criteria to all types of information (print, broadcast, and Web).

13. Authority: Identify whether the authors are experts in their field
You may need to check biographical sources, to see that your author is a recognized authority, such as Biography Index, Who's Who, or Contemporary Authors.
For web resources, identify the website's sponsor (university, company, organization, or individual)?
Determine if the source contains a bibliography; this may indicate that the author incorporates research published by others.

14. Currency:
Current information is important, especially in the sciences, unless you are doing historical research.
What year was the work from your source produced?
For web resources, determine when the site was last updated.

15. Scholarly: Note the source where the information appears.
Is it a scholarly journal? Does it include a bibliography?
Has the information been peer-reviewed? Are they of high quality?
Is the book publisher a university press or other reputable publisher?

16. Objectivity: Use reasonably presented information.
Does the source material appear accurate and balanced, or is it heavily biased in one direction or another?

17. Relevancy:
Make sure the level of information is appropriate for your research.
Is it directed at a specialized or general audience?

18. Primary vs Secondary:
Primary sources are sometimes required in your research. These are firsthand, or original records of events, that include survey results, poems, diaries, ethnographies, artwork, data sets, statistics, or case studies.
The secondary aspect of sources comes into play when there is interpretation, analysis, restatement of these same events or materials in order to explain them.

19. Evaluating sources exercise