RESEARCH SKILLS{WHAT YOU NEED TO GET THROUGH WITH YOUR SANITY}

Megan Lowe, Coordinator of Public Services

The Most Important Thing… In order to conduct productive research, you

need a workable topic. NEVER start research without a manageable topic.

A manageable topic will be neither too broad nor too narrow. If your topic is too broad, you’ll find too much information*. If your topic is too narrow, you may not find enough information.

* I know what you’re thinking – “too much information? I need all I can GET!” Trust me, the first time you get 20,000+ hits (either in the Library’s resources or on the Internet), you’ll start sweating and realizing that the world is VERY FULL of information, and not all of it is relevant to your needs. You don’t want everything; you want what will serve your research needs.

Picking a Topic Pick something that YOU find interesting –

that way you’re not bored in the research process

For writing papers at the college level, I’d recommend avoiding topics that have been “done to death” or are emotionally-charged – gun control, abortion, and gay marriage/adoption are examples of topics to avoid

Remember: most papers you write in college are going to ask you to defend/argue from one side of an issue

Developing a Manageable Topic Let’s say you’re interested in doing a research

paper or report on marijuana – but that’s too broad

You need to make it less broad. You can do that by asking yourself questions about the topic: What aspects of this topic interest me? What common misconceptions do people have

about this topic? What DON’T I understand about this topic that I’d

like to understand? What might others find confusing or interesting

about this topic that I’d like to highlight?

Developing a Manageable Topic “Marijuana” as a topic has a lot of

potential – you could approach it from a legal or law enforcement perspective (the legalization of marijuana); a cultural perspective (marijuana subculture); or a pharmaceutical perspective (marijuana as medicine)

There is A LOT of research out there on marijuana – by narrowing it to one of these perspectives, you’re reducing the amount of stuff you have to go through

This makes the research process that much easier to navigate and less overwhelming

(which is what librarians do – make research less scary)

Developing a Manageable Topic Another way to develop a manageable

topic – either instead of asking questions or in conjunction with asking questions – is to use visual brainstorming techniques such as concept maps or webs

These types of techniques can help you organize your thoughts. You could also use a simpler visualization technique to arrange your thoughts.

Just remember: brainstorming is the beginning and can help you refine or clarify your topic

This web is from the website:

http://www.education.com/study-help/article/brainstorming-graphic-organizers/

Marijuana should be legalized for

pharmaceutical purposes

Used to effectively treat a variety of issues

Being plant-derived, it has fewer negative side effects

Can be taken in a variety of ways

Is still illegal in much of the US, making cultivation difficult

Got a Topic; What’s Next? Now you have a topic – but the next step

is NOT diving right into the process of locating resources

You need to develop keywords which are the tools you use to search the Library’s resources (and the Internet, too)

Creating a list of keywords can help you further refine your topic – it can serve as a brainstorming technique, too!

The better your keywords, the better your results!

Developing Keywords

Marijuana Legalized Medicinal Purposes Cannabis Legalization Medicine Medical Medical marijuana

Law Treatment Seizures Migraines/headaches Glaucoma Pain relief Chemotherapy Case study (case studies) Doctors

Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes.

Medical marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes.

Medical marijuana should be legalized for the treatment of seizures, pain relief, and nausea as a result of chemotherapy.

Using Keywords Keywords can be used in

› The ULM Library Catalog› The ULM Library Databases› Even on the Internet!

You combine keywords together using certain words called operators. They are:› AND (this is the most common operator)› OR› NOT

Using Keywords So a keyword search for our topic could look like

any of these search strings:

marijuana AND legalization AND medicine marijuana AND medicinal AND legal marijuana AND treatment AND law AND seizures

Order and capitalization are not important, but spelling and number are, so be careful.

You have to use the word AND, not + or &.

NEXT STEP: *NOT* Searching YET That’s right – we’re not searching yet. Hold your

horses! There’s something you need to know. Many professors (and librarians) cringe when

you use Google and other search engines and rely too heavily on websites for your research; do you know why?

The reason for this is that the Internet is NOT moderated or quality-controlled, and there’s a lot of GARBAGE and RUMOR and outright MISINFORMATION floating around.

*NOT* Searching YET You don’t want to write a paper or conduct

research with GARBAGE, RUMOR, or MISINFORMATION, do you? OF COURSE NOT!

You wouldn’t feed a baby GARBAGE, would you? OF COURSE NOT!

You would feed a baby healthy, safe, clean food, right? RIGHT!

Think of your paper like a baby – you want to fill it with healthy, safe, clean things!

*NOT* Searching YET “healthy, safe, clean things” = scholarly,

peer-reviewed, research-oriented resources There ARE scholarly, peer-reviewed,

research-oriented resources on the Internet – but it usually takes extra effort and time to find them

However, starting with the Library’s resources means that you’re heading straight for those resources right out of the gate – the Library is CHOCK-FULL of scholarly, peer-reviewed resources!

Evaluating Resources

Scholarly Written by experts Focuses on a particular

field, topic, or discipline Intended for others in that

field or career “Proper” language,

technical vocabulary No ads RESEARCH ORIENTED

Popular Written by journalists Usually covers broad topics,

fields, issues, or disciplines Usually appeals to a wide

audience Everyday language, slang,

even profanity LOTS of ads NOT RESEARCH ORIENTED

Resources generally fall into two categories:

JOURNALS are scholarly.

NEWSPAPERS and MAGAZINES are popular.

Evaluating Resources: Internet Edition

Authority--who created the web page? Are they experts? What are their credentials? Do they provide contact information?

Accuracy--where did they get their information? Are the facts verifiable through another source? Do they list a bibliography of citations from where they obtained their information?

Coverage--how much of the topic does the resource cover? Does it attempt to cover all or most of the aspects, or is it vague?

Currency--when was the site last updated? Are the facts on the site up-to-date? Is the information current?

Objectivity--does the site have biases? Is the information presented in such a way to allow the viewer to make his/her own judgment, or does the site try to persuade you to adopt its viewpoint? What is the purpose of the site?

Getting It Together (Tips + Reminders)

Everybody thinks research is hard; it really isn’t. It just takes time.

Make sure you keep a list of keywords – you’ll find as you go along that some words work better than others. If you keep a list, you can make a note of what’s working and what’s not.

One step at a time: don’t try to find everything all at once. Pick one type of resource or one aspect of your research (like marijuana and migraines) and pursue that first.

Getting It Together Don’t assume you’ll be able to find everything right

away – sometimes it takes a little digging to find the right resources. It’s better to have the right resource than the first item on a results list

Digital folders – in your email, on your jump/flash drive, or your desk top – can keep resources organized and easily accessible; some of our databases will allow you to create individual accounts in which you can save searches and documents!

If you find a website that’s useful, copy and paste the URL into a Word document and annotate it – that way you know what it is and can get back to it more easily!

After the Searching’s Done… You have the resources you need, either

digitally or physically, if you’ve printed them out

This is when underlining and/or highlighting come into play, as well as notes and sticky notes

Documentation is also important, in order to avoid plagiarism – several of our databases (like Ebscohost) will generate citations for you

After the Searching’s Done…

Note-taking on your resources can help you focus on the important parts of the resource and exclude or ignore the stuff that’s not relevant – it’s filtering

It’ll save you time, too – making note of what’s useful or relevant can save you from having to read the article again and again to find the good bits

Note-taking can also help you begin to formulate how to express or include information from the resource in your own writing

And throughout the process…

And most importantly, remember: if you need help…

…JUST ASK A LIBRARIAN FOR HELP!

That’s what we’re here for – we want to help YOU! All you have to do is ASK.

Q & A TIME!

Remember, if you need research help, all you have to do is ask the librarians. You can…

Visit the Reference Desk, Library 1st floor Email us at reference@ulm.edu Call us at (318) 342-1071

Thanks for your attendance!