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Get Help With Research: Searching for Information, Citing in APA Style, Grading Rubrics and More  Tags: research scholarly/popular howtosearch  

Searching for information, citing in APA style, grading rubrics and more
Last update: Oct 13th, 2009 URL: http://hodges.libguides.com/content.php?pid=15333  Print Guide  RSS Updates

Searching for Information             Print Page
  
 

How to search for information on your topic or subject

Define your Topic

  1. Get an overview
    • Encyclopedias and general reference books provide an overview or definition of your topic.
    • As you read, look for key terms, people, places, events, definitions and dates.
    • Often includes lists of major articles.

  2. Write down your topic as a statement or question
    • e.g. How does income level affect health ?
    • Your goal is to describe your topic in terms that are neither too broad (you will get so many resources when you search, you won't be able to go through all of them.) For example, business is probably too broad.
    • or too narrow (you will get only a few or no resources when you search). For example: older african american women in leadership positions in fortune 100 companies may be too narrow.

  3. Find key concepts
    • Circle/highlight the important words or concepts in your topic statement.
    • e.g. How does income level affect health ?

  4. Find synonyms, related words and alternate spellings e.g.
    income
    wealth
    poverty
    poor
    middle class
    homeless
    		health
    healthy
    illness
    sickness
    medical
    hospitalization

  5. Note limits of your topic
  6. Now you are ready to take the information gathered from the previous steps and start your search.
    • Keyword searching is probably the best way to start.
      • With key words, you can often use phrases or boolean searching
    • Once you find a few good resources, you can use those to help you find more.
      • Look at the subjects assigned to the resource.  Usually you can just click on them to see other items with the same subject.
      • Use the one good article/resource approach.  When you find a good article/resource, look at the notes and the bibliogrpahy to see what resources the author used and try searching for them.

Choosing the Best Resources for Your Research

Match the type of information needed with the suggested information resource:

Information Need: Suggested Information Resources:
Does your topic cover current events? Newspapers, magazines, Internet
Do you need general information on a specific topic, written in a non-specialist style?
Newspapers, magazines, Internet
Do you need in-depth information on a specific topic, written for the college student and above by authorities in the field? Scholarly/refereed/peer reviewed journal
Do you need more detail and/or has the topic been written about for awhile? Books
Do you need an overview, quick facts, statistics on a topic? Reference books, Internet

Choosing the right resource often depends on:

  • Assignment requirements—what does the professor want you to cite?
  • Time—the more current the topic, the less will be found in scholarly journals or books, which take longer to get published. Recent events will be covered on the Internet, in newspapers and magazines, as well as in the media.
  • Depth of coverage and/or the topic—scholarly journals and books cover topics in more depth than magazines and newspapers. Some topics are not covered by the popular press, e.g., research that would not be of interest to the average consumer.
  • Quality of the resource
 

Subject Guide

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