A peer reviewed or "scholarly" article is one in which a group of experts in the same field examines the research or ideas in the article to determine if it meets the standards to be published in an academic journal.
Primary Source: An item created during the time period studied, such as diaries, letters, government records, interviews, pictures/film and art.
Examples:
Secondary Source: An item which interprets a primary source, such as textbooks, newspapers, magazines and encyclopedias.
Examples:
As information ages, you will find it in different sources.
1. Choose a topic
- Choose area of interest
- Describe it in a few words or a phrase
2. Gain a general overview
- Read a few articles about your topic in a reference work or two.
- Learn the key terms, people, historical developments, and current debates or trends—all in a few paragraphs or pages.
3. Narrow to a research question
- Turn your topic into a specific research question: How? What? or Why?
- Start a preliminary outline—a list of a few things you might want to cover in your paper.
4. Determine the type & amount of information needed
- Consult your syllabus or online class page for a description of the research assignment.
- Use a combination of source types: books, journal or magazine articles, chapters in edited books, etc.
- How many sources do you need for your paper depends upon the length of your paper: 1 source per paragraph, 1-1.5 sources per page of paper.
5. Choose your search tools
- Choose appropriate search tools
- - Books, e-books, audio/visual, etc., are found using the Discovery Tool.
- - Journal and magazine articles, streaming video, images, etc., are found using the library’s databases.
- - Websites, webpages, blogs, online journals, magazines, newspapers, reports, etc., are found using Search engines (Google), metasearch engines (Google Scholar), or webliographies (organized lists of websites).
6. Develop a search strategy for each tool
- Review your research question and outline for keywords to your topic.
- Determine if you are going to use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) or other search syntax.
7. Conduct a search
- Do a few searches, did you find a record that fits your topic? Look for subject terms, rerun the search using those terms.
- Consider using limiters, like Date range (currency), Publication type (journal articles, book reviews), or Full-text, etc.
- Keep notes of the databases you used and what searches worked and what didn’t.
8. Examine the results
- Review the title, subjects, and abstract/summary to determine if it is on your topic or a portion of your topic.
- Collect a few more sources for each type, just in case one does not work out during evaluation.
9. Evaluate your sources
- Review each source to ensure that it is credible.
- Create a citation for each source for your bibliography, references or works cited page.
- Read, take notes, and organize them using your developing outline.
10. Repeat Steps 7–9 as necessary
- Revise, refine and repeat steps 7–9 as needed.
- Make corrections or adjustments to your search strategy or backtrack to a previous search statement.
Image & text source: San Diego Christian College Libguides "Research Process"