IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question. Break your topic
into concepts. Use a thesaurus to retrieve synonyms and to be sure you are
using the established terminology for your subject. Avoid an overly broad
topic. "Special education" or "World War II" are far too broad to be
searched effectively. Talk with your instructor on how to limit your topic.
FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Look up your keywords in the encyclopedia. Use both a general encyclopedia
as well as any specific subject encyclopedias. Read articles in these
encyclopedias to get background information for your research. Look at the
bibliographies at the end of the encyclopedia articles. Make sure you have
a good idea of the scope of your topic.
USE I-Share ONLINE TO FIND BOOKS
Chicago State University's library is part of a statewide network
I-Share ONLINE. You can search for books here at Chicago State as well as
55 other colleges and universities throughout the state. Write down the
call number and make sure the status of the book reads AVAILABLE. The
majority of books found will be located on the 3rd floor of the library.
Books on similar topics are shelved together. Scan the shelves for
additional good books once you are in the right area. When you find a good
book, scan the bibliography for additional sources.
USE INDEXES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES
Use periodical indexes and abstracts to find citations to articles. The
Douglas Library has over 100 electronic databases in all disciplines. If
you are unsure what the best index is for your particular topic, ask at
the reference desk.
FIND INTERNET RESOURCES
Use search engines such as http://www.google.com/or http://www.alltheweb.com/ to locate materials on the Web. Check to see if the library has prepared a web subject guide for your field of study. Use Internet sources cautiously. Be sure you know and trust the source of any information found on the open Internet.
FIND AUDIO AND VIDEO RESOURCES
All audio and video resources can be found in the I-Share cataog. Search by author,
title of subject just as you would for a book.
EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
The material you have gathered may have come from a variety of sources. Find
out from your instructor what types of material are acceptable for your
assignment. Often instructors will want material from scholarly journals as
opposed to material from popular magazines. If you have gathered any
information from a web site, be sure it is from a reputable source. Examples
of reputable sources are government sources, college or university sources or
professional associations in a particular field, such as the American Medical
Association.
CITE WHAT YOU FIND USING A STANDARD FORMAT
Give credit where credit is due; cite your sources. Knowingly representing
the work of others as your own is plagiarism. There are many different citation
format styles. Ask your instructor what style format to use. The two major
styles are Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological
Association (APA). The MLA link is courtesy of the Writers' Workshop,
part of the Center for Writing Studies at the University of Illinois. The APA
page is used through the courtesy of the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
