Research Guides: How to Do Library Research: Start Your Research

Top 10 Tips

1. Start early! Have first choice of books, or have books brought from another campus.

2. Keep a Log. Keeping good records of your searches can help you find them again later.

3. E-mail your searches, results lists, or whole articles to yourself from databases. Ask a librarian how!

4. Limit to Peer-Reviewed if your instructor wants you to use scholarly journal articles.

5. Start big and broad with a General search word or phrase and then narrow it down to be more specific.

6. Adding the terms AND, NOT to your search narrows it and will give you more manageable results.

7. Adding the term OR to your search broadens it and gives you a bigger pool of results.

8. Found a good source? Use the subject terms or descriptors listed to lead you to other similar sources.

The first step in the research process is choosing a topic.

Your topic should be broad enough that you can find sources.
It should narrow enough that your paper can sufficiently cover the topic in the required number of pages.
For example, a topic of "Medical Marijuana" is too broad for a 3-5 page paper.
But, a topic of "Medical benefits of marijuana for the chronically ill" is just about the right size.

For suggestions on ways to broaden or narrow topic, see the University of Michigan's guide for Exploring your Topic.

If you need some inspiration for a topic, try brainstorming some ideas or you can:

Ask a librarian. They can help you think of search terms to try and help you broaden or narrow your topic.

Think of a topic related to your career or an issue where you have a strong opinion.

Once you have chosen your topic, it is time to gather some background information about it.

(For Steps 3-6, click on the tabs: Find E-Books and Books, Find Articles, Find Websites and APA Help)

Before you dive into your research, you should gather some facts about your topic.

If you use a portion of work--not created by you--by quoting or paraphrasing, cite the source in text and References page.
See Baker College's APA Help for examples and a paper template.
Still confused? Make an appointment with a writing tutor online.