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Make
A Plan !!!
Be Information-Smart!!
Map out a Strategic Plan for coping with a research
project!!
Analyze
Your Research Problem
Read your assignment
carefully, paying close attention to the verbs.
Are you required to describe, explain or identify?
Or is it your task to compare or analyze or evaluate?
Pose Your
Problem As A Question
And Voila!!
you've taken a big step in focusing your activity.
That question, together with your professor's
assignment, will help a librarian get you started
down the right track.
Track Down
Some Initial Info
A librarian
can help you at this point. You will need to brainstorm
for KEYWORDS to use in your search for some initial
information. Use references in your textbook,
or find a useful encyclopedia entry that contains
a bibliography. (Really Hot Tip: Try Encyclopedia
Britannica Online.)
Your professor may also have suggestions for sources
you should use - never overlook this expert advice.
Taking time to locate basic info on your question
will help you as you identify and make decisions
down the line about sources that could be useful.
Create
A Timeline -- Plan Your Task
Is your project
due in two weeks or two months?? Is a rough draft
required? Write down your deadlines. Look over
your preliminary list of sources. Identify and
use, with the help of a librarian, the TOOLS that
will yield the most useful sources. Locate
those that are immediately available. Does your
timeline allow for using interlibrary loan (ILL)?
Check with a librarian and if so, send off your
requests. Allow extra time in your timeline for
tracking down additional sources that you will
locate as you begin to read and digest the sources
you are gathering.
Keep Good
Records
If you are
preparing a documented paper, find out which style
manual you are expected to use and start your
list of references using that format. Keep notes
and make sure that your notes from sources you
got on ILL are accurate. You may have to send
a book back before your project is due. Make copies
of everything you can. Know and understand the
copyright regulations and know what it means to
plagiarize.
If you have a question about using information
from a source, ask your professor, a librarian
or Writing Center staff member.
Evaluate
Your Sources
Look for reviews
of books you are using - what are the authors'
credentials? Might there be more current
or better information available that you haven't
found? Check out the tips in Are
YOU Info-Smart?? for further suggestions.
Evaluating the material you use insures that you
are using the best material for your topic.
Focus Your
In-Depth Reading On The Question You Posed
Don't read
the whole book necessarily, if only one of the
chapters discusses your question. Look at tables
of contents and indexes of books to help
you decide which are the pertinent parts you need
to read in depth. Only track down journal articles
that have been identified as treating your question.
Don't waste time locating all the references listed
in an article or book.
Develop A
Hypothesis That Answers Your Question
If
the evidence you've gathered doesn't support your
hypothesis, does the opposite statement seem true?
Attend
To The Details
Fill in the
gaps you discover as you write and rewrite by
going back to your sources or locating new ones.
Talk about the project with your professor and
a librarian, and get help with your writing. Let
your word processor do the hard work of formatting
your paper and make sure you hand in your best
effort - a paper free of typos and printed on
a laser printer.
This page
adapted from Biblio-Tech: Survival Skills
for the Information Age, prepared by the
Community College of Vermont.
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