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Check out the library's asynchronous Research Tutorial to learn the research process.
The research process starts when you receive an assignment and decide what you want to research. Then you will need to search, evaluate, and cite your sources. This page will walk you through the basics of the research process. For more in-depth explanations check out our Library Research Tutorial or the Research Video Series.
Make sure you understand your topic and your assignment criteria. If needed, do some background research to learn about key issues in your topic. Check that you know how many and what type of sources you're required to use for your assignment.
A research question is a clear, specific, and answerable question that you can use as the focus of your assignment.
Your research question should be:
Your research question may change as you conduct your research. That's okay! Research is not a linear process and you can adapt your research question as you go.
Use the resources below to learn more about developing a research question.
Searching in a library database is different than searching in Google. The database uses certain languages and codes to understand exactly what you're looking for.
To create a search strategy, you will need to decide what keywords and search operators you will use.
Keywords are 1-2 words that describe your research topic. These words will tell the database which words are important to your topic, and which words to search for. It can be helpful to write out a list of potential keywords before you start searching. Your keywords might come from your research question, your background research, and synonyms for other keywords in your list.
Search operators are how we tell the computer exactly how to combine our keywords into a search.
| Operator | Explanation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Use AND between keywords to search for resources that contain both search terms. | Police AND Social Media |
| OR | Use OR between synonyms or related words to search for resources that contain either term. | Police OR Law Enforcement |
| NOT | Use NOT to eliminated all articles that contain a certain word or phrase | NOT Australia |
You can find a complete list of search operators in Module 4 of the Research Tutorial below.
Once you have a search strategy that includes where you're going to search, and what keywords and search operators you will use, you can start searching for sources.
The resources below will walk you through how to use keywords and search operators in a library search, and show you other features in SearchMe.
The quality of sources you use count toward the final grade of your research paper. If you've chosen unsuitable sources, even a well written paper won't earn a top grade. You should only select sources appropriate for your assignment.