Mansfield Library Subject Guides
Successful Researching and Writing:
Designing a Research Strategy
Developing a plan for gathering information can save time and frustration by setting up an easy to follow “To Do” list for researching.
- Gather basic topic information from dictionaries, encyclopedias
and other general reference materials. This can often help you to
narrow or redirect your search to a better topic.
- Gather sub-questions that will lead to information in support
of your initial thesis and help you refine your thesis as you research.
Sample initial thesis: Violence in film is often criticized for its supposed negative influences.
Questions: What films? Who is supposedly influenced, and what reasons are given? Has the influence of film violence changed through film history? How do American films compare with films from other countries in their portrayals of violence? What actions have been taken against any film for its portrayal of violence? Who is criticizing the films?
- Find as many specific keywords as possible. Use different
combinations of these keywords (and their synonyms) alone and apart
for your catalog and database searches.
Examples: Film theory, Violence, Film history, Characterization, Law, Action Films, Pulp Fiction (and other specifically violent films), John Woo (and other directors of violent films), Hollywood, Foreign Films, Fights, Weapons, War, Film ratings, Independent Films, Critics, Criticism, Film reviews, etc.
*OFTEN FINDING THE RIGHT MATERIAL DEPENDS ON USING THE RIGHT KEYWORDS IN YOUR SEARCHES*
Once you begin researching and you find a relevant resource, check in the long view in the catalog’s record or the full or complete record in the databases to see a listing of subject headings connected to the resource. These subject headings often provide more widely used and precise keywords.
- Select which databases you will search by checking subject
guides, subject index grids (under “find articles”) and
the type and focus of material included in the database (books, newspapers,
journals, etc.). This action is part of Step 3 on the Research
Planner.
- Evaluate journals for your paper – Do your articles
need to be peer reviewed (in other words, refereed or academic)? Do
you need to have recently published articles? This evaluation is part
of Step 6 on the Research
Planner.
- Perform a quick evaluation of database search results by
reading the subject headings and any abstracts provided to get a general
idea of what the piece of writing is about. This is a more thorough
evaluation as part of Step 6 on the Research
Planner.
- Perform a quick evaluation of books by reading the table
of contents and checking the index for any keywords. Also check the
date of publication to make sure the information isn’t outdated.
- Check the availability of your resources. If your topic is
popular, many of the books may already be checked out. Some of the
citations for articles that you find from database searches may be
for journals that Mansfield Library does not have a subscription to
in print or electronically. In both of these cases, you may want to
use InterLibrary Loan. ILL articles can take anywhere from 3 days
to several weeks to come back and ILL books usually take at least
a week. Due to this delay, it is important to request ILL resources
enough ahead of time that you can still use them for your paper.
Back to Successful Researching and Writing
28 July 2004