Guide to Writing and Research

Section 3:  Research Strategies

Preparation for research

Start with ideas for a general subject.  As you learn more, narrow the scope to a topic that is broad enough to generate an interesting paper of the required length, yet narrow enough to be covered in good depth.  Going into a topic deeply is always better than trying to cover many ideas superficially.

Beginning the research

There are two general types of sources,  primary and secondary ones.

1.  Primary sources are raw data.  This includes information gained from interviews with people,  from field observations, or from laboratory experiments.

2.  Secondary sources are accounts of the research of other people, written in the form of articles or books.  These are the materials one finds at the library, and are the most frequently used sources for undergraduate research papers.

Text-based research:

The first step is to search the holdings of a library.  In this electronic age, that usually means searching the computer database of the library.  A good place to start text research is College of Visual Arts library.  The library has a collection of books and periodicals that will be useful, and we also have access to a number of very helpful search indexes and databases on the CVA campus.  These include The Grove Dictionary of Art, the InfoTrac periodical reference databases, and the FirstSearch databases.  Some materials will be available in full-text through these sources, while others will need to be ordered through interlibrary loan.   

The Search process:

Several approaches can be taken in doing electronic searches for materials.  These include search by subject, keyword, author, and title.

Searching by subject:

Searching by subject requires the identification of the precise Library of Congress category in which the subject falls.  This can be an effective search tool if you know the category name, but to begin research, keyword searching is usually preferable.

Searching by keyword:

Develop a series of keywords that relate to the subject.  If  you focus the keywords on the crucial elements of your topic, you will receive more relevant the returns from the search request.  Be creative in using keywords.   For example, if you want to research Native American petroglyphs, you might use "rock art," "pictographs," "rock writing," "rock carvings," and "rock images" in addition to "petroglyphs." 

The search can be focused by using Boolean operators to narrow the search.  The most frequent one used is AND.  Using AND limits the search to records that contain both of the terms you have specified.  For example, if one entered "Mimbres AND petroglyph," one would get all the entries that mention both of these terms.

If you are having trouble finding materials, use OR to broaden the scope.   This is useful to combine closely related ideas. For example, you might use the terms "equine OR horse."

In some databases, you can also used a truncation symbol, such as "?" with keyword searches to include both plural and singular forms of a word and to incorporate other possible endings of a term.  For example, the term "feminis?" would include "feminist,"   "feminists," and "feminism."  Check the rules of the database your are using for more information on advanced search functions.

Searching by author and title:

Searching by author and by title can be a quick way to access records for information.   For example, if you want to know the publisher of a book that you have previously used, looking it up by author or by title would be effective.

Working bibliography

You will save much time by keeping a working bibliography as you review library materials.  Record the author, title, call number and location of the book, publisher's name and location, year of publication, and the pages you consulted in the book.

Evaluating sources

Good sources for research might be found in the form of articles in periodicals or anthologies, or as books about the topic.  Some sources to avoid for college-level research are materials intended for a general audience, such as popular magazines and encyclopedias, which are usually too general to be useful except for background information.  

One important variable in evaluating the credibility of a source are the qualifications of the author.  Determine whether the author of the book or article could be considered an expert in the field.  Look for academic training or experience that suggests special expertise.  

The timeliness of the source can also be very important.  Notice the year of publication.  Usually, the more recent the publication, the more useful the information.  In some fields, however, older material remains useful for a long time.

Look for materials that have a high degree of specialization, because these will be most likely to help with the specific kinds of questions you will want to be answering for academic papers.

Evaluating internet materials is more difficult than evaluating text sources.   Look at the same factors you consider for print sources.  What are the qualifications and apparent expertise of the author of the material?  Is the site associated with a reputable institution of some kind?  Is the information on the site generally consistent with the other materials you have found in reputable sources about the subject?