Research Tips
Related: Research Tips for Nursing, Construct Your Search
1. State Your Topic
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As a question: ("Can a vegetarian diet help prevent heart disease?")
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Or, as a statement: ("A vegetarian diet can help prevent heart disease.")
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Through research, you will answer your question or prove your statement
2. Get Background Information
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Do quick searches on the Internet
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Look at an encyclopedia
3. Make a Plan
Use the Right Source
Articles
- Produced quickly
- Can be very current
- Good source for very specific information
Books
- Take longer to produce than articles
- Have comprehensive coverage of a topic
- Good for background information
Internet
- Quality varies widely
- Evaluate carefully
- Can provide very current information
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List what you already know
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List what you need to find out
4. Brainstorm Keywords
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List all the words related to your topic
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Think of synonyms and related works
Generating Search Terms (5 minute video from CLIP, closed captioning available)
5. Construct Your Search
6. Keep Organized
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Save copies of resources on your computer, disk or database account
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Keep tract of places you already searched and keywords you tried
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Use the list of things you need to find out:
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Cross off things as you find them
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Concentrate on gaps you need to fill
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