It's that time of year again. The time when those semester-long projects that seemed so far away are finally due.
Although I'm a senior, and you might think I would have this down already, I struggle with research papers. It's not the writing part that's the challenge. It's the research component. The vast majority of the research papers I've written haven't been driven by research. Usually, I search Google and Wikipedia to get a general understanding of the topic, I come up with my argument and THEN I search for any peer-reviewed articles or occasionally books that support my thesis. The problem with this type of research is that I often end up piecing together somewhat random pieces of information from a plethora of articles that don't really address my topic. I also usually have to avoid books because their content isn't easily searchable. The other problem is that my arguments are often based off of information from non-academic sources (even if it is backed up by piece-meal peer-reviewed articles) and they aren't as strong or unique as they could be had I bothered to pick up a book.
But, I was OK with this method because it gets the grade.
At the beginning of this semester, I was assigned a research paper in one of my classes. I decided to take advantage of my meetings with Catherine and to finally learn how to productively research. Catherine listened to my method and my concerns and then gave me some really helpful suggestions.
My paper was over a city in Bosnia called Banja Luka. I wanted to write about the city before the civil war in the early '90's and compare it to the city today, over a decade after the war ended. I'm telling you all this because it turned out that this topic was very difficult to research. The vast majority of the sources I found weren't in English and there is almost no statistical data specific to the city and not the country as a whole.
I decided turn a new leaf and approach this paper differently than I had papers in semesters past. I was lucky to have Catherine's help. Through all this I learned some valuable lessons about how to productively research (including how to most effectively use the library's resources). And so, I want to share my findings with you. If any of this is confusing or spurs further questions please feel free to contact me! I am by no means a research guru, but I do have a bit of experience!
And if you have some other suggestions that would be awesome!
1) Don't be afraid to start with Wikipedia. Obviously, you should never rely on Wikipedia for specific or accurate information but it can at least provide you with a vague understanding of your topic and the issues surrounding it. The best part about Wikipedia isn't the article itself, but the "References" and "External Links" at the bottom of the page. You can often follow these links to find more credible sources, statistics, studies, etc. You should use these sources to give you a vague idea of your topic. But you should wait to fully develop it until after you have researched and READ about your topic in credible, academic sources.
2) Go to the Library's Web Site and click on the "Research Gateway". Here you have access to books, articles, encyclopedias, and more. Just type a keyword or two in the search bar and the site will return a listing by category (articles, journals, books and Web Pages) of all the relevant material the library has to offer (based off of your keyword).
3) Books are your friends! I have often avoided books because they take to long to read and partially because I didn't really know how to find relevant books at the library. One suggestion Catherine gave me was to search the IUCAT with a keyword and then to use those results to find other materials. So basically, after you do a search click on one of the relevant results, scroll down the page (look in the full record, not the brief) and look at the keywords next to the label "Subject headings." You can click on these keywords to do searches of related materials. For example:
The Republic of Srpska--tenth years of the Dayton Peace Agreement Kuzmanovi*c, Rajko.
I highlighted in yellow the "Subject headings" that I mention above so that you can see what I mean about where to find the key words. Just follow those threads to other books.
4. Go to the library. Write down the call number of a couple of books and head to the library. If you aren't sure how or where to find them, ask a librarian! Chances are that once you find one book about your topic, you will find several others in the same section (or even shelf!) of the library. I found a couple of the books I used this way. If you are worried about using books because of the amount of material you have to sift through try checking out the table of contents or even chapter headings. These might give you clues about the content of the book. You could also do a search for summaries or reviews online.
5. Use the electronic resources! While you initial search under the research gateway will provide you with results, you can narrow down your search by taking advantage of the subscriptions the library has to numerous journals and articles. You can search journals by subject or you can use more generic ones like Jstor or Ebscohost.
6. Check the newspapers! Search for your topic on news sites or using search engines like google news. You never know what you will find and your results may provide you with insights your other sources miss.
7. Develop your topic, outline and write your paper! It's probably a good idea to take notes while you are researching. Even if they are really general, it will help you find the quotes, data you need when you finally get to writing.
So, there you have it. I hope that these suggestions help.
Good Luck!
