10-Steps to Research Success

1.) Review ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS posted in ANGEL.

• Note requirements for essay topics & types, 3rd person point-of-view, essay length, citation style, resources permitted, essay deadlines, and other guidelines mentioned in essay instructions and syllabus.

2.) Identify broad topics of interest.

• Note ideas from your own experience & interests, and from course textbook & readings.
• Also peruse personal finance magazines, browse Google, academic journals & trade publications, or ebrary books on personal finance.

3.) Determine keywords and expand keyword list.

• Keep a list of potential keywords to help in future searches.
• Use synonyms, thesaurus, ideas from peers/instructor, words from relevant articles, and keywords from the Wordle offered below.

  

4.) Identify Funderburg Library databases for research

• Spartan Search
• EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier, Business Search Premier, Corporate ResourceNet, MasterFile, TOPICS Search.
• Google Scholar, Lexis Nexis.

5.) Search databases using keywords

• Start with only 1 or 2 keywords and then add other words to narrow results.
• Mix-and-match words from keyword list created earlier.
• Use EBSCOhost's "Search History" to track of keywords and search results.

6.) Browse search results for relevant articles and save them.

• Scan for topic of interest, recurring themes, and a sufficient number of articles.
• Save potential articles in Spartan Search 'eShelf' or EBSCOhost 'Folders".

7.) Get topic approved by instructor.

• Proceed with more detailed research after getting approval on topic from instructor.

8.) Begin to narrow topic and save potential articles.

• Use database tools to narrow results by date, fulltext, subjects, etc.
• Save potential articles in Spartan Search 'eShelf' or EBSCOhost 'Folders".
• Use email feature in JSTOR and Lexis Nexis.

9.) Do additional searches with different keyword combinations

• Do not hesitate to Text-a-Librarian (260) 232-2755 for advice.

10.) Narrow topic for thesis statement based on search results

• Get feedback from instructor on thesis statement ideas.
• For more advice, consult with librarians (jslichtsinn@manchester.edu; x5015 or librarians@funderburg.edu).

 

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