Research Strategies: How to Begin

The following pages provides steps for beginning a research project.

I. State your topic. What do you need information for? It is helpful to formulate several questions you need to answer. Think in terms of subject areas or disciplines; are you researching biology, history, public affairs, literature? The answer to this question is vital because it will determine which databases or indexes you use.

II. Locate background information from the following:

• Your textbook. Be certain to review the bibliography in your textbook.
• General encyclopedias such as Britannica Online, Americana, etc.
• Specialized encyclopedias such as Encyclopedia of Religion, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Macmillan's Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, etc.
• Compile a list of relevant keywords, concepts, figures, and events that you gather from these sources.

III. Develop a research strategy

• Determine the scope of your topic. Are you writing a brief paragraph or a lengthy paper?
• Should you narrow the scope to a specific aspect, set of aspects, or time period?
• Should you broaden the scope by selecting a wider range of topical aspects ?
• What is the time frame/dates for the topic? Remember that some of the older journal sources cannot be accessed from online databases.
• What is the geographic area for your topic? If the information you need is local you may need a different search strategy.

A chart depicting a search strategy might look like this:

Research question: How does child care in the United States compare with that in Sweden:

General Topic:	child welare, family policies, social welfare, social policies
Time span:	1990s, 2000's
Place:	US; urban or rural Sweden; rural or urban
Person or group:	children, family
Event or Aspects:	day care, child care, maternity leave

IV. Locate books. When using Vikat:

• Try a subject search, if this does not produce results, try a keyword search. Remember, you will access extraneous material when you do a keyword search. View the details of a likely sounding title and either click on appropriate subject heading or go back and redo your search.
• Refer to the list of key concepts and people you generated from subject encyclopedias.
• Look in the bibliographies of the books you find for additional sources
  which may include other books or journal articles.

V. Locate periodical articles. Determine the kind of articles you need:

• Popular press (such as Time, Newsweek, etc.) To find these you can use Ebscohost.
• Academic, scholarly journals (peer reviewed). If you are uncertain which database or index to use to access the appropriate journals, please consult a librarian. The list of databases and what subjects they cover is available from the library homepage at: http://www.lib.pdx.edu
• After you have decided which index to use, once again, refer to the list of the keywords/concepts, events, and figures you have compiled. Remember to examine the bibliographies in the articles for other sources.
  

VI. Locate Internet resources if appropriate. You must use stringent
evaluation criteria when using web resources. You must have a
clear idea concerning the kind of information you need, whether it be
statistics, facts/general information, opinions. Information on how to evaluate resources.

See Stumbling Blocks for tips.

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