Beginning the Research Process

Presented by: Joyce GarczynskiTSEM 102

OverviewO By the end of this session,

you should be able to:1. Identify the steps in the

research process2. Define your research

topic3. Locate relevant

background information 4. Locate relevant books5. Cite your background

information and books in APA style

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redlinx/

The Research ProcessDefine

Your Topic

Conduct Background

Research

Brainstorm Your Search

Locate Your Sources

Evaluate Your Sources

Write Your Paper and Cite Your Sources

Define Your TopicO What are “the rules”

of the assignment?O What to cover?O How to cover?

O Challenges of a group assignment

Source: Towson University Image Gallery

Background ResearchO You can do better than Wikipedia!O Library Subject-Specific Encyclopedia

O Sage Knowledge (social sciences)O Gale Virtual Reference Library

(sciences, humanities)O What to look for:

O Do I need to narrow/broaden my topic?O What are some key words that I should

use in my search?

Finding BooksO What are books anyway?O Finding books using Cook OneSearch

(aka the books tab of the big yellow search box)

Finding Books (Continued)

O Narrow resultsO FormatO LocationO Subject

O Evaluate resultsO How to find a book i

n the Stacks at TUO How to request a bo

ok from another USM School

APA CitationO Why do we

cite?O APA StyleO 2 pieces to APA

O In-text O Reference List

O Print BooksO E-Books

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Practice

1. Find an article in a subject specific encyclopedia or a book on your topic

2. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/n3popaa3. Locate your group’s topic on the

page4. Under your topic, cite your source

as you would in an APA formatted reference list