Topic Selection and Development

Topic Selection• Most courses you have the luxury of

choosing your own paper topic within the discipline, some courses you do not.

• Some things to keep in mind are:– Choose something of interest to you.– Make sure your topic is manageable.– Choose a project you can finish in the time

allotted.– Choose your approach: analytical,

argumentative, narrative, chronological, humorous, serious.

• No matter what, have a clear understanding of what your topic is. You may have to fine tune your topic from time to time, but never lose sight of what your paper is about.

Topic Development• Step One: Choose your area of

interest

• Step Two: Choose you area of focus

• Step Three: Refine to a more specific research question.

• Step Four: Think about how you are going to approach your topic

• Step Five: Think about the types of information you need to answer your research question.

Where to Find Background Information & Terminology

Subject Dictionaries– Dictionary of Environment & Conservation Dictionary of

Ecology Available online from WSU Libraries– Dictionary of Water & Waste Management Available

Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Environmental Change GE10 .E536 2001

– McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Environmental Science GE10 .M378 2003

Subject Encyclopedias & Thesauri– Encyclopedia of Energy– Encyclopedia of Environmental Science & Engineering

TD9 .E5 2006 v. 1-2– Encyclopedia of Global Change: Environmental Change &

Human Society– Encyclopedia of Water Science Available online from WSU

Libraries – Multilingual Thesaurus of Environmental Terms Z695.1.E62

M85x 1997

Where to find Articles: Some Subject-Specific Databases

Political Science• Congressional Lexis-Nexis• CQ Researcher Online• ICPSR• Left Index• PAIS International• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

History• America History and Life: US & Canadian History• Historical Abstracts: World history, except US &

Canada• Historical Statistics of the United States• History Cooperative• JSTOR

Selected Databases by Subject

Earth & EnvironmentalSciences

1. AGRICOLA2. GeoRef3. ENDEX4. Energy Citations

Science• ACS Journal Search

(Chemistry)• ARIBIB (Astronomy)• BIOSIS (Life

Sciences & Biology)• Fish & Fisheries

World (Ichtyology & fisheries)

• Index to American Botanical Literature (Botany)

• SciFinder Scholar

Web Resources1. Style Guides

– WSU Libraries Handouts: Style Guides http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/electric/search/category_results.asp?loc=handouts&cat=style

– WSU Libraries Virtual Reference Shelf: Citing Sources http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/RefShelf/citing.html

– APA Style Tips: http://www.apastyle.org/styletips.html– Chicago Manual of Style Online:

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html2. Evaluating Information Resources

– UC Berkeley: Critical Evaluation of Resources http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/evaluation.html

– Cornell University: Critically Analyzing Information Sources http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm

Karenann Jurecki131 Owen meebo/kjureckikjurecki@wsu.edu