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Chart: MST 101: Introduction to Communications, Marian Lyles: Intro to Research. Seattle Central College Library. Seattle Central College. 10 Feb. 2016. Web. 16 Jun 2016.
1. Select and develop a research topic. The topic should be based on the course work in the program and be approved by your professor.
If you have trouble coming up with a topic, here are several good places to look for ideas:
2. Find Background Information. After you select your topic, you'll need to gather some background information. Background information provides an overview of a broad topic and can help you to narrow your focus toa particular aspect of it that you'd like to research. This background information is generally found in an encyclopedia, in other reference books, or by doing a quick internet search.
3. Focus Your Research - Ask a Question. What do you want to know? "To Research" means to find out about something. You must first ask a question in order to discover or develop an idea. Starting with a good question will give you a tremendous advantage in research and writing. A research question is an open-ended beginning to your process.
Once you have formulated a good research question/topic, you will need to pick out the words and phrases that are most important to your search. This is called identifying the main concepts and is necessary for conducting searches in databases and on the internet that will produce valuable results.
Keywords can be found in your background reading of encyclopedias, internet articles and bibliographies. A thesaurus will give you synonyms, words that have similar meanings, and expand the search language you can use.
Concepts & Words - Research Basics - Guides at Western Connecticut State University (wcsu.edu)
YouTube video: Research Basics Concept Maps from San Jacinto College Library
We have discussed the need for background information which will get you started and aid in picking and narrowing a topic. Once that is done you will need to do more in-depth research on your chosen topic. You will need to look for current information, find studies reported in academic materials - journals, books, blogs etc., and then conduct a search for alternate opinions on the topic.
This link explores the types of resources you can use to find our information - books, journals, newspapers, government or organization statistical data and the web and discusses the pros and cons of using each type of resource
Information Need - Research Basics - Guides at Western Connecticut State University (wcsu.edu)
Once you have looked at background information, chosen and narrowed your topic then you are ready to start your research. This section explores the different resources available through the WCSU libraries.
You can do a comprehensive search for books and e-books, videos, articles, digital media, course reserves, and more in the library catalog - WestSearch. You can slice and dice your research - focusing on only e-books or articles or search through all types of resources. The CSCU consortium search looks only for books held by all the CSCU universities and colleges. You can request these items from the other schools and you will be notified when they arrive at WCSU.
WestSearch is a great place to start but sometimes you are being inundated with TOO MUCH STUFF when using a great big search like WestSearch. When you're ready for the next step, you should try going directly into a database and searching for articles on your topic. You can click on "subject" in the Database box on the library home page - then pick the subject you need from the list and you will get a list of databases that have materials on that topic.
General Databases
General databases cover a wide spectrum of topics and subjects. You can use one of these to get you started on almost any research assignment - from art history to zoology. Since they cover so many different topics, however, they are not very in-depth in any of them.
An example of a popular general database is:
Subject-Specific Databases
Subject-specific databases focus on only one discipline or area. They are more in-depth than general databases and include journals and resources that are appropriate only for that one area. Use a subject specific database when you are looking for true research rather than general information.
Examples of popular subject-specific databases include:
Full-Text Databases
Full-text databases are often most popular with students. Full-text means that once you perform your keyword or subject search in the database, you are guaranteed to find whole articles in the database itself. Of course, this means you save time and energy looking for the article - simply download the article and you will have the whole thing!
Most of the general databases (see above) contain a significant amount of full-text - sometimes over half of the databases. The subject-specific databases do not have as much full-text, although all the databases are linked together.
There are a few databases that are ONLY full-text, such as:
. For more information on databases with content on JLA topics available through our library, see the tab Library Research Databases at the top left of this page.
While you are researching your topic you must also be able to analyze what you have found. There are 5 criteria that are essential when you are looking for reliable and reasonable sources to incorporate into the results presented in your research project.
The CRAAP Test - there are 5 criteria to use in your evaluation.
Currency - how old or new is the information?
Relevance - is it on point, useful information?
Authority - who is offering the information, is a reliable source?
Accuracy - can the information be verified through other independent sources?
Purpose - can you determine the purpose of the information? ( is it propaganda, information being used to further a personal agenda or. . ..?)
This link explains the CRAAP test in more detail Evaluate - Research Basics -- WCSU Libguide
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as if it were your own, whether you mean to or not. "Someone else’s work" means anything that is not your own idea, even if it is presented in your own style.
It includes material from books, journals or any other printed source, the work of other students or staff, information from the Internet, software programs and other electronic material, designs and ideas. It also includes the organization or structuring of any such material.
To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use
See more information on Plagiarism in our guide on Avoiding Plagiarism
This guide gives you some basic information on citation formats and some citation format generators. Each of the WCSU library databases has its own citation generator also. We just ask that you verify the format you are given in a database against another authority. There are many editions of format style. Verify with your professor which must be used.
Home - Citation Style Guides - Guides at Western Connecticut State University (wcsu.edu)
The Justice and Law professors prefer the latest edition (the 7th) of the APA citation format. Verify this with your professor. Helpful information on using this format can be found here. If you need information on Chicago or MLA formats, this link will lead you there also.
The WCSU librarians have also put together style sheets for each format. Printed copies are available in the libraries or can be printed from the link below. Feel free to print a copy if needed.
