PrintYou might find doing research somewhat daunting, but you probably do research all the time. Consider planning a vacation. You most probably don’t just jump in the car and drive off with no destination in mind (OK maybe some of you do—to each their own). You go through a process to plan out your vacation and this includes research.
Brigham Young University Library lays out six steps to doing research. You can find the full article here: Basic Research Strategy - Step-by-Step Guide & Research Rescue - Subject Guides at Brigham Young University.
Step 1: Find and narrow your topic
Say your daughter lives in China and you would like to take a vacation to China. You have narrowed the topic of your vacation to China.
For your first paper, you have a very specific topic and your instructor has done step one for you.
Step 2: Finding articles
Now that we want to go to China, we can start our research going from the general to the specific. You can use the internet to look up articles on China in general and then zoom in on travel articles specifically.
In academic writing, articles come in many different flavors. You could use a general internet search, a more specialized search such as Google Scholar, or a library (you have access to the Penn State Library online) that has subscriptions to specialized databases with academic articles.
You may find some articles in trade journals such as NGA’s Pathfinder magazine (NGA Pathfinder Archive | National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency). These are good sources but such articles are usually not “peer reviewed”. Articles in academic journals have been vetted through a process of blind peer review and thus have the stamp of approval of a particular academic discipline. Let us say you write a research article based on data you collected. You submit your article to an academic journal. The editor of the journal removes anything identifying you as the author and sends it out to two or three reviewers who have expertise with your topic. The reviewers look at your data sources, collection methods, analytical methods, literature review, etc., as well as your organization and writing style. They then recommend to the editor that they accept, accept with revision, or reject your article. This peer review process ensures the quality of the work and is a key institutional stamp of approval. University professors must often have a sustained record of peer-reviewed research publications to get tenured and promoted.
One other thought on journal articles: don’t just pick the first two you find. You should read the abstract of a few that sound interesting before selecting them and diving into the analysis.
Step 3: Finding Books
Books can be an excellent source for in-depth information. In our China trip example, you might find a book on the history and geography of China to give you deep background on the country and ideas for places to visit.
Books can be expensive so using the Penn State Library is a good idea. The library has access to many e-books. If you find a book that is not available as an e-book, you can request that the book be mailed to you, free of charge.
Step 4: Evaluating Credibility
This step is key. As you look at sources, you want to understand if they are commercial, government, academic, news, or opinion-making oriented. In our China example, is our source an advertisement from a tour company, a travel advisory from the US Department of State, an individual review based on a personal experience, or a peer-reviewed academic journal article?
Take for example a student paper on the pros and cons of gun control in America. How credible would you consider an opinion piece (with no citations) in the magazine American Rifleman (which is the official journal of the National Rifle Association)?
For this week’s assignment, you would do well to use reputable academic journal articles.
Step 5: Accessing and storing your sources
For big research projects like a major research paper, master's thesis, or PhD dissertation which might have tens or hundreds of sources you should consider using a source management and archive tool. Ask your research librarian for help.
Step 6: Citing your sources
YOU MUST CITE YOUR SOURCES! (I hate it when people scream at me in all caps.) Most students understand that you must cite your sources. If you do not, then you are indicating that the ideas are your original work—and that is plagiarism and academic dishonesty.
But there is another key reason we cite our sources in academic work, and that is to help other scholars conduct their research. Readers must be able to understand where your ideas came from, and must be able to easily access the original source you used. This helps them verify your use of the source, and more importantly, allows them to go to that source and look at your source’s sources. In this way, a scholar can follow links in a chain to help with their own research. Many sources are now found online. Ensure you provide the full universal resource locator (URL or web address) preferably as a clickable link in your citation.
This week’s lesson has detailed technical instructions on how to cite your sources in text and how to provide a full bibliographic reference in the “Works Cited” section at the end of the paper. Every citation must have a bibliographic reference in Works Cited.
Students who do not cite their sources get an automatic “REDO” on the paper and a very cross look from the instructor.
Penn State Library
Penn State has a great library with many resources for online students. Here are some key links:
Online Students Use of the Library