So You Have to Write a Research Paper!

First of all, find out what information is available here, in the library…. The Library Catalog!

Type in your topic to search for materials. You may need to use more than one search term.

Remember that non-fiction books are shelved by Dewey Decimal number. Both the number and the letters will help you locate the book.

As you do your research, start with more general, background information about your topic. Encyclopedias and books are often the best sources for this type of information.

The library also has available online databases which provide information that has been evaluated and can be trusted to be accurate.

To access the online databases, go to the Fort Defiance website and select the library link at the top of the page. From the links at the left, select Online Databases 1 and 2.

Why are the databases important? Your research should be based on information that is Accurate Credible Unbiased Current, depending on your topic

Just because it is on the Internet does not mean that it is true.

You may find information that just doesn’t seem believable You may find information that just doesn’t seem believable. Compare multiple sources to see if you find the same information on multiple sites. Also check the site to find information about the author’s credentials. What sources does the author use? Is there a works cited or other links to additional resources provided? Can you find the same information in additional sources? Is the article clearly and well written? Are there spelling or grammatical errors? Can you tell why the author wrote the information? Be on the lookout for bias.

What about Wikipedia???

Online Research Google is one of many search engines. See the “Search Engine” link on the library page for others. For at home research, another possibility: DuckDuckGo

Lets look for a moment at how search engines, in this case, Google, work…. How Search Works

What Food Does Tyson Like Best?

So, as you see, the right search terms will get you better results.. What matters……

Speaking of search terms….. Knowing the vocabulary that is associated with your topic will help you come up with search terms that will get you results that are useful. wikimindmap.org provides a structured ,easy, and understandable overview of the topic that you are looking for. This site is useful as a search term generator. It may give you ideas as to the direction in which you wish to go with your topic or help you to narrow your topic.

climate change……. “climate change” Phrase Searching A phrase is more than one keyword. When items are enclosed with double quotation marks, search engines search for the exact phrase and return documents with the terms in the exact order as stated in the query. climate change……. “climate change”

It also reduces the number of results. Searching with phrases makes your query more specific by clearly defining the information needed. It also reduces the number of results.

Remember to use Boolean operators. AND, Or, NOT

Broaden a search with OR. College OR university At least one of the search terms is present in the webpage document. So your results will include documents with college, and with university.

Narrow a Search with AND AND requires that both terms be present in the document. College AND University Only documents that include both college and university will be found.

Eliminate a word, phrase or top level domain with NOT. College NOT University Use this to exclude terms or domains that you do not wish to use. Note: Google uses the minus (-) sign.

Query Syntax Syntax Spacing: “climate change” AND “North America” AND site:.gov