Researching Your Project: Picking a Topic

Books If you have no idea for at topic one can “browse”... Check the Bibliographies Library has many and new titles appear frequently Book section at Borders, etc.; amazon.com

Periodicals The Popular Press can be useful (primarily as a supplement) Most are carrying many features on the election and the library gets most - browse Specialty publications like Campaigns and Elections can give idea. They have a web site as well

Research Journals The library has scores of journals that contain relevant materials. Check the bibliography or browse the political and communication sections of current periodicals. Also check out First Search, Social Science Index, Ebsco, Political Science Abstracts, etc.

Specialty Research Sources Once you have a topic there are often research centers, governmental sources, or interest groups that have materials available. e. g., Political Archives at the Univ.. of Oklahoma specialized in political advertisements. Multiple links are available on my web site. If you are looking at speeches there are scores of sites with relevant primary texts to examine:

The Internet There is wealth of material available on the internet, ranging from the complete texts of all inaugural speeches to the Univ.. of Michigan political surveys. Also all campaigns maintain extensive pages. Doing a net search for “political elections” produces 1.5 million sites. Examples / inaugur al/index.html htmlhttp:// html cation/Class%20Information/POLITICALSITES.ht ml

Finding a Topic What interests you? What have you been curious about, wondering how it works? Browse the bibliographies, periodical. Start with general area and narrow after you read enough to know how to narrow. When you think you have a topic we will talk (or e- mail) and begin the focusing, narrowing phase.