Research Paper Help

HERE ARE A FEW TIPS AND TRICKS
TO HELP YOU DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE RESEARCH STRATEGY
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  START BROAD . It’s best to start with general sources to get an overview and basic understanding of your topic. They may also help you select a topic to research, or help you see how your topic fits into related topics. Perhaps you are doing a report about “urban forestry.” A general source may not have a separate article about urban forestry, but there may be a section titled “urban forestry” within an article titled “forestry.” Although your report may be about North Carolina’s native plants, an article about plants in a general source may give you some basic background information about them.

  Examples of general sources include:
  World Book Encyclopedia*
  Encyclopedia Britannica*
  Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (via NCLive)
  Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (via NCLive)

• SUBJECT SOURCES . After you’ve read about your topic in general sources, the next step is to move to the sources that specialize in a subject area you are studying. Again, if your topic is North Carolina plants, you may choose books specifically dealing with science, biology, or North Carolina.
Examples of these sources include:
The Usborne Science Encyclopedia
New Book of Popular Science (online via NCLive)
The North Carolina Atlas: Portrait for a New Century
The Atlas of U.S. and Canadian Environmental History

• GO FOR THE GOLD. After you have researched your topic in general and subject-specific sources, you are ready to find in-depth information about your subject. This is the time to search your library’s catalog to determine if there are books about your specific subject. If your first few attempts are unsuccessful, do not give up. Try to use broader terms in your catalog search. For instance, perhaps you are searching for information about Yellow Jasmine and searching the catalog for books about Yellow Jasmine produces no results. The next step is to search for books about plants and to look in them to see if there is a chapter or section about Yellow Jasmine. If you have trouble finding information on your topic, do not hesitate to ask a librarian for assistance.
DENR Library catalog: http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/library/catalog.htm

• RECENT, REPUTABLE INFORMATION. After you have found all the information you can from books, why not search some electronic databases to see if any recent articles have been written about your topic? NCLive provides access to databases that search magazine, newspaper, and journal articles. You may even be able to access it from home. For details, contact your local public library.
  NCLive Databases include:
  EBSCOhost
  ProQuest Direct

• Databases vs. World Wide Web
  Many databases are available through NCLive and other providers. Today, most databases are accessed through the World Wide Web. When conducting research it is important to know the difference between information found on Web sites and information found in databases. Information found in a database is generally more authoritative than a Web site because usually it is reprinted from a book, magazine, or newspaper and has been reviewed by an editorial staff. Anyone can publish something on the Web without its content or accuracy being reviewed. There are, of course, always exceptions. Check with your instructor or a librarian if you have any questions.

*Sources noted with an asterisk are not available at the NC DENR Library.

Please contact your school or local public library to learn about additional resources available to you.