Research Guides: Morris: Searching

Course Assignment/Research Session

1- Choose a narrow topic after exploring a broad topic.
2- Find five appropriate articles to write an annotated bibliography
3- Use these articles to write an annotated bibliography
4- Write the final editorial using the articles to support your point of view ot to offer competing points of view
5- Use MLA or APA for your citation style

Conducting Research - Where do I begin>
With so many available information sources, knowing where to start, sorting through it all and finding what you want can be overwhelming. This link provides answers to the following research-related questions: Where do I begin? Where should I look for information? What types of sources are available?

Search tips

Search Tips

combine keywords using AND or OR for more precise results
use "quotation marks" to search for exact search phrases
to search by title, start your search with ti: or use the "title" search option
to search by author, start your search with au:last name, first name or use the "author" search option
use Advanced Search to combine search concepts, as well as limit by date, format, etc.
not finding what you need? Ask.

What is College Research?

What is College Research?
This YouTube video explains what college-level research is, as it differs from high-school research.

Keywords & synonyms

Thesaurus.com
As you do your research reading, be alert to words and phrases that describe your topic. Browse the table of contents, scan chapters, consider suggested words, phrases, and various aspects of your topic. Browse encyclopedia articles for an outline and breakdown of concepts, and the vocabulary used to describe these. In addition you can search a thesaurus for more related terms.

Note: as you do your research reading stay alert to words and phrases that describe your topic. In addition you can search a thesaurus or dictionary for more related terms.