Grants
Grants
Suggestions for finding a topic:
Examples: global warming or racial profiling or violence in media
From Library Webpage Þ Primo Search - Enter Search Terms
Preliminary research will help you to narrow and/or refine your topic and identify search terms (concepts or keywords) of your topic.
Overview or review articles can be found in:
State your topic idea as a question.
A well-formulated research question should contain at least two main ideas or concepts. A well-written research question incorporates a relationship between concepts in the wording of the question.
Avoid starting your research question with the words Who, Where, or When.
These words tend to force your research into a limited aspect of your subject and you may be unable to come up with enough material for your project.
Example:
TOO NARROW: "Who and where are criminals sentenced to death in the United States?”
TOO BROAD: “What are the controversies surrounding the death penalty?”
APPROPRIATELY FOCUSED: "What is the effect of the death penalty on violent crime rates in the United States?"
Search terms are words and phrases that you can use to find material on your topics. You will need a list of search terms whether you are using the Internet, a library catalog, an on-line database, or a printed index.
Search engines differ on what types of search terms produce results. For instance, Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Dogpile all use what is called “Free Text” search terms within their algorithms. This means you can type in virtually any kind of text to find results. However, your results may not be focused to your search since their bots are searching the entire internet.
Academic search engine algorithms for the most part follow topic subject headings, and may require specific terminology. They are assuming you are an academic researcher and have some knowledge of academic subject headings and topic search terms.
List subject heading and terms for you topics:
What terms will you look up? Make a list of keywords and synonyms related to your topic. Consult these sources for ideas for keywords, and for authorized subject headings:
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Example Search Terms –
For "What is the effect of the death penalty on violent crime rates in the United States?"
Main Subject: capital punishment
Related terms (synonyms): death penalty / death row / crime deterrent / execution
Sub Topics (and) (crime rates or efficacy or effectiveness or usefulness or crime deterrent or crime prevention) AND (united states or America)
Once you have refined your topic, written a research question, and made a list of search terms or phrases; you are ready to collect and read information from library resources.
Examples:
Gale Virtual Reference Library [available at NMSU-Grants Library website]
Credo Reference [available on-line]
Encyclopedia Britannica [available on-line]
Examples: Encyclopedia of Sociology. Violence in America: an Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of BioEthics. Encyclopedia of Ethics. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, Credo Reference [available on-line].
For newspaper, magazine and journal articles and current information. Examples:
What makes a source primary?
In theory, primary sources are original documents and objects which were created at the time being studied. Typical examples include letters, diaries, photos, newspaper articles, eyewitness accounts, autobiographies, government reports, paintings, maps, etc. In actuality it can be more complicated and can depend on format and the topic/time period and discipline.
When in doubt, always clarify with faculty.
Useful Tips:
Browse footnotes, and bibliographies of books, encyclopedias , and articles for information about primary sources, titles, whether and how they've been published or their availability.
Modern books about hisotry will often divide the bibliography into two sections: primary sources and secondary sources.