SDA Writing Lab Research Manual

Tips and tools for writing research papers

The art of writing a good research paper might seem like a daunting task at first. However, if you can learn to break down your searching, planning, writing and editing into manageable pieces, you will streamline your research experience and make things a lot less of a pain in the brain.

On the Writing Lab Research Page, you will find some helpful tips and resources on the research process. Whether this is your first, second, or tenth research paper, anyone can benefit from a little extra guidance. Check out more tools and resources below! If you’re looking for a particular step in the research process, you can always skip around on the Table of Contents:

Where To Start: Choose Your Topic

If you’re just starting your research and feel a little lost, don’t worry! Most have us have been in your shoes before. Before you rush into things, consider the types of topics you would be interested in writing about. Your choice of topics will depend on the subject you’re doing research for (literature, history, science, etc.) but the rule of thumb is always the same: pick a topic that excites you rather than one that bores you.

Oftentimes, you will be working on research for a long period of time, so you need to think in terms of the types of topics that will retain your interest in the long run. Take your time to brainstorm some ideas in your head or on paper to get a clear idea of the types of things that make you interested in learning about a particular subject.

Here is a great step-by-step list from the University of Michigan with more tips on choosing your topic and going forward with your research planning.

Check out these other resources as well:

Top 100 Research Paper Topics (Midway University)

Research Paper Topics: 50 Ideas To Get Started

15 Steps To Good Research (Georgetown University)

In research, a source refers to a book, document, or written work that is used to provide evidence in research. There are an infinity of sources available through institutions and databases found online, and they all come packaged in different ways.

In some subjects like history, a source is either referred to as a primary source, which refers to original material on which research is based (i.e. a historical account or document) or a secondary source, one that was published as a response to a primary source (think textbooks, biographies, journal articles, and even other research papers.

No matter which type of source you have, there is one thing as a good researcher that you must make sure of: any source you use should consist of credible information backed up by evidence and be objective in how it presents information.

The best place to find these types of credible sources is on a research database.

Using Databases

The best place to find these types of credible sources is on a research database. A database is a website that compiles several sources that can be used as outside evidence in research papers. If you’ve never used one before, then now is the time to get some practice. If you continue onto college, research will be a major component of many disciplines and degrees, and databases are the main tools that college-level researchers use. Gone are the days of using Wikipedia and Google for all of your searching. If you want to get a leg up on your classmates, learning to use databases is a great way to do so.

Thankfully, SDA has free access to a number of databases through SDUHSD’s Research Hub, which available for all students in the district. The main databases are curated by ProQuest and offer different tools for different grades and age groups. A great place to start is on ProQuest Central Student, which brings together ProQuest’s most important, complete databases in science, technology, education, social sciences, humanities, and news. It’s a comprehensive place to start and easy to navigate for first-time users. I also recommend the SIRS Discoverer if you’re looking to get your feet wet in different subjects with an easily navigable interface.

CLICK HERE to access the SDUHSD Research Hub. You can also find links to the Hub via our updated Mustang Commons website and on the homepage for my.sduhsd.net .

SDA’s Databases

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Above are the homepages for two of the most used research databases at school. JSTOR is a great database to find outside sources for humanities subjects such as social sciences, art history, film, psychology, and literature, while ProQuest is home to every subject from Neil Gaiman novels to nuclear physics. These should be your new go-to places for finding good research because these are collections of the most reliable articles in academia.

There is a learning curve when it comes to using databases. Most times, students will jump into things without quite knowing how these databases work and end up struggling to find solid sources. In order to work with these databases, it’s important to understand exactly how they work.

Searching

There are a couple of options when starting your first search. You can move to the homepage search bar and get started right away, or, if you want to get a little more specific, you can click on the “Advanced Search” option. An advanced search allows you to narrow down your searches to specified keywords. A keyword is a word or short phrase that has relevance to the topic you’re researching. For instance, if I was working on a history essay on American military strategy in The American Revolution, some of my keywords for a search could be “American Revolution”, “Revolutionary War”, “military”, “artillery”, “strategies”, “soldiers”, “militia”, etc.

Terms like these help you find articles that will specifically have those terms somewhere in the text. The more specific you are, the more specific sources you’ll find. In research, your goal is not to find the most sources, but to find the sources that relate to your topic and could be used as evidence for your writing.  In order to find those types of sources, here are some Do’s and Don’ts for your searches:

1. DON’T type out full questions in the search window:

Typing in a question for your search may sound like a good option, but be warned, your search results may not be quite on topic. Through the science of computer algorithms, a database will compile results based on your keywords. Therefore, if you type a full question, you will get results that contain all of the words from your question. I might end up with tens of thousands of articles and none of them may relate. If you are using a list of keywords to inform your searches, avoiding this common misstep is very easy.

2. DO choose your keywords wisely

As we’ve mentioned, keywords are a crucial part to the “search” in research. Sometimes it can be frustrating when our keywords aren’t turning up results. To combat this, before jumping into research, try to brainstorm about particular terms related to your topic and write them down somewhere that you can easily refer to them. You can always add new terms to this list and get rid of others that aren’t working for you. Once you have a list, play around with different types of keywords in combination in the Advanced Search to see if you get differing results. It can make the research process a little more exciting, and you might be surprised at the new stuff you find hidden in the back pages of JSTOR.

3. DO use your sorting tools and filters to refine searches

4. DON’T Give up on your first try

Research is a time-consuming task, but putting thought and care into the process will help you ensure that you are able to craft a strong paper or project with solid evidence for your argument. Even if you don’t get the best results your first time out, that’s okay. That doesn’t mean it’s time to throw in the towel. Instead, try to figure out what is causing you the most trouble in your research: Are your keywords working? Is your topic too specific or too broad to turn up any good sources? Is there a way I could think about this topic that could make my research time more efficient?

If you have trouble evaluating these things yourself, it is also helpful to reach out to your teacher for suggestions, possible sources for your topic, or help refining your research techniques. Every teacher has done some form of research for their education, so you have many resources at your disposal for guidance.

Types of Sources

Now that you have some know-how about research databases and how to use them, we can go through the types of sources, what they are, and how you can use them in research. There are two main types of sources that you may be familiar with.

Primary Sources

You might have heard this term in history class, but just for a refresher, a primary source is any original document that research has been based on. Depending on what subject your researching for, any number of the following are considered primary sources:

• Journals, diaries, letters, or first-hand accounts
• Autobiographies or memoirs of a person’s life
• Speeches, interviews, or recordings
• Posters, drawings, and photographs
• Fiction and/or non-fiction novels (English/Literature)

Typically, these sources are used to offer an original or historical perspective on a given subject, which is why they are more commonly used in historical research. They give researchers an opportunity to analyze and original work while considering the creator’s intentions, the impact of a given source during its time, or how a modern audience might interpret the material.

Secondary Sources

A secondary source is any document that summarizes, analyzes, or evaluates the information found in a primary source. Secondary sources are usually written later than an original source and often build on any original material by offering scholarly or expert interpretations. In most cases, these interpretations are also researched by academics and eventually published in Academic Journals for others to consult and use in their work, and we can use them as well to provide outside sources of research. Some forms of secondary sources can include:

• Scientific or scholarly articles from Academic Journals
• A thesis or dissertation ( these are written similarly to the journal articles mentioned above, acting as capstone research projects required for Masters and Ph.D. students to earn their degree)
• Biographical works
• Encyclopedia articles, dictionaries, or reference books
• Textbooks or non-fiction books on a particular subject

These are just a few examples of sources, but depending on the subject, categorizing sources can be a little tricky. Sciences have a different definition of primary vs. secondary sources as compared to humanities topics. To get a better understanding of the difference check out CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College Library web page that gives some further great examples of primary and secondary sources for various subjects.

Finding Reliable Sources

When using databases, you are guaranteed to find a number of sources with reliable information just by selecting sources that are peer reviewed. To explain, when a professor or researcher completes an article, they submit that article for peer review, a process of evaluation by one or more experts in a given field of study (the “peers”). The main goals or peer review are to maintain standards for quality research in academia, to improve performance, and to establish greater credibility by determining whether or not the presented research is believable and appropriate. Research and articles must pass multiple levels of peer review before being published, so it’s a guarantee that any article labeled “peer-reviewed” on JSTOR or ProQuest is going to be an optimal source for a research paper.

Meanwhile, deep among the many pages of the internet lurk sources that may seem reliable, but often fall short of being credible sources for research. It’s hard to trust every single source on the internet. The ease at which people can post articles, opinions, and statistics on a subject has made the internet a great place to learn in the 21st century but has also made finding credible information even more difficult. Many websites will publish information to push particular viewpoints or biases, to get more hits or views, or simply because they haven’t done their own research. Whatever the case, there is an easy rule of thumb to remember when consulting outside research: If an author makes a particular claim without providing sufficient evidence to support that claim, the source most likely lack reliability/credibility. 

That’s going to be hard for some researchers to spot on first glance at an article. Therefore, I’ll take my time and elaborate on some possible warning signs for you to look for when trying to weed out unreliable sources on the World Wide Web.

Reliable vs. Unreliable Sources

When looking at a website, there are some signs you can watch for that indicate the reliability of a particular source. Here are some commonalities that reliable websites share:

• Peer-reviewed journal articles from JSTOR and other databases: These are going to be your main source for reliable and credible information as this material has been reviewed extensively by experts before publication. These sources will give you the most current knowledge in any given field and the information is more likely to be accurate and correct.
• URLs that contain .gov, .edu, or .org: the most reliable information comes from sites that have ties to the government, universities, schools, and other organizations. These websites usually contain more reliable info, so start here when doing research online.
• Material from professional encyclopedias: while less common these days, encyclopedias are a great place to find relevant information and further reading for your research. SDA has access to Encyclopedia Britannica through the Research Hub and many others are available online for free. The main exception is Wikipedia, which can be edited by the public and is, therefore, less reliable than other encyclopedias written and reviewed by professionals

When it comes to unreliable sources, there are some other signs to watch out for. Here are some commonalities for unreliable websites:

• URL’s that contain .com or .net : these websites are commercial websites (.com) and net domains (.net). They might seem like reliable sources, but these are usually websites to avoid in research as they normally contain more unreliable info compared to the other URLs mentioned above.
• Political news outlets (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Huffington Post, The Blaze etc.): best to avoid these websites as they are meant for a more political audience. These types of websites aren’t looking to further knowledge, but rather to further a political agenda and get clicks, so they may contain biased information to get people reading.