MPS Writing & Research

Research strategies and resources specific to your courses and assignments are available on the customized library guides for each MPS Course.

They are linked in your Moodle course site and listed here in the guide to Resources for the Master's Degree Programs.

Developing a Research Proposal is a process that involves conducting preliminary research into sources before writing a proposal or thesis statement. Let's call it "presearch"

Research as Inquiry - We don't start with an answer; we start with a question.

• Research into sources is a form of exploration into what is known and written about a topic.
• Reading various sources leads to discovery. 
• You may, and probably will (and, possibly should) change your topic as you review sources.

Your goal is to identify a topic that is Viable and Manageable.

Viable - there exists published scholarly sources addressing your topic or a closely related topic.
Manageable - there is not an overwhelming number of articles or books on the topic covering a wide variety of sub-topics.

In other words - not too big, not too small, just right. But, you have to start somewhere and many researchers get a kind of writer's block trying to come up with words to start their research. So...

Start Big, Start Small - Just Start!

As you conduct research and review your results, you will discover themes and issues that are of interest to you, that inspire you.

Narrow or Broaden - Use the results, the lists of articles and other sources, to help you narrow or broaden your topic, as necessary.

You will find concepts and terms, subject headings and keywords, to help adjust your search process to make your research more targeted and relevant.

Context - you don't need to find an exact match to your topic proposal, but you do need to find information about the issues that impact your topic.

Break down the individual components of your question or thesis and search for information about each issue and identify the resources that best help you understand the issues and support your proposal.

Step-by-Step:

• Start with books on your general topic. Gather background information and overviews of the various issues.
• Identify keywords and subject terms.
• Use Library Databases and Google Scholar to find articles (set up Google Scholar to link to CIA Library full-text articles.)
• Use academic, professional, government resources for additional information, such as data, statistics, and industry research.
• Citation chasing - look at the references of a book or article you are using. Since these references were used to support the research of the publication, they may be useful for you as well.
• Contact your librarian for assistance.

1. UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT AND SELECT YOUR TOPIC

State your topic idea as a question. 
Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question. 

2. FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION IN REFERENCE SOURCES

Once you have selected key terms for your topic, look for them in an encyclopedia, dictionary or other reference resource. Review definitions of terms and identify other terms used to describe the concepts. Are your terms accurate?  Investigate background information to identify important issues, events, and people associated with your topic. Then search for books and articles using these key terms that describe the concepts, issues, events, and people.

3. USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS 

Start with keyword searching, review results and identify subject headings.  Note the citation (author, title, etc.), the location information (call number and library or ebook), and circulation status.

4. USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Search databases to find articles on your topic.  Many will include the full-text of the article.  Most databases are accessible both in the library and off-campus through the campus network.

5. FIND INTERNET RESOURCES 

Use search engines and subject directories to locate materials on the Web.  Information on the Internet varies in its reliability; before using information from a website, review the Website Evaluation guidelines.

6. EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND / REVIEW YOUR PROGRESS

Evaluate the authority and quality of the materials you have located. Consider the author, publisher, and date of each resource. Is the material biased? Is it comprehensive? Who is the intended audience? Is the material of scholarly value?
After you have completed the previous steps, examine the information you have collected. Ask yourself the following questions:
Does it answer the topic question you posed in Step 1?
Is your topic question too general?
Does it need to be more specific?
Do you need more information about any aspect of your topic?
After you answer these questions, return to Step 1 and repeat the process. 

7. CITE WHAT YOU FIND USING A STANDARD FORMAT

Avoid plagiarism and use a style manual to be sure to correctly format your citations for both print and electronic resources. Check with your instructor about which citation style you should use. Learn more about Citing Sources.

RESEARCH TIPS:

RESEARCH IS A PROCESS, YOU WILL TRY ONE SEARCH, EVALUATE YOUR RESULTS, MODIFY YOUR STRATEGY AND TRY AGAIN.

• START YOUR RESEARCH EARLY
• WORK FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC
• TAKE NOTES OF WHAT YOU FIND AND WHERE YOU FOUND IT
• USE THE SUBJECT TERMS OF THE DATABASES AND CATALOGS YOU USE
• CONSULT BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND ARTICLE REFERENCES 
•  IF WE DO NOT HAVE IT, WE WILL GET IT FOR YOU THRU INTERLIBRARY LOAN
• ASK A LIBRARIAN FOR HELP

1. Select the Peer-Reviewed or Scholarly option when you search

Most databases have a button to check when you search and to limit or filter the search results.

2. Confirm that it is a Research Article

Limiting your search results to articles published in peer reviewed scholarly journals is the first step. 
Scholarly Journals include other types of documents, such as essays, literature reviews, book reviews, commentary, letters to the editor, announcements, etc. So...

How do I know if it is an actual research article? 

A research article reports the original work of a scholar and will present evidence and conclusions. 

A research article must have:

• a named Author
• a Bibliography or References
• PDF format available
• more than a few pages

Look at the structure of the article; many academic research articles use a standard format:

• Abstract (summary of the whole article)
• Introduction (why they did the research)
• Discussion (what it means)
• Conclusion (what they learned)
• References (whose research they read)