- Thinking of Topics
- Planning Projects
- Evaluating Information
Planning your Project
Is so important! Planning saves you time, helps you organize, and stimulates your thinking. Trust us - don’t skip this important step. REMEMBER – every research project is different so your answers will change from project to project.
What types of information do you need?
- Primary or secondary sources
- Books
- Popular magazines
- Videos
- Music
- Images
- Research articles
- Statistics
- Newspaper articles
How current do your sources need to be?
- Up-to-the minute?
- Are you looking for historical perspectives?
- Has enough time passed for there to be a book, or will you need just articles and web pages?
- Does it matter if the information is from 1970? How would information from 2005 be different?
How much information do you need?
- A few short newspaper articles?
- A comprehensive study of scholarly articles over a range of years?
- A few opinion pieces backed with a few facts?
- An entire book, or just a relevant chapter?
How much time do you have?
- Is this project due at the same time as five other projects?
- Do you have time to use InterLibrary Services to get resources from another library if necessary?
- Is it due tomorrow? Do you need only what the library has right at this moment?
- Do you need time to scan images, build a website, or to prepare for a presentation?
Where is the information located?
- Can you get everything you need on the web?
- Do you need to use books, videos and other materials in the library?
- Will you need to find articles using the library databases? Can you do this at home?
- Will you need to make an appointment to see the resources?
- Will you need to order books and/or articles from other libraries?
Stay Organized:
- Keep track of searches
- Email yourself citations and articles
- Keep track of citation information
- Organize your resources by ideas or content before writing
- Make a list of information you are missing
