Research Steps & Strategies
This tutorial introduces Adirondack Community College students to basic research strategies.
Research Steps
Most college research involves just four basic steps:
1) Choose and develop your topic
2) Find background information
3) Find current and specific information
4) Put it all together!
Let’s go through each.
At any point, click on any links see the ACC Library Web pages discussed.
Choose and Develop Your Topic
Brainstorm several key words to start
your searching.
A group of synonyms, for instance, would be:
death penalty capital punishment executions
Broader ideas would be:
criminal justice corrections penal system
Narrower ideas would be:
Lethal injection death row prisoners
Why brainstorm search terms?
For successful searching, use the right “sized” words:
Use broader search terms in a smaller database, such as an online catalog for books.
Use more specific terms in a big database, such as an article database or search engine.
Why? Because the bigger the database, the more specific your search terms! So...
To find books, search the online catalog with (60,000 books and use big ideas: for example, Tobacco, Smoking
To find articles, search on article database listing millions of articles, and use more precise words, such as nicotine, or nicotine addiction.
To search for free Web sites, using a search engine such as Google that searches over 3 billion Web sites, use very specific ideas: nicotine addiction in women, for example.
2) Find background information:
Use:
1. reference books first for an overview; then
2. circulating books for an in-depth view.
ACC Library’s 5,000 reference books, on the main floor, offer a “big picture” summary of your subject.
Examples:
Encyclopedia of Food and Culture
Encyclopedia of the Human Brain
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
Latin American Writers
Then, use circulating books: In-depth information is found in the 55,000 circulating books on the upper floor of the library.
To find and borrow books: Go to ACC Library’s Web page > Finding Books > Catalog.
Type in broad search terms.
Copy down the Library of Congress call number.
Borrow books for four weeks with your student ID card at the Circulation Desk.
3) Find current and specific information: For up-to-date information, use:
Magazine and newspaper articles.
Web sites, if they’re credible!
Let’s go through tips for finding each.
To find magazine articles, use an article database.
Go to the ACC Library’s Web page, click on Finding Articles then General Databases or Subject Databases.
Examples of databases are:
Expanded Academic ASAP (General Databases)
Opposing Viewpoints (General Databases)
Health Reference Center (Subject Databases)
Hoover’s Business database (Subject Databases)
Ask a librarian for suggestions on where to start.
How do you find an article? Database searches give you article citations. Articles are found in one of three ways:
1) It could be full-text in the article database.
2) The ACC Library subscribes to
over 300 magazines and newspapers. Click on Periodicals at ACC.
3) The Library may request articles from another library, through interlibrary loan. This service is free to you.
You can search from home! Just start at ACC Library’s Web page. (http://www.sunyacc.edu)
For article databases:
Log in using screen directions. (Go to Student Portal and click on Look up Account and Password if needed.)
The ACC Library pays to subscribe to the databases.
They are free to you as ACC students!
3) Find current, specific information: To quickly find quality Web sites:
Ask your instructor and a reference librarian for suggestions.
Check ACC Library’s online research guides.
How can you tell which Web sites are believable ? Click here for pointers on evaluating Web sites.
Click here for links to a tutorial and a research guide on How to Search the Web.
4) Put it all together! The Center for Reading and Writing in Dearlove Hall will help you organize your paper and cite sources.
Contact them at 832-7603 or writingcenter@sunyacc.edu.
Three electronic searching tips: Knowing these will save you time and effort:
1) Subject headings
2) Boolean logic
3) Truncation
Use these strategies when looking for books and articles.
Find the right words. There are two types of search terms:
Keywords:
Words you guess might work
The software searches anywhere in database record.
Subject headings:
Words you know will work: database assigns the terms
The software only searches “Subject“ part of database record.
What’s the difference? Book or article software looks for keywords anywhere in the database. It’s a “looser” way to search.
Subject headings are more formal terms assigned by the database. The software looks only in the “Subject“ section of the database.
Here’s an example from our book catalog:
Title : Opportunities in architecture careers / Robert J. Piper, Richard D. Rush
Subject : Architecture--Vocational guidance--United States.
Contents: 1. Creating the human environment -- 2. Architecture : past and present -- 3. The professional architect -- 4. The construction industry -- 5. The architect's practice -- 6. Education for architecture -- 7. The environmental design professions -- 8. Architectural resources.
Adirondack Community College Circulating: NA 1995 .P5 2001
How to find subject headings:
1) Try keywords you think will work
2) Find most useful citations in results
3) Click on their subject headings
4) Your new results will be much better!
2) Boolean logic: Named after English mathematician George Boole (1815-1864).
The most common Boolean search uses “and” to search information containing two or more words at the same time.
Named after English mathematician George Boole (1815-1864).
The most common Boolean search uses “and” to search information containing two or more words at the same time.
addict* retrieves... addict addiction
addicted, etc.
You may combine both Boolean logic and truncation: A few book or article search examples:
smok* and addict*
smok* and addict* and women
statistic* and health
tobacco and statistic*
Review of the Research Steps:
1) Choose and develop your topic
- Brainstorm several search terms
2) Find background information
- Use reference & circulating books
3) Find current and specific information
- Use articles and credible Web sites
4) Put it all together!
- Visit the Center for Reading and Writing
Three electronic searching tips:
1) Subject headings: more accurate than keywords.
2) Boolean logic: “and” overlaps terms.
3) Truncation: asterisk (*) replaces word endings
Try it out! Visit the ACC Library Web site. Ask a librarian for ideas at any point in your research!
The photo shows Reference Librarian Joyce Miller.
This tutorial is designed for use by Adirondack Community College Students. It was created by instruction librarian Joyce Miller in May, 2004, and updated August 2007.