This guide is intended to help you with the research process.
Step 1. Choose a Topic
Step 2: Understand Different Types of Sources
Step 3: Locate and Evaluate Your Sources
Step 4: Organize Your Information
Step 5: Cite Your Sources
Choosing a topic is the first step in the research process. Be aware that selecting a good topic may not be easy. It must be narrow and focused enough to be interesting, yet broad enough to find adequate information. Sometimes you may be assigned a particular topic, but whenever possible, you should select a topic that interests you. You will be spending a good deal of time researching, reading, and writing about this topic!
When deciding on a topic, there are a few things you will need to do:
Step 1: Brainstorm for Ideas
Brainstorming is a technique that you can use to help generate ideas. Use the following questions to help generate topic ideas, even if the topic is dictated by an instructor:
The next step is to start identifying keywords related to your potential topic ideas. Try to break down your topic or research question into 2 to 4 overall main ideas; these main ideas become simple keywords which “point the way” to research in that area. It may be helpful to eep a keyword list when you are researching a topic.
Helpful Hints:
Archives are typically a collection of historical records or the physical place in which they are located. They are usually PRIMARY source documents that have been gathered together - sometimes to show the function of a particular person or organization. Some archives are private institutions and may not have the funding to completely digitize all of their resources, so they require you to go in person to search. Some examples include:
Databases are subscriptions that provide access to a variety of scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals as well as trade magazines and newspapers. Typically they are SECONDARY sources, but can sometimes be primary sources (i.e., newspaper articles). Many databases are considered "gated," meaning they require a password or authentication to access. Below are a list of databases you may want to use for middle school research that are available through these links anywhere in the state of NY (so you can view them at home, too). Additional databases can be accessed through the Brooklyn Public Library your Brooklyn Public Library card. Some examples include:
Encyclopedias are reference materials that are a TERTIARY source; that means they are created from both primary and secondary sources. They are extremely useful in order to get background information and keyword to use in your next search. Be aware of "online encyclopedias" that include a lot of advertisements or do not have a date or author listed. Encyclopedia articles will likely NOT be part of your annotated bibliography for National History Day - they are just a starting point for the research process. Some examples include:
When doing research you will come across a lot of information from different types of sources. How do you decide which source to use? From tweets to newspaper articles, this tool provides a brief description of each and breaks down 6 factors of what to consider when selecting a source. This website outlines all the different types of sources!
Periodicals are print sources that are published weekly, monthly or quarterly, such as magazines, newspapers and journals. Instructors may require a variety of sources or limit sources to scholarly journals.
Scholarly Journals — contain articles written by professionals in the field. The articles may be original research or an extension of previous research, illustrated with graphs, tables and have a list of references at the end. Articles submitted to a scholarly journal are peer-reviewed or juried, meaning other experts read and suggest revisions to the author before the final version is accepted for publication.
Popular magazines — are not in-depth enough to be scholarly. The magazine may have an area of interest. Parenting is devoted to raising children and Time is a news magazine, but the articles are intended as overviews for general readers. Authors may or may not be named, there may be illustrations or charts, but there won't be a bibliography at the end.
A critical step in the research process is evaluating the information you found. It is important to select information that comes from a reputable source. Below are questions to ask yourself when evaluating books, magazines and websites.
Because the web is self-published, it requires the most critical analysis before use in a research paper.
Beyond the basic criteria mentioned for all resources look for additional proof of value in websites. Some hoax sites look very credible until viewed with a critical eye. Look for:
The following databases can be accessed anywhere in New York through our partnership with Novel New York. Make sure you "authenticate" with your location to access these sites. Please use the direct links below. They should not ask for a password.
The following databases can be accessed through our partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library. To get a BPL card, see Ms. Green for an application.
Citations and Copyright
Dictionaries and Thesauruses
General Information
The Humanities (English and Social Studies)
Math and Science
Current Events
Media and Information Literacy
Organizing your scholarly articles and other research material may be as simple as saving those document files to your computer or Google Drive folder and placing them into clearly organized folders. Others may prefer to print out hard copies of your articles and file them in physical file folders. Some folks like organizing using a traditional notecard style.
The library provides additional approaches to organizing your research materials, as described in this guide. Regardless of which method you choose, organizing your research is a crucial step in the overall research process. By organizing your research material you will be able to: easily retrieve your sources now and in the future; group similar sources together; and possibly identify potential patterns or links within your research topic.
There are many citation management programs available for free on the web. These programs allow users to collect, organize, and retrieve citation information from books, articles, and websites. Some of these tools can create a Works Cited page for you and will export your information to Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
The tutorial videos below show you how to use NoodleTools, a citation management software. NoodleTools will help you organize your research as well as create a correctly formatted Works Cited page to include with your project. This software is FREE and can be utilized for the rest of your high school, and even into your post-secondary (college or university) courses!
CREATING A NOODLE TOOLS ACCOUNT: This tutorial shows you how to create a NoodleTools MLA Lite account. ***You may want to start here at https://my.noodletools.com/logon/signin ***
MANUAL CITATIONS: This tutorial shows you how to create a manual citation on NoodleTools from a website.
IMPORTING "AUTOMATIC" CITATIONS: This tutorial shows you how to import a citation from a database or copy and paste a citation that has already been created. If you want a list of databases, they can be found under the Resources tab at the end of the page.
CREATING YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE: This tutorial shows you how to export your Works Cited page from NoodleTools when you are ready to turn in your project.
We want to cite our sources to:
For our purposes, we will be using MLA format to cite our sources. Look at the templates below for examples. You can use the following guidelines from Purdue OWL or use your Noodle Tools account to create your citations. If you use the citation creator in Gale, Britannica or Library of Congress, be sure to DOUBLE CHECK it for correctness.
An image from an archive: *Note: if there is no author listed, start with the title/description in quotations.
Author (last name, first name). "Title/description of material." Date (day month year). Call number, identifier or box/folder/item number (if applicable). Collection name. Name of repository, location, URL. Date accessed.
Example:
Parks, Gordon. "Mr. James A. Colston, youthful president of Bethune-Cookman College, talking with his father about the administration problems, Winter Park, Fla." Feb. 1943. Farm Security Administration Collection. Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/91783777/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
An encyclopedia article:
"Title of Article." Title of Encyclopedia, Day Month Year. URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
Example:
"Bill of Rights." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 3 Jun. 2016. academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/Bill-of-Rights/63682. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
A scholarly journal:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
Example:
Wheelis, Mark. “Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.
*** For more information, or for specific citation information, refer to the PURDUE OWL MLA 8 Guide. ***
The MLA Handbook identifies 9 core elements placed in a specific order to help you create a citation. Note that some of your sources may not contain every core element.