Getting Started Finding Research

• • Take advantage of the library’s research guides. They’re organized by topic and include links to databases and academic journals CCA has access to, as well as helpful open access databases.
  • PRO TIP: Log in to your CCA Library account. You will have access to databases that you will not have access to in a simple Google search. Not all databases are created equal. Make sure you are using a database that is appropriate for your subject.
    • https://libguides.cca.edu/
      
      
  • Consider what kind of sources are most appropriate for your research. This could range from scholarly articles to books, textbooks, newspaper articles, legal documents, press releases, websites, and all kinds of multimedia.
  • PRO TIP: Make sure you are looking in the right place for the right thing. A Google search will show popular source first over scholarly source. Google Scholar will show scholarly or academic source BUT you will most likely not have access. Log in to the CCA Library to get access to scholarly or academic PDFs of many articles.
    • Scholarly vs. popular sources, primary vs. secondary sources: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/conducting_research/evaluating_sources_of_information/where_to_begin.html
      
      
  • Experiment with your search terms. Ever put in a subject and very little comes up? 9 times out of 10 when this happens, it's not that nothing has been written on it, but most likely, you have put in search terms that aren't good search terms. A couple key rules to improve your results:
    • Make sure you are using good keywords. What does that mean? You want words that represent your subject, but that aren't too specific or too broad. Keywords are also used to index articles. Think of keywords like Instagram hashtags. If you have good keywords your searches will be more accurate. Good examples of keywords include author or artist's names, names of movements, general field names, time periods, places, or names of methodologies.
      
      
    • Never use full sentences. Why? Most databases use what is known as a Boolean search. This means it takes A + B and will search for everything that contains A + B. If you include common words like "the," "and" "in" "about" "during" "with" these common words will be included in your search and will skew your results.
      
      
    • Numbers matter. 30,000 hits or more probably mean your search is too general. 45 hits probably means your search terms are too narrow or specific. Anywhere between a few hundred to a thousand or so, is a good general starting point.
      
      
  • Keep publication dates in mind. If you’re writing about 17th century Japanese art some of your sources might be older. But scholarship (even around history) is constantly changing, so it’s a good idea to be aware of when your source was published, what people in the field are saying about it, and whether anything more current in the field has been published more recently.
    
    
  • Check out footnotes and bibliographies. We all start with general resources when we’re unfamiliar with a topic, but the sources cited (even on Wikipedia!) can lead you to more specific, often academic publications.
    • Questions to ask: Has the cited author published any other works relevant to your research? Who or what do they cite? (This is a great way to help figure out important voices that are happening in a field.)
      
      
  • Archives can be a good source of information and often include unpublished materials. Make sure to read the policy regarding requesting materials on the archive’s website and prepare appropriately in advance of visiting.
    
    
  • Talk to an instructional services librarian. They can direct you to specific resources that are appropriate for your topic.
    • Teri Dowling: tdowling@cca.edu
    • Daniel Ransom: dransom@cca.edu
    • Annemarie Haar: ahaar@cca.edu
    • Eric Phetteplace: ephetteplace@cca.edu
      
      
  • Talk to your advisor, faculty, other students, or an LRC coach! Even those not in your field! It’s a great way to get out of the echo chamber of your own mind, and folks studying different things can often offer perspectives and angles on your topic you may not have thought of.
    • https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/conducting_research/research_overview/index.html