Research Process - Scroll down entire page for complete information

1. Choose a topic by framing a question you really would like to answer, a problem you would like to explore, an area of research you would like to survey.  Sometimes a topic that reading assignments provoked is the best way to go in a particular class.

2. Reading overviews in standard reference works can give you a perspective on the scholarly lay of the land and help in choosing a topic. Similarly, skimming the titles in anthologies ( collections of critical essays or previously published journal articles in a "reader") and seeing what pops up in a key word search in the on-line library catalog and/or an appropriate article database can give you a sense of the kind of scholarly work being done in an area.  Look for articles that review a field or sub-discipline.

3. Narrow the topic so that it can be covered in a piece of the length assigned. For  a three to five page paper, for example, a topic such as "Locke’s conception of property as a natural right and how is it similar to and different from all other conceptions of natural rights" is too broad. A better topic might be: "What does the example of gathering acorns contribute to Locke’s concept of property in Chapter Of the Second Treatise?"

There are tons of materials out there. How do you increase your chances of finding useful and reliable sources?

1. Use bibliographies in your textbooks or at the end of the assigned critical edition of a work and/or at the end of its introduction.  Since your prof chose your textbook or the edition of the primary source you are reading, he or she must have at least some degree of confidence in its author or editor. Some books have bibliographies at the end of each chapter. Some have a volume bibliography at the end of the book. At least some judgment had to be made about what would be included or excluded. Sometimes authors even comment on what are standard works, what works are suitable for undergraduates, etc. You can also check out footnotes/endnotes in any articles that were assigned for your class.

2. Read overview articles in standard reference works and check out their authors and bibliographies. Most disciplines have some standard reference works and the UI library will usually own these. The articles in these works are usually signed at the beginning or end of an article; sometimes initials are used. There is often a table of contributors where you can look up information about the article’s author such as professional position, geographical location, other publications, etc. This will give you at least some sense of their expertise or possible biases. If you read several standard reference articles on a topic, you can compare and contrast each author’s perspective. You can also find out what books and articles are standard and important to scholarly discussion as they will be mentioned or included in the bibliographies of more than one source. Unique items can also be of use especially if they focus specifically on your chosen topic, but if you are short on time and do not know the field well finding sources that are frequently cited pays off.   The UI Library subscribes to   Oxford Reference Online which contains a number of useful reference works.  You can access it through "Find Articles" on the main library page.  Then click "O'".  For Philosophy, a good beginning place is often the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy or the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy which UI owns in hardback and on cd-rom.  The UI now also owns Blackwell Reference Online for Philosophy and Religious Studies as well. Go to Find Articles on the main library page.  Then click "B".  [or go to http://db.lib.uidaho.edu/databases/display.php3?letter=B&disptype=A ] Other philosophy reference works the UI owns with call numbers are listed on my Selection of Philosophy Reference Materials in University of Idaho Library  Some of these have been moved up to the stacks on the fourth floor.  Some are in the reference section on the first floor.

3.  For Books - Search the UI Library Catalog World Cat version or older versions online or the Library of Congress Catalog online at http://catalog.loc.gov/  You can also search World Cat at  http://www.worldcat.org/     World Cat is very useful because it often has a lot of information about a book, DVD, etc. including Table of Contents.  If you click on the Cite This Item feature, it will also format the item in APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, and Harvard styles.

4. To evaluate books a helpful thing to do is to read several book reviews of the book in reputable scholarly journals. That way you can get several perspectives on the book. You can locate scholarly book reviews through many of the databases mentioned in No. 7. 

Good discussions of evaluating various types of sources can be found at http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/evaluate.html  

5.  A somewhat unconventional avenue of help in looking for appropriate books is to search http://www.amazon.com and http://www.barnesandnoble.com  Both of these on-line bookstores often contain a link to the table of contents and review comments. Amazon also sometimes allows you to look at excerpts from the book and search it through its look inside the book feature.  You can search by author, title, keywords.  This method will help to determine if the book is something you will find useful.  It also will find  books the library does not own.  You can then request the book through Interlibrary Loan.

6.  Google's Book Search  at http://books.google.com/  allows you to search many books (although not all presses contribute).  You will not be able to print out the pages of the books that you can look at on-screen.  However, it can give you a good idea if a book covers what you are looking for.  You can then get the book from the library or request it through Interlibrary Loan.

7.    A. Use a database to find articles or book reviews.  Important databases for humanities and social sciences available through the UI library include Academic Premier, JSTOR, Project Muse,  and the Religion and Philosophy Collection. Some articles are available in full-text form directly through one of the databases.  You can locate the databases at http://db.lib.uidaho.edu/databases/  For philosophy papers, of course, the Religion and Philosophy Collection  and the Philosopher's Index are good starting points.

        B. Use print indices or bibliographies.   

When you have a list of articles that you have located through a database or print index, consider the journals in which they are published. Each discipline has major journals that are peer-reviewed and likely to have quality articles. Some of these journals cover the field in general and some cover a specific area in the field. Major journals are usually published by a key professional association such as the American Historical Association or a very reputable scholarly publisher such as the University of Chicago Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, Cambridge University Press, MIT Press, Johns Hopkins, etc. Helpful information on "Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals" can be found at http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill20.html

Interlibrary Loan - Our library has a tremendous interlibrary loan department. You can request books or articles on-line via a link on the library’s website. This usually requires some lead time.

Philosophy available at the University of Idaho at http://www.class.uidaho.edu/jcanders/Philosophy%20Boot%20Camp/philrefUI.htm

History at http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/history.html#guides

Reference Works in African-American Literature at

http://www.princeton.edu/~aasres/refworkslit.html and Selected Reference Works on African American Literature in the UI Library  

Political Science http://www.library.umass.edu/subject/polsci/

English - Modern Language Association Bibliography - UI Library Reference Collection (non-circulating) Call Number: Index PB12.M6 and on-line through the library's Find Articles source database

General- The Encyclopedia Britannica is a reference work that often provides good scholarly articles on a variety of topics.

Cornell University - The Seven Steps of the Research Process - http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill1.htm

Evaluating Sources at 

Evaluate What You Find - from Cornell Library

Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from other periodicals - http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill20.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDGJ2CYfY9A - you tube video from Cornell

 

University of Idaho Library and Web Research Strategies for Success - http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/classes/guides.html

 

Evaluating Web Pages http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html