What do you do if you can't cite Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is a background source, which includes lots of helpful information. But you can't cite it for lots of reasons (anyone can edit Wikipedia entries and, even worse, we don't know who they are). So what do you do? Wikipedia is a source of background information, which comes from places like dictionaries and subject encyclopedias. Background sources provide contextual information and answer straightforward questions. They include definitions, statistics, and other details. You can use this type of source to:
- Help narrow your research topic
- Find data to support your thesis
- Identify keywords and main ideas to use as search terms.
Most importantly, the library has much better sources of background information, which you find on this page!
- Credo ReferenceOnline reference resources from numerous publishers. This reference resource can be searched by individual title, broad subject headings, cross-references, audio and images. Use its research mapper to search for terms and topics that are interconnected and displayed in (a) visual form. Examples of titles are: Bloomsbury Guide to Art, Bridgeman Art Library Archive, Columbia Encyclopedia, Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, Harvard Dictionary of Music, and the Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. The complete list of titles is available on the CREDO Reference site.
- CQ ResearcherThis resources provides solid introductions to a wide range of topics related to current issues in the U.S. Browse Recent Reports or By Topic to paper topic ideas. Reports written by CQ staff writers.
- Congressional DigestProvides reliable, nonpartisan research materials on contemporary and controversial issues.
- Oxford ReferenceProvides web access to more than 100 major Oxford University Press dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works in the humanities, social sciences, foreign languages, science, technology and medicine, the performing arts, and religion. Works can be searched separately or across the entire databases. Includes over 1.5 million entries.
Developing Ideas and Keywords
One of the hardest tasks when starting research in a new area is identifying what the major issues and concepts that can provide you with an important frame of reference. Before you start looking for in-depth information we suggest that you do the following:
- Think about what you already know about the issue
- Think about what you want to know more about
- Learn more about what issues are being discussed related to your area of inquiry
Once you have identified important concepts translate them into keywords or short phrases so that you can start to search. As you conduct your research you will be able to identify additional and more specific search terms.
As you start searching select one term or phrase from Column A and one term or phrase from Column B. Run additional searches with alternate terms from each column.
Sample Question: I want to learn more about the environmental impacts associated with global warming.
| Concept A Environmental Impacts |
Concept B Global Warming |
Concept C (Use as Needed) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Search Terms & Phrases and Alternates | environmental impact environmental effects environmental factors |
global warming climate change greenhouse effect |
|
| More Specific Terms & Phrases Related to Each Concept | agriculture farming drought |
United States New England China |
Additional Search Tips
Phrase Search: Use "quotation marks" to search for a particular phrase. Example: "greenhouse gas emissions"
Truncation: Use an asterisk to find variations of a word. Put an asterisk following the root of the word to find all variations of that word, including singular and plural. Example: environment* (finds environments, environmental, environmentalist, etc.)
Grouping or Nesting Keywords: Use parentheses ( ) as a way to group your search terms together. Example: (climate change OR global warming) AND population growth
Developing a Research Question
What makes a research question "researchable"? (Courtesy of Northern Kentucky University Steely Library)
Mapping Your Research Ideas
Keyword Search Rules
Using AND/OR/NOT (Boolean Search Operators)
| AND |  |
Use AND to focus search and combine different aspects of your topic. Example: global warming AND environment |
|---|---|---|
| OR |  |
Use OR to expand your search and find synonyms or related terms. Example: global warming OR greenhouse effect |
| NOT |  |
Use NOT to exclude a word or phrase from your search. Example: global warming NOT China |