Polk LibraryWRT288- Jahns
3 Steps to Begin Successful Research
1. Learn about a possible topic:, the 5 W's: Who, what, when, where, why. You should be able to talk
for a minute, without repeating yourself, on your possible topic. Try using background resources.
2. Find an interesting question--not too easy, not too fuzzy, not too many parts, not too impossible.
Should require analysis and thought.
3. List 2-3 main sub questions you'll have to research to answer your main question
Background Resources
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
The premier online resource covering all sides of contemporary social issues.
CQ Researcher--Try the 'Browse tab' then select Climate, environment issues.
CQ Researcher explores important issues ranging from social and teen issues to environment, health,
education and science and technology.
You can search the catalog and limit your items to reference entries. On the left, select 'Refine My Entries',
then select 'more options', then select 'Reference Entries.'
Use it for: Initial topic exploration with quick, easy summaries to get started. Then be ready to
pull out keywords to use in the library catalog. (key reminders for AI tools)
What It Does
Searches and summarizes content with citations. Offers related questions.
How to Use It:
Sample Prompt – Copy and replace bolded words with your general topic)
I’m a first or second year college student writing a research paper for a writing and research class.
Suggest several engaging and specific research topics related to [course subject or general theme,
such as technology and society, sustainability, or popular culture] that would work well for a college writing assignment. For each topic, include a short explanation of why it could make a strong and
researchable paper idea. Include key provocative and contentious questions for each topic I might
investigate and mention what kinds of evidence or sources could support each one. Each question
should require analytical analysis and for the researcher to ultimately take a position on a contentious
and timely topic. People need to be actively debating this topic in the news or in scholarly communities
and emotions could be running very high.
Disciplinary Research Databases
Environment andsustainability
Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide
Education
Education Research Complete provides indexing and abstracts for more than 2,100 journals, as well
as full text for more than 1,200 journals, books, and monographs.
ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, provides access to more than 1.3 million records
related to education literature and resources.
Multiple subjects
Academic Search Complete contains full text, indexing and abstracts, monographs and reports from
more than 13,000 publications.
Humanities International Complete
Provides full text to hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world
including full text for more than 1,200 journals.
Society, communities, sociology
Contains over 2 million records from 1,200 core journals including full text from 700 journals.
Medical & nursing
Medline with Full Text offers indexing for over 4,800 biomedical journals, with full text for over
1,500 journals.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text is a robust collection of full text for nursing & allied health journals,
providing full text for more than 770 journals.
Business & economic
Business Source Premier provides full text for more than 2,300 journals, including full text for
more than 1,100 peer-reviewed titles.
Hoover's Online is an Internet-based suite of information resources that enables in-depth company
and industry research.
ABI/INFORM Complete includes full text journals and newspapers from the business press as well
as key trade publications, dissertations, conference proceedings, and market reports.
Political, law, legislation
Provides indexing and abstracting for 800 journals, with full-text coverage for 350 of those journals.
Public Administration Abstracts
Provides 60,000 bibliographic records going back to 1974, covering the most important journals
within the public administration discipline.
Ask Your friendly librarian for help:
