Understand the Topic

You have just been assigned by your instructor to publish a paper on an interest. Relax, this is not going to be as bad as this indicates. You merely need to get started. Below are a few suggestions to help make the process as painless as you are able to. Remember, for those who have any relevant questions ASK.

What’s the Instructor asking for

Is the assignment a formal research paper for which you have to do research and cite other sources of data, or is the assignment asking you for the a reaction to a specific topic where whatever you will need to do is collect your thoughts and organize them coherently. If you do have to research your topic, be sure you know very well what style manual your instructor prefers (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc).

Be sure you keep an eye on any restrictions that the instructor places for you. If for example the instructor wants a 4 page paper, they don’t be happy with a 2 page paper, or a 10 page paper. Remember that the instructor knows roughly the length of time it will take to pay for this issue. If for example the paper is simply too short, you probably are not taking a look at enough materials. You need to narrow your topic if you paper is too long. Also, several times the instructor may restrict you to certain kinds of resources (books written after 1946, scholarly journals, no internet sites). That you don’t want to automatically lessen your grade by not after the rules. Recall the key rule, when you have any questions ask your instructor!

You shall also need to know which audience you are writing for. Are you writing to a gathering that knows nothing regarding your topic? If that’s the case it is important to write this kind of a real way that you paper is practical, and certainly will be understood by these folks. In the event your paper is targeted at peers who possess a similar background of information you won’t have to include that style of information. Should your paper is actually for specialists in the field, you won’t need to include background information.

If you should be lucky, you were given a narrow topic by your instructor. You may not be interested in your topic, you could be reasonably sure that this issue is not too broad. Nearly all of you are not going to be that lucky. Your instructor gave you a broad topic, or no topic after all and you are likely to need certainly to pick the specific topic for the paper.

There are a few rules that are general you need to use to greatly help choose and narrow a topic. Does a topic that is particular you? If you are excited by a particular field, choose a subject from that field. While doing research you will find out about the field, and learn which journals are written for the topic. Are you answering a question that is relevant? You and your instructor will be bored if you may be writing a paper from the hazards of drunken driving. However, it may be more interesting to publish by what causes individuals to drink and drive. The more interesting your topic the more you shall enjoy and study from writing your paper. You might also want to focus on a specific point of view about the topic, such as for instance what teenagers think what causes drunken driving are.

Now it is time to start doing research that you have a topic. Don’t jump to the card catalog plus the indexes yet. The research that is first you should do is some general research in your topic. Discover what some of the terms used in the field are. You will also discover that this research can further help you define you topic.

One supply of general research is a general encyclopedia. Depending on the encyclopedia, during the final end of every entry there may be a bibliography of suggested works. Good encyclopedias to consult are Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, and World Book.

You will want to check to see in case your topic is in a field which have an interest Encyclopedia, a handbook that is subject or a Subject Dictionary. These guides contain information about a wide variety of topics inside a specific field. Usually the information in more detailed that what exactly is found in a encyclopedia that is general. Also the bibliographies are far more extensive.

Now that we have some background information on our topic; we have to find details about our specific topic. Before searching, think about what type of information you are looking for. If you would like find statistical information, you need to look in certain kinds of sources. If you are interested in news accounts of a meeting, you will need to look in other kinds of sources. Remember, when you yourself have a question about what variety of source to use, ask a librarian.

Have you asked your instructor for suggestions about where to look? Why don’t you? This person has experience in the field, and they have been doing research on it longer than you’ve got. They can recommend authors who write on your own topic, as well as can recommend a short a number of journals that may contain information on your topic.

Books are one kind of resource which you can use for the research. The CamelCat to find a book on your topic, you will need to use the online catalog. Taking the set of keywords that you created while doing research that is general do keyword searches within the catalog. Go through the titles that are being returned, do any look promising? If none do, revise your research using other keywords. If an individual does, go through the full record for that book. Check out the headings that are subject it is cataloged by. If one of those headings looks pertinent to your quest, do a subject search using that heading that is particular.

When you have got the written books that you want to make use of start evaluating whether the book will likely be useful. Will essay helper it be published by an author who is familiar with that particular topic? May be the author qualified to create concerning the topic? What biases does the author have in regards to the topic? May be the book current enough to contain useful information?

When you have answered these questions, make use of the books that you deem useful for your quest. Remember while taking notes to obtain the information you’ll want to do a citation that is proper. Also, look closely at any bibliographies which can be included in the book. These can help you locate other books and articles which may be helpful for your research.

The Campbell University Libraries donate to a variety that is wide of and Journals when it comes to usage of students and faculty. Increasingly these materials are supplied as Electronic Databases. These databases contain citations of articles and perhaps the full text of articles on a variety of topics. For you, ask a librarian and they will be happy to assist you if you don’t know which database will be useful. You can even make use of the Find Articles link to search databases that are multiple one time for all about your topic.

When you have selected a database to use, use the keywords which you developed from your research that is general to articles that’ll be useful for you. When you have found one, see which terms the database used to catalog this article and make use of those terms to get more articles. Don’t forget to set limits in the database so that only scholarly articles are returned in case your instructor has made that a requirement for your paper.

Consider the journal articles that you have selected, and examine the bibliographies. Any kind of authors which can be mentioned in more than one article? Any kind of articles which can be mentioned more often than once? You really need to find those authors and articles you need to include them in your research.

There are more useful sources that you need to use in your research. In case your report is often on a continuing business topic or if you need company information for your research there are numerous companies that offer company reports. The contents of those reports differ, depending on which service you are using. Generally speaking there are company officers, financial statements, lists of competitors, and stock price.