1. Develop your Research Topic:
- Discuss your Research Topic with your Instructor to get ideas.
- To help you pick a topic you can try some of the following resources:
- Controversial Issues Research Guides - Librarian created research guides on dozens of topics which will help you find books, articles and more.
- Issues & Controversies - Explores more than 800 hot topics in business, politics, government, education, and popular culture. Looking at the clusters of related topics.
- Opposing Viewpoints in Content - Resource to investigate hot topics and social issues. Contains pro/con viewpoints, background information, statistics, primary sources, news articles, and podcasts.
- Gale ebook - A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and reference sources specialized for researching social issues.
2. Select Keywords from your Research Topic:
- Use Keywords for searching for Books/eBooks and the Article Databases.
- How many sources do you need, and do they have to be Scholarly or Popular Sources?
3. Search the Library's Resources:
- Search for Books & eBooks
- Books & eBooks provide background research
- To search for books, go to the Library Home page and click on the Library Catalog tab to find books available in the Cerritos College Library.
- Background research gives you an overview and helps you to understand the main topic points.
- Encyclopedias are a good starting point for background information. The library has many specialized encyclopedias both in print and in electronic form.
- To search for in print encyclopedia articles, search the Library Catalog and add the word "encyclopedia" to your search topic.
- To search for electronic encyclopedia articles, go to the Research Database tab on the library home page and select Subject - Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Handbooks.
- Keep track of your sources and citations as you find them.
- Search the Databases to find Articles:
- To access the databases, click on the Research Database tab on the library home page.
- There will be a list of databases organized by Subjects, or if you know which particular database you are searching for, there is an alphabetical A-Z list of all Cerritos College Library databases.
- To access the databases from off campus you will be prompted to enter your Cerritos College user id and password.
- Add Keywords to focus your search so that your topic is not too broad or too narrow.
- Getting too many results? Try narrowing your search by publication date range, so you get the most current results.
- Limit your search to Peer Review if you are looking for scholarly journals.
- Keep track of your sources and citations as you find them.
4. Evaluate your Sources:
- Ask yourself, do the sources fit and support your Research Topic?
- Are they scholarly or popular sources that fit the assignment requirements?
5. Create your Works Cited or Reference page:
- A Work Cited or Reference page list your sources and citations.
- It shows where you got the information to support your Research Topic and gives credit to that person or organization
- It also shows that you did not plagiarize or copy someone else's work.
Need help? Ask a Librarian, we are always here to help you with your research assignments.
