ENGL 105, Academic Writing (Ron Sweeney)

Review Assignment Instructions

How many sources will you need? What types of sources will you need? Not sure about what types of sources exist - check out our Evaluating Sources Library Guide (link below). If you have any questions make sure to contact the library for help. Questions about the assignment - check with your prof. 

Choose a Topic

Based on assignment guidelines, how can you narrow or focus the topic into something you can research? It's ok if you do not have a clear picture of this yet - try some searching with your overarching theme and narrow based on what you see.  If you have any questions make sure to contact the library for help. 

e.g. Overarching theme = Analyzing Culture & Community

        Narrower theme = Mental health of type 1 diabetics 

Develop Keywords

Take your research question or topic sentence and pull out the keywords. These are the terms you will use to search the library databases. Keywords can be titles, authors, or themes (make sure to think of synonyms as well). If you have any questions make sure to contact the library for help. 

e.g. RQ = How are type 1 diabetics adults managing their mental health while living with a lifelong disease?

       Keywords & Synonyms = type 1 diabetes, diabetes mellitus, mental health, mental health support

Develop a Search Strategy

Looking for academic articles or books - use the UFV Library Find It Search.

Looking for government, company, non-profit websites - try a Google search.

Make sure to go to the best source for that type of information. Use the features of the search interface to work for you. When the search results appear, take your time reading the titles, subjects and abstracts to determine relevant sources. If you are not finding helpful results, try switching up your search terms. If you have any questions make sure to contact the library for help. 

Search, Read, Tweak, Repeat

We recommend searching and saving PDFs and/or citation information for sources you are interested in when possible. Having this information for the reading and writing stages will save you time. Don't worry if you try a search and it doesn't work, try switching your search terms or even your topic. You can also try a different database/source.  If you have any questions make sure to contact the library for help.