Welcome to the library course guide for English 105 with Alois Sieben. This guide has been specifically designed to support you in your research endeavours to complete your assignment. Follow along to learn my recommended research steps where we will review types of sources, searching for keywords, and using library databases. Feel free to reach out to the library if you have any questions - we are here to help you!
Before we dive into research, here is a quick overview of library services that you may want to utilize during your time as a student at UFV with relevant links below:
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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. |
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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 = Local place of interest Narrower theme = A park, bridge, building, landmark, or neighborhood, etc. |
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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 = What is the history around the creation and installation of the Piper Richardson monument at the Chilliwack Museum & Archives? Keywords & Synonyms = Piper Richardson, James Cleland Richardson, Chilliwack, Chilliwack Museum, |
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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. |
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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. |
If you need more help or have questions, make sure to contact us via email, phone, in-person at the desk, online via chat, or book an appointment (see links in the left side menu).
