Searching for Sources

Organize your notes. We use our computer as a filing cabinet.  Set up a folder for your research project, and within that folder, create sub-folders corrresponding to any sub-points or components of your topic.  For example, if your general topic is immigration, you might have sub-folders on topics such as the following: legal immigration, illegal immigration, human rights abuses, and similar subdivisions of the issue.

Take notes in your own words, unless you think you might want to quote directly from your source. Paraphrase or summarize information whenever possible. If you quote, select only passages that are distinctively expressed. Here is a paper on affirmative action that used these sources.

Try this excellent exercise on paraphrasing and quoting that was developed by the University of Wisconsin Writing Center:

Paraphrasing and Quoting Exercise

Use Bookmarks to Annotate Web Sites.

Searching for Information

You need to understand key differences between the library catalog, the Web, and online databases before you conduct your search for information:

• The World Wide Web is  not organized systematically, though individual websites often have a carefully structured organization.  Learning how to search for information using different search engines (programs that locate sources in response to key word combinations) is critical to your success as a researcher. Below are some searching strategies.
  

Learn as much as you can about the organization and search strategies of the tools available to you.  Often, students think there is nothing available on their topic, and write papers with minimal documentation.  With a little patience and much persistence, you will be able to find what you need. 

Search Strategies

There are some common search strategies, however, that will help you locate information in library, online database, or Web.

• Identify the best collection of resources, search tool, and method of searching for your purpose.  For example, if you are searching a library catalog that allows you to do key word searching, using that option will often return more "hits" than will simple subject searching.  If you are searching the Web for information on a current topic, use a search engine such as Infoseek that allows you to perform your search only on news sources.
  
  
• Develop a list of key words to use in your searching and add to this list as you attain good results.
  


1. To help identify the key words, begin by posing a key question about your topic.
   

       e.g., What effects does affirmative action have on minorities?

2. Next, list synonyms for each of your terms.

Affirmative Action	Minorities
equal opportunity	African American (or Black)
special admission	Hispanic (or Latino or Chicano)

3. Use "Boolean Operators" (and, but, and or) to help you limit or expand your search.  (Some search engines have their own systems for accomplishing these goals.  Consult advanced searching tips for each search tool.)




Using Boolean Operators	Result
equal opportunity  and special admission	Search results will include only those sites that use both the term "equal opportunity" and the term "special admission."
Hispanic or Latino or Chicano	Search results will include sites that use at least one of these terms.
Hispanic or Latino or Chicano and Affirmative Action	Search results will include sites that include one of the ethnic tags and the words "affirmative action." NOTE: In some search engines you need to put compound words in quotation marks to indicate that they are to be considered as a unit.

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