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The Research Process

This guide is created to help students through the steps of writing a research paper or project.

Resources

Now it's time to find appropriate resources that will fulfill the assignment requirements.        

Has your instructor given you specific instructions for the the resources you need to use? Do you need books, eBooks, or scholarly articles? How many of these do you need to use in order to fulfill the requirement?  


Gathering Your Information

Research involves gathering and interpreting information. To answer a question or understand an issue you have to seek relevant information, which helps you develop your own point of view.

It's important to remember that information from outside sources should not stand in for your thinking. Sometimes people believe that gathering information and summarizing it in a paper is all there is to the research process. But finding information is just part of the process.

Research involves applying critical thinking to information. A researcher analyzes the material and develops a perspective on it. The goal is to think critically about the information, not simply repeat its ideas. 

Reference Sources

If you find that you are running into unfamiliar concepts or vocabulary while researching. Try using the Credo Reference database to provide background information on your topic. This is a good starting place for any research assignment.

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Scholarly Databases

Below you will find a List of some of the Scholarly Databases that the Learning Resource Center has available to you. If you find that you are not able to access certain articles and other scholarly resources in our databases, feel free to submit a request through InterLibrary Loan (and make sure to include as much information as you can). 

 

This link takes you to a listing of all the databases the library subscribes to - Databases page.   

One Perfect Source?

Unfortunately you will probably not find that one perfect source that fits your research topic. This video explains different approaches to find your sources. 

NCSU Libraries video

Shared by North Carolina State University with a Creative Commons license. 
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