Overview of the Research Process

To be a successful researcher, whether for personal, academic, or professional reasons, it helps to

think of research as a process. There are steps to follow that can help you to more effectively
conduct research. You will not be asked to determine the relevancy of materials (#6).

Directions: Read and answer the five (5) questions in this tutorial.

The basic steps in the research process are:

1. selecting a topic
2. formulating a research question
3. identifying the main ideas and related terms
4. identifying the information you will need and selecting the appropriate research tools
5. locating and retrieving materials
6. determining the relevancy of materials (not required)
7. taking notes or highlighting information and organizing it
8. writing the paper

Step #1 - Selecting a Topic

In academic research, you are often given a topic or some guidelines to follow when given an
assignment. Some instructors assign a specific topic, or they will ask you to select a topic that
interests you. Since I have already assigned the topic, stress, you must narrow the focus of the
topic and formulate a research question that is more specific and appropriate so that you can
reasonably investigate the question and come to a conclusion within the length of the paper
assigned. Remember that I have asked you to research diabetes risk factors and strategies
for preventing the acquisition of diabetes in order to decrease the current trend of
increased obesity and diabetes rates in adolescents today.

Question #1 – What is your topic?

Step #2 - Formulating a Research Question

What Is a Research Question?

A research question is the main question you propose to answer in your research paper. It’s a
specific question that guides the research process. Formulating a research question is a critical
step in the research process.

Formulating a research question may initially seem to be the easiest part of conducting research.
But it may cost you valuable hours if you begin your research without a clear focus or an
appropriate research question.

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 Turning a Topic into a Research Question or Thesis Statement

General Topic Research Question Thesis Statement

Definition The assignment your The question a researcher A summary statement of
faculty member provides asks that guides his or her the writer's main point
or the general area or inquiry into a topic
issue in which you are
interested
Example Women managers in the What factors affect female Women managers
workplace managers' promotional encounter a glass ceiling
opportunities in upper-level in upper-level
management of Fortune 500 management of Fortune
IT companies? 500 IT companies.

How Do I Create an Appropriate Research Question?

In creating a research question, use the following checklist to help determine the appropriateness
of your question. If you answer yes to all of the questions below, it’s probably a good research
question for this assignment.

1. Is the research question relevant to my assignment or objective, and does it fit the scope
of my assignment?
2. Can I find and access enough documents, statistics, or persons to provide information to
develop and support my ideas?
3. Can I reasonably answer my research question? Is it too broad (unspecific)? Too narrow
(specific)? Does it suggest factors that can be measured, examined or studied?

Question #2 – What is your research question?

Step #3 - Identifying the Main Ideas and Related Terms

Keywords

Once you have come up with a research question, the next step is to identify the key concepts or
main ideas. You will use these concepts to begin your search for relevant research sources. These
words, often nouns, express the key concepts/main ideas and are usually referred to as keywords.
The more specific your keywords, the better chance you will have in finding the most relevant
sources for your research. You will want to avoid using verbs, adjectives, or adverbs because
they are not specific enough words to find useful sources.
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When searching on the Internet and using keywords, make sure that any phrases you use are
placed inside quotation marks. If you don’t do this the search engine may return results with all
of the keywords included, but the results may be totally unrelated to each other.

For example, if your research question is…

What effect does tenure have on the quality of higher education?

The key concepts or keywords are tenure, quality, and higher education.

These terms will serve as your initial keywords for searching. Enter these terms into a search box
of a library catalog, database, or Web search engine to retrieve sources relevant to your topic.

When searching the Web, you may want to put your most important keywords first, in case word
order is a factor in how the Web search engine ranks results.

Identifying Related Terms (Synonyms)

You will not know if your keywords will work well in a search engine until you are actually
searching. In fact, a particular search may work well in one resource and poorly in another.
Therefore, it’s important to be flexible and to try a variety of keywords and keyword
combinations if you are not getting the results you desire. Consider again the research
question presented earlier:

What effect does tenure have on the quality of higher education?

Below are two common problems that come up when using keywords in a search engine, and
strategies to correct each problem.

Problem 1: Too many results

Strategy: Be more specific

You may want to choose more specific keywords that will narrow your search (give fewer
results), such as distance education or community colleges instead of higher education.

Alternate Strategy: Add additional concepts

You can add an additional keyword to your search strategy to further narrow your search
results.

Problem 2: Not enough results

Strategy: Add synonyms (related terms)

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 You may need to broaden your search (retrieve a greater number of results). To broaden a
search strategy, choose synonyms for your keywords. For example, universities or colleges
may work as synonyms for higher education. You can do a separate search using these
terms or combine them with your original terms into one search.

Summary of Stages in Keyword Development

1. List the key concepts in your research question.

2. Select the concepts that most specifically and narrowly define your topic. These will be
your initial keywords.
3. Develop a list of synonyms or related terms.

Question #3 – Answer the steps to each of the summary stages of keyword development.

1. What are the key concepts or keywords in your research question?

2. What are the initial keywords?

3. List one (1) synonym for each keyword below.

Search Statements

The statement you create by combining your keywords to construct a question is called a search
statement. When using Web search tools, you will type the search statement into the search box
to perform your search.

Combining Terms into a Search Statement

How do you connect terms in a search? In Web searches, you can often locate Web sites by just
listing nouns and adjectives in the search box. Using these linking terms frequently allows you to
do more precise searching on the free Web.

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Question #4 – What is your search statement?

Step #4 - Web Search Tools

A Web search tool is a search engine or search program that scans a portion of the contents of
the Web, looking for keywords the user has chosen. Many different Web search tools index large
numbers of Web sites and allow you to search their listings in a variety of ways.

These tools are essential for finding information on the Web, but it’s important to remember that
most of them do not provide critical reviews of the sites they contain. This fact increases the
probability of unverifiable and invalid sites being listed. Finding a Web site with a respected
search tool does not guarantee the authenticity or relevance of the site. You must evaluate each
Web site individually regardless of the way you found it. You are NOT responsible for
evaluating resources in this assignment.

Common Research Sources and Tools: Web Pages

Source Pros and Cons Good Source for Research Tools

Web + Convenient to access. Locating facts (be Google Scholar,
Pages sure to double Google, or
+/- Some provide very up-to- check for accuracy) another search
date information; others are Finding engine.
out of date. background and
+/- Search tools typically are supplemental
better at locating factual materials
information than concepts.
- May be unreliable because
anyone can post.
- Many materials are
inappropriate for papers
requiring scholarly
materials.

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Step #5 - Types of Web Search Tools

There are several types of Web search engines. Some combine features, such as a keyword
search engine that also includes a directory of resources grouped by subject. Four (4) main types
of Web search engines and some examples of each are included in table below. Notice that for
keyword searches it’s a good idea to use the resources AltaVista, Google, Live Search and
Yahoo! Search.

Web Search Engines

Search Features Examples

Engine
Type
Keyword Use "spiders" or "know bots" AltaVista
Search (computer programs that roam the Google
Engines Web for sites and keep the search Live Search
engines up to date) Yahoo! Search
Provide keyword searching of
words in pages or full text of
selected pages

Be Aware!

May not have subject categories

May not search invisible Web of
information stored in databases

Met search Search several individual search Clusty

Engines engines simultaneously and Dogpile
compile the results Excite

Be Aware!

Only catch about 10 percent of the

search results of the engines
visited

Specialty Provide a subject- or type-specific DailyStocks

Search searchable database of indexed FindLaw
Engines Web page content Inomics
Capture content of some of the MedicineNet
invisible Web Scirus
United States Patent and
Trademark Office

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 Search Features Examples
Engine
Type
USA.gov
WebMD
Zapdata

Other Collections:

Search Engines & Specialized

Directories from Cyward
Internet Education
Subject-Specific Search
Engines from LSU Libraries

Answer Provide the answer to a question, Answers.com

Search rather than specific Web sites Ask.com
Engines Wondir
Be Aware! Yahoo! Answers

May not be answered by librarians

or subject experts
Some services allow the general
public to answer questions

Google Scholar

In November 2004, Google released Google Scholar, which indexes and searches academic
literature across a variety of sources and disciplines. Content in Google Scholar comes from
academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities, and scholarly
articles from across the Web.

A Word on Wikipedia

Because of its popularity, Wikipedia is a source students often consult when conducting
research. It is important, however, to keep the following in mind before considering Wikipedia
as a potential source:

Anyone can author. Unlike traditional encyclopedias, Wikipedia entry authors are not
required to have any expertise in the subject they are writing on. Anyone, regardless of
knowledge on a topic or personal agenda, can write for the site. Authors are rarely
identified, and known authors have in some cases lied about their credentials.

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 Anyone can edit. Anyone can change an entry, and neither the original author nor the
author of later changes is generally ever identified in a way that would allow you to find
out more about them.
Who checks for errors? Although site users often find and correct errors in entries, the
entries are not subject to a formal fact-checking process like that used by traditional
encyclopedias. Many entries are never subject to any fact-checks.

Government Web Sites—More Information

The U.S. government comprises many agencies that monitor and regulate the products and
services of major industries. Each agency generates current information about the industries it
monitors and makes it available on the agency's Web site. For example,

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the food, pharmaceutical, and
medical industries.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulates civil aviation, including air traffic
controllers and commercial air travel.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate and international
communications, including the radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable industries.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides leadership on food,
agriculture, and natural resources.

Intergovernmental sites such as those listed below may also be useful when you need
information on international government issues.

The United Nations is an international organization that attempts to foster cooperation in

international law and security, social progress, economic development, and human rights
issues.
The European Union is a single market with a system of laws applying in all member
states, guaranteeing the freedom of movement of people, goods, services, and capital.
Interpol, the world's largest international police organization, supports law-enforcement
agencies worldwide in fighting crime.
The World Intellectual Property Organization, a U.N. agency, works to develop an
international intellectual property system.

Other Web sites and Resources Available for Your Use

• TeensHealth.org
http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/emotions/stress.html
• About.com
http://stress.about.com/?once=true&
• WebMD.com
http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/features/default.htm
• Center for Disease Control (CDC.gov) Stress-O-Meter
http://www.bam.gov/sub_yourlife/yourlife_stressometer.html#

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 • Lifepositive.com
http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/psychology/stress/anxiety-in-children.asp
• Kenyon.edu (Stress Questionnaire)
http://bfec.kenyon.edu/Healthy_Kenyon/stress_psymptoms.pdf
• Center for Disease Control (CDC.gov)
http://cdc.gov/
• GoogleScholar.com
http://scholar.google.com/
• AltaVista
http://www.altavista.com/
• Yahoo! Search
http://search.yahoo.com/
• Bing.com
http://www.bing.com/?FORM=MFEHPG&PUBL=Google&CREA=userid1743c97f4276
4ae7fc0296bf01e435100ada

Question #5 – What Web sites will you use to conduct your research? List at least three (3).

Citing Web Sources in APA Citation Style

APA Citation Examples—Web Sources

Source APA Citation (In Text and Reference List)

Entire Web In text:
Site
Careers in Finance offer information on careers in investment banking, real estate
and financial planning (http://www.careers-in-finance.com/).

In reference list:

If you refer to an entire Web site, you do not need to include an entry in your
reference list.
Web Page In text:

There are a large number of opportunities in commercial banking, where many

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 start out as a teller, and work into other services such as leasing, credit card
banking, and trade credit. (Careers in Finance—Commercial Banking, 2008).

In reference list:

Careers-in-Finance.com. (2003). Commercial banking. Retrieved June 23, 2008,

from Careers in Finance Web site: http://www.careers-in-finance.com/cb.htm
Article In text:
from a
Web Site "ServisFirst has become one of the top ten fastest-growing banks in the U.S.,
according to a study by Donnelly Penman & Partners, an investment bank in
Grosse Pointe, Mich." (Gray, 2008).

In reference list:

Gray, P. (2008, March 7). A banker who makes house calls. CNNMoney.com.
Retrieved June 3, 2008, from http://money.cnn.com

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to the other person.
When you use someone else's words, you must put quotation marks around them and give the
writer or speaker credit by revealing the source in a citation. Even if you revise or paraphrase the
words of someone else or just use their ideas, you still must give the author credit in a note. Not
giving due credit to the creator of an idea or writing is very much like lying (Harris, 2009).

Plagiarism on a paper will result in an “F” on that paper with no possibility of a makeup.

Reference

1. College, U.o. (2008). Introduction to Graduate Library Research Skills. Retrieved

August 10, 2009, from University of Maryland University College:
http://tychousa11.umuc.edu/cgi-bin/id/CDI/index.pl

2. Harris, R. (2009, June 14). Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers. Retrieved
August 11, 2009, from Virtual Salt: http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

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