Research Materials

Have you ever been assigned a paper for school or work and had no idea how to locate your research materials? The good news is that in this lesson, we will cover some basic tips for locating research materials in order to produce a professional and credible paper. First of all, before you begin writing a research paper, it is important to understand the assignment. If you have any questions, you should talk to your professor or boss. The next step is to develop a good topic idea through brainstorming, which is a spontaneous list of ideas, or by searching the Internet.

Our experienced writer and psychology student, Beth, has been assigned a research paper. She is first searching online to find an interesting topic. Once these initial steps have been completed, her next task is to locate the appropriate research materials. These are materials that will help someone understand the topic and prepare a valid argument or explanation. It is important to use current source information – nothing older than 10 years. Beth has some tips for locating research materials using the specifics of her topic on addiction.

Locating Research Materials

Beth is in need of some quick facts on addiction for her paper. Her first tip is to use reference material such as encyclopedias, almanacs or dictionaries. These types of sources are available at local libraries or via Internet sites such as Dictionary.com, Encyclopedia.com or Britannica.com. Beth was able to get an excellent definition on addictive behavior from a medical encyclopedia.

Number two: In order to offer credible, current and well-documented research, Beth highly recommends academic journals, or peer-reviewed journal articles that are written by scholars and researchers for a specific discipline (such as the Journal of Psychology). They are published at fixed intervals such as weekly or monthly. These journals are usually accessed through library databases such as EBSCO. Most universities offer free online access to these databases as part of tuition.

Beth has access to academic journals through her university website. The business and academic communities expect that papers will include this type of research material. Beth was able to find some great academic research to support her claim that obsessions are worse than addictions. Beth also found it useful to refer to the bibliography, works cited, or reference pages of academic journal articles. These pages contain all sources that the author consulted and used to write their article. This is a great way for Beth to understand the context of the article and locate more sources for her essay.

Tip number three: Beth tries to avoid magazines unless she can’t find information in academic journals or books. Magazines are written by journalists and published for the general audience. They are not peer-reviewed and usually are not as well received for supportive documentation. They can be found in library catalogs or online library databases through universities. In addition, most magazines such as Time offer previously published editions through their online website in their archive section.

Number four: Another tip from Beth is to balance a paper with credible sources from books and e-books. These materials are used for in-depth research but usually do not have the most current information. They can be found in print at your local or university library. Books can also be rented or bought through online e-book databases. Beth was able to find a new book called Obsessions Are the New Addictions online.

Tip number five: Locating local information can be a challenge for anybody. Beth suggests that the best local information source is newspapers, which are daily printed forms of local information. Beth was able to find a few relevant articles to help her research. Back-dated newspaper articles can be accessed in many different ways. For example, Google News has indexes of newspapers and scanned images of articles. In addition, each newspaper also offers archived digital access, usually for a slight fee. Lastly, some local libraries and universities offer access to their database on newspaper articles as well.

The last tip from Beth is that sometimes writers might need statistics to support a claim or argument. Libraries usually have databases to access particular statistics, but the online database of the U.S. Census is a great source as well. Beth needed to know the number of people in the U.S. aged 18-24. She was able to get this information easily from the Census database.

Lesson Summary

Beth was able to produce an effective, well-written and supported paper with credible sources by following her own tips. College students are usually given access to a superior online research library as part of their tuition. Writing papers does not end once you graduate. Employees in the work place can utilize local or country library systems or use online sites for research sources. Many libraries have digital collections that can be easily accessed online. For example, the New York Public Library’s digital collection contains over 900,000 items, including prints, photographs, maps, and manuscripts. Most libraries have a social media presence and can be found on sites like Twitter or Facebook. Following their social media accounts can provide valuable information about special events or collections available to patrons.

Research materials are materials that will help someone understand their topic and prepare a valid argument or explanation. The following are some basic tips to help locate research materials:

• For quick facts use reference materials such as encyclopedias, almanacs, or dictionaries.
• For credible and reputable information, use online databases of academic journals, or peer-reviewed journal articles that are written by scholars and researchers for a specific discipline.
• Magazines are written by journalists and published for the general audience. They can be found in library catalogs or online library databases through universities.
• Books and e-books can be found in print at your local or university library, or they can also be rented or bought through online e-book databases.
• Local newspapers, which are daily news sources, provide excellent information, and previous editions can be found in online databases. A great source is Google News.
• Lastly, statistics are also helpful in research papers. The U.S. Census is a great reference source and available for free at the website www.census.gov.