STEP 1: Understand Your Research Assignment

A Typical Research Assignment:   Your professor assigns a 4-5 page research paper on a given topic, e.g. vaccinations, and ask you to support your arguments with evidence from at least 3 scholarly journal articles and 2 books.  You need to provide a reference list for the books and articles you used at the end of your paper. 

• Watch a quick video on how to start in Research Companion,  or
• See the Library's "Asking Questions" Tutorial 

STEP 2: Find Background Information about Your Topic (e.g., measles vaccination)

Good research topics should be specific and include a focus that interests you. How do you do that? You can read books or a short article. The Library offers online reference books, located in databases, which are your best bet to gain background information about any topic. You can use the databases Credo Reference, Gale Virtual Reference Library, and Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context to find reference books.

To access these databases, go to Library homepage (library.calstatela.edu), select the Databases link, and select one of the database above from the Database A-Z list.

STEP 3: Write Down Your Research Question

After finding background information, you should be able to come up with a statement or question about your research focus. I.e., How can you effectively educate parents about measles vaccinations?

STEP 4: Identify Keywords and Alternative Words/Synonyms

Next, identify main concepts in the research question and use them as your search keywords. Develop synonyms or related keywords using a thesaurus. You can use these keywords to either broaden or narrow down your search.

STEP 5:  Know What a Scholarly Journal Article is

Professors often ask you to use scholarly (also called "peer-reviewed") articles. Peer-reviewed means the articles are academic and have been refereed by experts in the article’s field of study.  Please read the “Differences” sheet for specific characteristics of a scholarly journal article.

STEP 6: Know What Tools to Use to Find Scholarly Journal Articles and Books

• OneSearch & Google Scholar– locate both books and articles
• Databases – locate articles and other data

Using OneSearch

• From the Library Homepage (library.calstatela.edu), enter your keywords in the OneSearch box and click GO button
• On the results page, you can narrow down by using the filters on the left
  • Available at Cal State LA
  • Resource type (Books, Articles, Media, etc.)
  • Subject
  • Publication date
  • Author/creator

Using Google Scholar

• From the Library Homepage (library.calstatela.edu), select “Google Scholar” link
• Note: If you use the Google Scholar link from the library page, your journal search results will be linked to CSULA resources you find. If you enter a book title, the result includes a Find it @ Cal State LA link, and you can click on it, which will launch a search in OneSearch so you can find out whether the book is available at Cal State LA.  

STEP 7: Avoiding Plagiarism & Citing Sources

• Writing & Citing:https://libguides.calstatela.edu/WriteAndCite
  • You can find library guides on how to avoid plagiarism and cite your sources using the link.  
     
• RefWorks:
  • A web-based bibliography and resource management tool.  You can connect directly to RefWorks from your search results. You can also access RefWorks from the Library Web homepage by clicking the “Writing & Citing” link, and selecting RefWorks.