Research Tips
Keeping track of your research will make things a lot easier in the long run. Figure out a way that works for you, maybe a notebook, maybe an online document, perhaps sending emails to a particular folder - something that makes sense to you.
Things to track:
- Which databases you are using and what keywords you use in each one. You will get different results with specific keywords depending on the database. Tracking this makes sure you won't keep going back to the same place and putting in the same keywords and not getting any new or better results.
- Citation information (refer to the Citing Sources tab for information on formatting citations) - there's nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of writing a paper and discovering that you can't remember where you found a certain article. If you can't find the full citation, you won't be able to use it in your paper.
- Dates that you conduct searches. If you're working on a longer-term project, you may have gaps of time between research sessions. Databases are constantly adding new material, so you may want to repeat a particularly successful search if some time has passed to see what's new.
Research Methodologies
