Step 3:
Find information using key words & search strategies.
Although Wikipedia can be immensely helpful in some areas of life, research is not one of them. It can be a good starting place in furthering your foundational understanding of a topic, but never use it as a source. Anything good you have said in your paper will be overlooked after your professor goes through your bibliography. Should you choose to start with Wikipedia, however, make sure to recognize its limitations and follow up on the references at the end of the articles.
Gather evidence. Be sure to find sources that are applicable to your topic, regardless of whether or not it supports or refutes your position on the issue.
Where to Start: Utilize OneSearch, Academic Search Complete, and Google Scholar when starting your research and testing out search terms, which you can access off-campus by signing into your FSU student account.
Remember, you're searching a world of information that is vaster than anything you can probably imagine. It's going to be difficult to find sources you can trust. Create a list of search terms that relate to your topic. Through the trial and error of different combinations of, you'll be able to more accurately assess the usefulness of your results. You can revise your search terms accordingly and get the more appropriate resources you need.
Think critically about how successful (or not) your search is throughout the process. You will need to decide when to either narrow or expand your search terms. AND narrows your search by combining terms. OR broadens your search and includes results that contain either of the terms. NOT narrows your search by excluding certain search terms. After utilizing these search tools, you can further focus your research on what you really want to delve into in your paper.
