Seven stages of research for your Research paper

1. Take time to think about your research topic and plan how you are going to approach it. Consider your main themes, historical context, key people and appropriate keywords for searching. It’s alright to use Wikipedia at this stage just to get broad definitions and ideas, but it is not considered to be a scholarly source for in depth research.
2. Start at the College Library online catalogue http://lib.harlaxton.ac.uk and search for books and resources relating to your research topic.
   Make a note of the author, title and shelf number and see if you can find some of the resources.
3. Your research should include a consideration or review of a variety of scholarly sources relating to your topic.
   See https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/sources/.
4. Search some of the journal databases available via University of Evansville Libraries http://www.evansville.edu/libraries/findAZDatabases.cfm in particular JSTOR, Ebscohost, Project Muse.
   See https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/journals/.
5. Look at some subject gateways for good quality academic websites. https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/subject-gateways/.
6. Don’t just scratch the surface with Google, search the deep web. See https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/deep-web/
   and try Google Scholar http://scholar.google.co.uk/.
7. Finally, carry out an advanced Internet search using search strings and operators such as AND, OR and NOT.
   See https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/internet/.

Don’t forget!

• Try to use a variety of academic sources for your research and don’t rely solely on your own views.
• You will need to evaluate each source, especially websites, considering their authorship, relevance and currency. See Website evaluation https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/website-evaluation/.
• Think critically about each of your sources. See Critical Thinking https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/critical-thinking/.
• Keep a note of all sources used in your research, including websites. They will need to be consistently referenced in the body of your text and bibliography. See Referencing https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/study/referencing/.
• Need help? Talk to your Professor or one of the College Library staff.

Quicklinks
https://harlaxtoncollegelibrary.com/quicklinks

• Library Catalogue http://lib.harlaxton.ac.uk
• University of Evansville Libraries http://www.evansville.edu/libraries
• The British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
  Login details from Library
• The John Johnson Collection an archive of British 18th, 19th and early 20th century printed ephemera http://johnjohnson.chadwyck.co.uk
  Login details from Library

• Join Lincolnshire Libraries https://capitadiscovery.co.uk/lincolnshire/join 
  to gain access to:

        Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com

        Times Digital Archive http://infotrac.galegroup.com

 

Page updated by AH, 16/11/2021