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EN 420 Shakespeare

The Research Assignment

Before selecting a topic or starting your research, make sure you understand your assignment and its requirements. Consider the following:

  • Have you been assigned a topic or can you pick your own?
  • How many pages/words do you need to write? How long is your presentation?
  • Do you need to include specific types of sources? (e.g. scholarly journal, book, etc.)
  • When is the assignment due? How much time do you have to research?
  • Is currency of information important?

When in doubt, consult with your instructor.

Keyword Search

Free text, natural language or keyword searches are used with computerized databases and search engines.

  • Searches any and all fields of a computer record for the term
  • Every article that mentions the word will be retrieved

Advantages

+ Excellent for new concepts or terminology
+ Will retrieve lots of results

    Disadvantages

    - Must think of all other synonyms
    - Results will often not be about your topic (your term was only mentioned in the article)

      Subject Search

      Controlled vocabulary, descriptors, index terms or subject headings are used in computerized databases.  Articles are analyzed and the content is matched to a limited number of specified terms.

      • Searches only the field specified by the search (subject, descriptor, etc.)

      Advantages

      + Results will be about your topic
      + No need to think of other synonyms

      Disadvantages

      - If you don’t use the correct term, you could miss some or all pertinent information