EN 150: Advanced Writing

With links to a variety of resources just for your course, this guide is a great place to start your research!  Remember that these are only some of the sources that may be useful to you. Have a question? Feel free to use the contact information in the sidebar!

For this first exercise, I want you to free write about how you go about doing research. What is your research process like? Don't think too much about it; just write. 

Be persistent in your searching.

Try both keyword and subject searching

Narrow a search by using subject headings. Locate subject headings by looking at the descriptors associated with pertinent articles and books.

Try these tips to narrow your search.

Try synonyms (AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Can't think of any synonyms? Try an online thesaurus. Try these tips to expand your search

Try both singular and plural forms of words (use a "+" sign in SocSciAbs to search both singular and plurals e.g. religion+). Use an "*" in Academic Search Premier to get a variety of word endings.

If searching a compound word, try it as one word and as two words (e.g. rain forest or rainforest) to see which retrieves the most useful results.

If searching a term with an internal dash, search the term in each database with and without the internal dash (e.g. x-ray vs. x ray) to see which retrieves the most useful results.