The Research Process

Conducting research in an academic library

choosing a topic
finding background info
evaluating sources
finding books
finding articles
getting material we do not own
citing your sources and plagiarism

1. Choosing a topic.

The first step in the research process is deciding on your topic. What are you interested in studying? Once you've decided on your area of research, you need to consider the scope of your topic. Some topics may be too broad for short research papers, while others may be too narrow.

Once you've decided on a manageable topic, try to come up with key concepts. For example, if you're interested in the impact of alcoholism on families, your key concepts will be alcohol, family, or related terms such as substance abuse or codependency. These concepts will assist you when you go to indexes, the library catalog, or search engines to gather more information.

2. Finding background information.

Finding background information will assist you in developing your topic further. Using your key concepts, look up information on your topic in dictionaries or encyclopedias. You may need to narrow the scope of your research. There are several ways to do this. Narrowing your area of research to a specific time period or geographical area is one way. You can also narrow your topic to a specific group or situation, for example, research teenage alcoholism rather than alcoholism.

Subject encyclopedias are more specific than general encyclopedias and will provide more precise background information. A great way to locate a subject encyclopedia (online or in print) is through one of our research guides on various topics. You can also find them by performing a simple keyword search in our library's online catalog. For example, to find an encyclopedia of psychology, you would type "psychology and encyclopedia" in the search box.

Your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve readings can be used as background sources as well.

The World Wide Web is another good resource for gathering background information but one must be cautious when using the Web for research. Almost anyone can publish material on the Web, so not all information found on the Web is reliable. Whereas most print sources, like books and articles, are reviewed or edited to insure that the information is accurate, there is usually no comprehensive review of Web information.

This is not to say that all sites lack review or that information found on the Web is unreliable. The essays in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, for example, have been reviewed by a prestigious editorial staff and might therefore be acceptable to a professor as a source for your research. Read on.

3. Evaluating sources.

Evaluating the information you locate is crucial when doing research. Below is a list of some questions you might consider as you look at the possible sources for your paper. Most questions apply to both print and electronic resources.

What are the author's credentials? What is the author's educational background? Has the author written other works on this topic?
How current is the information? Has the information been superseded by new information?
Does the work have a particular bias and does the author make the bias clear?
Is the publisher known for scholarly research or is the journal/magazine known to be academic? Scholarly journals contain articles that have been reviewed by either a panel of experts or by a knowledgeable editor. In most cases, the articles contained in these journals include citations, either as footnotes or as a bibliography. Other periodicals, such as "The Wall Street Journal" or "Scientific American," can provide guidance but should not be the sole source of research for your paper.
Is the information provided backed up by facts or is it opinion? Is the information based on reasonable evidence? Can you verify the information you've located by finding it in other sources?
What is the intended audience? Undergraduate students? Specialists in a field?
Is the information provided in a grammatically correct way? Is everything spelled correctly? Is the information provided in a logical, well-ordered manner?
Is the web information stable, that is, can you retrieve the information from the site in subsequent attempts? When the site is updated, are the changes noted by the author or host?

Here are a few sites you can use to get information on evaluating Web resources:
Evaluating Web Sites (Cornell)
Evaluating Web Pages (UC Berkeley)
Evaluating Internet Information (Johns Hopkins)

4. Finding academic books.

Once you have background information on your topic, the next step is to search for books we own in the online catalog. There are several ways to search it. The most common is by keyword, which works well when you do not already know a specific author or title. You should search by title or author if you have references for relevant books from the sources you've already consulted. Subject searches are an advanced way to search. The subject phrasings themselves are terms controlled by the Library of Congress, but many are common terms that make sense. The benefit of performing a subject search is that you can see how many items we have on a given topic easily. Whenever you are looking at a catalog record, pay attention to the subject tags, as clicking on one will perform a search for that subject. This is a good way to find similar items once you've found one record that meets your needs. Another way to find similar items is to click the "similar records" button.

As you're looking at records, take note of the location of the book (Mugar, Science, or another library), and look at the status section of the record to see if a book is available, charged out to another patron, missing, or recently returned. When you find a record you want simply check the box next to the title, and then click on the "Save Marked Records" button. After you are finished, click "View Saved" and this will allow you to easily collect the call numbers of the books you want to use. Then, just go to the appropriate library and floor (call number guides are available at the Reference Desk) and use the call number to find the books you need. Related books can be found by browsing the books nearby on the shelf. Remember that you can also look at the bibliographies in the books you've retrieved to find other relevant texts.

5. Finding scholarly articles.

Our subscription databases are an excellent way to locate relevant articles. Some subject areas are covered by more than one database; it is a good idea to ask for assistance if you are having difficulty deciding which to use. Many indexing services provide abstracts in addition to basic citation information (author, article title, journal, volume, issue, year, and page numbers). By providing a summary of the article's contents, abstracts can help you determine if a particular article is relevant. Subject-specific electronic resources can be accessed from the library home page by clicking "Find Articles using Databases".

It should be noted that the BU libraries do not own all of the journals you will find listed in a print or electronic index. To see if a journal is owned by Boston University, you should start by searching for the journal name in our eJournal Locator. Keep in mind that you will be searching for the journal name, not the article title. If the journal or the specific date you need is not available, follow the link to the catalog to see if we have a print subscription. If the journal is not owned by Boston University either in print or online, you do still have the same two options as those listed above for books, using a BLC library or Interlibrary Loan. If you have difficulty, please contact a Reference Librarian for assistance.

6. Finding material we do not own.

Occasionally, the book or article you are looking for will not be found at any of the Boston University Libraries or is checked out. In that case, you can pursue other options. The first is to check to see if one of the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) libraries has the book or journal. Some of the BLC schools (including BU) have participated in the "Virtual Catalog", through which you can order only books. It usually takes 3 to 5 days to deliver a book through this system; see more details on the Virtual Catalog.

Alternatively, you can check an electronic database known as "Worldcat". While Worldcat will provide you with an overview of libraries holding a given book or journal, it will not provide information as to availability. You will still need to check the holding library's online catalog to see if the book or journal is available. If it is available in one of the BLC libraries, and you would like to go there yourself to check a book out, you will need to get a consortium card from the Mugar Circulation desk. Please contact the staff at Circulation (617-353-3732) or at Reference (617-353-2700) if you have questions about the Boston Library Consortium.

Yet another option is to request the book or article you need through Interlibrary Loan. This service is invaluable but you should recognize that it can take two weeks or longer to get materials through Interlibrary Loan. We do not order items we already own and it is not a service intended for last minute research projects. Forms for Interlibrary Loan can be filled out online or obtained in print at the Mugar Reference Desk. Please contact a Reference librarian or the staff at Interlibrary Loan if you have difficulty using these forms.

7. Citing your sources and plagiarism.

Professors will usually require that you use a particular writing and citation style when submitting papers. There are several style manuals available at the reference desk at Mugar and in other libraries. These include:

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
Chicago Manual of Style
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

Please see our "Citing Your Sources" research guide for example citations and links to some online help. Also, you can ask for assistance at a reference desk if you have any questions about using these guides.

Plagiarism is a serious concern and one that the university takes very seriously. Plagiarism involves using the work of someone else and failing to give proper credit or acknowledgment, thereby claiming the information as your own. While professors will expect you to use outside sources when doing your research, they will also expect you to acknowledge the work of those authors you have chosen to use in your paper. At Boston University, all students are expected to have read or be familiar with the university policy on plagiarism. If you are not, please contact your college and get a copy of the Academic Conduct Code. Several guides to academic conduct for specific schools or colleges are available online. Samples of some of the university's academic conduct websites follow:

If you are having difficulty deciding when or how to cite sources, please contact your professor or the Reference staff at Mugar Memorial Library.