Eight Steps to Research Success: Get Started!

Browse some topic lists:

• 301 Prompts For Argumentative Writing: An extensive PDF list of topics divided into subject areas from the New York Times Learning Network.
• ProCon: Non-profit and non-partisan information organization that presents a list of controversial topics divided into subject areas.

Find articles in the Library's databases:

Search the Library's online databases to find a wide range of possible topics.  Search the following databases to find a topic about a current issue:

From Oakton's catalog:

The following book has information on how to pick a topic and refine it:

Read articles in these online encyclopedias to set the context for your research. Take note of relevant items in the bibliographies or "for further reading" sections at the end of the encyclopedia articles.

The following OCC databases address current issues:

The following websites may assist you in finding background information on a topic:

• Britannica.com
  Premier web encyclopedia available for Oakton users.
• HowStuffWorks.com
  Award-winning web site that provides thousands of articles on how things work "from the inside out."
• infoplease.com
  This website provides an online dictionary, atlas, almanac and internet encyclopedia.
• Public Agenda Online
  This is a website created by a nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research & citizen education organization based in New York City.
• ShareAmerica
  The U. S. State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs works with U.S. embassies and consulates in more than 140 countries to engage with people around the globe on U.S. foreign policy and American society.

Ask a reference librarian to recommend online and print subject specific encyclopedias in the Oakton Library.

News articles in a newspaper or general magazine can also give you a starting point for your research. Use an online periodical database such as Academic Search Complete to locate background information in full text magazine and journal articles.

Search over 100,000 books in the Library's Catalog and books from 127 Illinois college and university libraries in the I-Share Catalog.

The Library has over 67,000 online magazines, journals, and newspapers in its Article Databases.  

Get Started with Academic Search Complete

Additional Tips

Use your Oakton username and password to access the Library databases from an off-campus computer.

Determine if your instructor will allow you to include Internet resources in your research.

Unlike scholarly print periodicals and books, where the information is subjected to a process of review, anyone can publish on the web. Many web sites are also designed for commercial purposes and, consequently, are designed to influence! 

Evaluate web sites by determining their authority, relevance, and currency:

• Evaluating Resources (UC Berkeley)
• Evaluating Websites for an Academic Paper/Publication (from Kresge Library at Oakland University)
• Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Consider (Cornell University)
• Anatomy of a Web Address (Creative Commons)

Recommended search engines:

• Startpage.com
  Metasearch engine that provides anonymous and untracked searching as well as combines results from multiple search engines simultaneously.
• DuckDuckGo
  Search results that emphasize human generated fact nuggets and aggregated quality web sites related to the search topic; provides anonymous and untracked searching with no auto-completion or advertising.
• Google
  Provides full text of web pages and other files on the web, images, sound files, maps, map making, and machine translation; results prioritized by sites most used and shared.
• Google Scholar
  Search peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts, and articles from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities, and other scholarly organizations.
• Dogpile
  Metasearch engine that gathers results from several other popular search engines, including those from audio and video content providers.
• Bing
  Provides web pages, especially those related to news and scientific content; lookup; videos, images, and maps; events in the user’s preset geographic area; and social searching that can access the photos and pages of the searcher’s social media connections.
• Internet Archive
  Use the Wayback Machine to search the history of over 387 billion web pages. This is a non-profit library that provides access to millions of free books, movies, software, music, and archived websites.

Recommended sites for Images:

• Google Images
  Keyword search for images linked by text and file name.
• Featured Digital Libraries on Pinterest
  Collection of the Digital Libraries of the Week featured in American Libraries Direct.
• Flickr
  Photo management and sharing site which allows users to search images by keyword.
• Pixabay
  User-contributed downloadable photos and illustrations.

Web Sites:

Evaluate web sites by determining their authority, relevance and currency:  Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Consider (Cornell University).

Periodicals:

Do you need to use popular magazines and/or scholarly periodicals? They each serve different purposes and are written for specific audiences.

Books:

Evaluate books by using book reviews to gather critical and other valuable information and the Evaluating Your Sources from the University of North Carolina Library.

How to Write Your Paper

Congratulations! You're now ready to put all the pieces together.  Just as the Library helped you find, evaluate and use information effectively and efficiently, the Library can recommend resources to you that will help you in the final states of your work.

Websites

The following websites provide great tips about writing a paper:

• Grammar Girl - A free searchable website for checking grammar and punctuation rules.
• Purdue OWL - Purdue's Online Writing Lab provides an overview of academic writing conventions useful for all new college writers.
• Seven Tips for Writing a Good Paper - Easy tips from a professor on how to write a good paper.
• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography - Olin Library Reference, Research & Learning Services, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, USA.

The Learning Center

The Learning Center supports all students through a variety of services including tutoring, study strategies and techniques, and workshops that enhance classroom learning.

Books

The following books are great resources. Select the title for location & availability.

• The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers
• The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers
• Rowman & Littlefield Guide to Writing with Sources
• A Short Guide to Writing About Literature
• A Writer's Reference

Don't forget to look at our research guides for more suggestions about your research!  Select a subject from the drop-down menu below to get started.