FREN 369: Environment, Society, and Public Policy in Southern France: Home
Questions for you
Assignment worksheet
What's in this guide?
This guide is designed to help you with your coursework in FREN 369: Environment, Society, and Public Policy in Southern France. It provides information on various resources available from the University Library.
Searching for Sources Effectively
Follow the Bibliographic Trail: One proven method for gathering reliable information efficiently is to follow the citations or references from one source to another. The author's bibliography can lead you to other sources on the topic.
Identify Keywords: Before searching the Library Catalog or other databases, take a few minutes to write down all the words that describe your topic. Use these words in keyword or Boolean searches.
Subject Headings: If you find an interesting title in the Library Catalog, open the record and scroll down to alternate Subject Headings. Click on the link and it will take you to additional materials in the Library Catalog with the same subject/topic.
Search Strategy Worksheet from Humboldt State University
Scholarly and Peer Reviewed Articles
Scholarly articles are published in scholarly journals and are sometimes called peer-reviewed articles. The articles are a means for a scholar to communicate with other scholars in the field about his or her research. They are often reviewed by peers in the field in order to ensure that the article is relevant and accurate.
What to look for:
- Articles written by an expert, always signed (author's name listed)
- Credentials of author listed, such as education and position
- References and sources consulted are listed
- Frequently includes graphs, charts
- Frequently have abstracts
- Aimed at people in the field or studying the field, few or no ads
UNC Writing Center
What makes a good research question?
Handout from Duke University's Thompson Writing Program. Has good guidelines and examples of research questions in the humanities and social sciences.
A Successful Research Question:
- Has significance for you
- Warrants attention from others
- Recognizes its contexts (historical, social, scientific personal, etc.)
- Has identifiable consequences and effects
- Leads to possible outcomes or solutions.
Before finalizing a research question, you must think carefully about issues that appeal and matter to you. In addition, you must also do some initial research and reading in the form of finding background information. This early research will help you formulate a research question that truly reflects your interests and concerns.
Once you have a basic understanding of your topic and the issues surrounding it, narrow your research question by asking the following questions:
Who? - Are you interested in a specific group of people? Can you narrow your focus to a group or demographic, such as age, gender, ethnicity, location, or socioeconomic status?
What? - What are current issues around this topic? Is there anything in the news about it?
When? - Is your topic current or historical? Did it happen during a specific time period? Are there any important events surrounding your topic?
Where? - Can your topic focus on a specific location? Where, geographically, might this topic be significant?
Why? - Why is this topic important? Why should others be interested?
Librarian
