What have you already done in the library?

Here's some more library resources!

• Databases—including movies!
• Research Guides that help you know where to start!
• Schedule an Appointment with a Librarian—you've already paid for it!
• Book a Group Study Space—we've got four of them!

Any questions so far?

The Inquiry Process

"Research" is not finding a hidden cave full of facts.

So what is it?

For one, it's a process!

Let's take three minutes to talk about how you currently research things. What do you do? How do you start? How do you end?

So, what do you do?

Where do you tend to look?

How do you decide if it's good to use?

When do you know it's time to stop?

Wait: how did you even know what question you were asking?

Research Process

It might surprise you, but expert writers go through that middle circle repeatedly.

Inquiry Process (An Expanded Research Process)

Ask yourself questions in each part to help you move along!

The Seattle Community Colleges's research process puzzle shows evaluation as central.

Abstraction ⇒ Action

aka "I'm happy for you & I'm gonna let you finish
but I need to get this paper done"

Another Version of the Inquiry Process

1. Essential Question: What do you want to know?
2. Proposal & Plan: How & where will you search?
3. Explore & Research: How does what you find change your approach? How can experts help?
4. Put It All Together: Make an appointment with CWI's Writing Center!
5. Share It All: Turn in what you've made!

The Library can help most with the first three parts.

Here's some great places to start!

• Credo Reference—it's a jumping-off point to many library sources
• Academic Search Complete—our "supercenter" database
• CQ Researcher—lots of jumping-off points and timelines
• Gale Virtual Reference Library—it's like Wikipedia, but better

Article Searching +

Keywords and Advanced Search are Your Friends

Let's work on developing the keywords for your search.

Search Term Brainstorming

Book Searching +

Let's try searching for books related to our topic.