Research tips and tutorials links

Research tips and tutorials

            Research is the act of searching for information, data and facts increase an individual’s knowledge of a topic. It is both a science and an art as it entails the systematic search for information. For research to be effective, an individual must use a three stage process to carry out his or her information search. The first stage that is the background of all researches is starting a research. This stage is divided into four stages, these stages are library, how to find hot topics, primary sources, library sources, and services from graduate students and information cycle. When using the library, one should go to the web address rts.stcloudstate.edu/library. After accessing the website, an individual should select among the following approaches to carry out research the academic search premier box using general item, advanced search to combine limits and terms or a specific database by clicking on the database A-Z link. After selecting an appropriate approach, an individual should break down his or her search into keywords. An individual should then read the article titles and abstracts. He or she should look at other pages not only first page results.

            The second stage of researching is finding resources. An individual can find resources by locating scholarly articles, scholarly journals, popular magazines, internet search tools, applications and mobile connections for academic research at SCSU.  A scholarly article is published in journals rather than popular magazines. These articles normally have a citation, bibliography, author’s name, credentials, and they normally report on original research. The difference between a scholarly journal and a popular magazine is that popular magazines are short and have colors, while scholarly articles are short and have less or no color. Internet search tools such as websites and search engines play an important role in carrying a research.

            After getting information, one should engage him or herself in a process of evaluating the information. One should assess the credibility of the information gathered if it is accurate or not. Not everything on the internet is accurate; journals, books and websites should be analyzed and evaluated. After the information is verified it should be cited by crediting the source in MLA, APA, Chicago or Harvard format.