Time Management
"I am so intimidated by the library—as soon as I walk in I feel overwhelmed and frustrated that I don't have a clue what I’m doing. I put off all my research until the last minute, and when I finally do get to the library, I have no idea where to start."
Did you know that Library Anxiety is an actual condition? Symptoms include:
Coming up with a realistic plan for your research will help alleviate the stress of using the library's resources. If you have plenty of time and know where to start, the process will seem a whole lot less stressful! Use the Assignment Calculator to plan the research process each time you do an assignment (even if time is short).
Dissecting Your Assignment
Once you have a realistic timeline, look critically at your assignment. Do you have to do a ten minute opinion speech or a ten-page paper?
Spend a few minutes actually reading the assignment. It will help you focus your time and effort. Ask yourself:
Instructors will use a lot of different words which will clue you in to what they expect you to do for your assignment. Here are some examples of words used by professors and what they expect.
| Your assignments may use the following wording: | This is what your professor expects you to do: |
| Analyze, compare, contrast, distinguish, examine | Break down knowledge into parts and show relationships among parts |
| Describe, indicate, restate, explain, review, summarize, classify | Interpret information in your own words |
| Provide corroborating evidence, reference other works, research, cite examples | Use outside research to support your thesis or hypothesis |
| Use supporting examples, cite passages from the text, paraphrase, summarize | Quote or paraphrase to support what you have written |
| Evaluate, conclude, judge, predict, compare, score | Make judgments based on criteria; support, confirm preferences |
| Apply, illustrate, prepare, solve, use, sketch, operate, practice, calculate | Apply knowledge to new situations |
| Arrange, compose, formulate, organize, plan, assemble, construct | Bring together parts of knowledge to form a whole; build relationships for new situations |
| Define, label, list, name, repeat, order, arrange, memorize | Memorize, recall, and present information |
How many sources do I need?
Picking Your Topic
Pick a topic that meets the requirements of the assignment. For example, Amber has to do a ten minute persuasive speech. Since she has only ten minutes, her topic needs to be narrow enough to cover in that amount of time. Mizael needs to pick a topic for a five to eight-page paper. He will need a topic broad enough to write at least five pages of information.
Last semester, Amber read about the recording industry suing students for downloading music. Since this is a broad topic, she decides to cover just the legal issues. |
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One of Mizael's friends got in trouble for underage drinking, so he is going to write his paper on this topic. He is going to focus on the effects of alcohol advertising on college students’ drinking habits. |
Take a look at some other topics used by students at CSULB.
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There are tons of ways to find topics:
RULE #1:
Always try to pick a topic that YOU are interested in!
What’s Your Research Question?
Once you have a topic you must turn it into a research question. The research question DRIVES the research. Your paper will attempt to answer the research question. You will divide your project into sections that respond to the various arguments you make.
Amber turned her idea of students and illegal downloads into, "Should students be prosecuted or fined for downloading music from the Internet?" |
Mizael turned his idea into the question, "Is there a relationship between alcohol advertising and college student drinking?" |
Picking Your Keywords
After turning your topic into a research question, the next step is picking keywords. Keywords are the most important words in your research question.
You also need to think of synonyms and other ways to describe your topic. Think of abbreviations and different word endings (-s, -ed, -ing) too. Think of terms researchers are using to describe a concept instead of words from everyday language. For example, use “adolescents” instead of “kids.” Use a textbook or ask a librarian for keyword ideas.
Building Your Search Statement
Library databases are not as flexible as search engines like Google. You must translate your research question into a search statement by taking out all of the common words (in, of, is, it, etc.) so the databases will understand your keywords. The best way to combine all of your keywords is using the Boolean operators AND and OR.
AND
Narrows a search because ALL terms must be in the record. Use with different concepts such as “alcohol” and “advertising.”
OR
Broadens a search because EITHER term must be in the record. Use with synonyms such as “college” or “university.” Always use parenthesis around terms when using OR so the computer understands what you are telling it to do.
Example: (university OR college) AND (athletics OR sports)
More Search Statements
By combining your keywords in this way, you will get good results that are exactly on your topic. Let's use Mizael as an example:
AlcoholLibrarians: Your Research Experts
If you have any problems developing a research question or search statement, ask a librarian. They can help you at any point in your research or writing process.
Librarians buy the books, databases and journals for the library. They also teach classes, create research guides, and help students and faculty with their research. Librarians are available to assist you one-on-one, and there are several ways to get in touch with them: