Choose a topic.
Do a brain dump: Note down what you already know about your topic, including
Fill in the gaps in your knowledge: get background information from books, encyclopedias, or other secondary sources. Wikipedia can be good here.
Select the best places/ databases to find information on your topic. Use UC Library Search, or look under the Specialized Databases tab of this guide for article database suggestions.
Use nouns from your brain dump as search terms.
Evaluate what you find. Change search terms to get closer to what you really want.
Refine Your Topic - Using the information you have gathered, determine if your research topic should be narrower or broader. You may need to search basic resources again using your new, focused topics and keywords.
Need more help? Try the Library's Research 101 online help or drop-in workshops.
When you encounter any kind of source, consider:
Historically and today, there is an inequity in the way research is practiced in the world.
Community knowledge and people’s direct experiences with day-to-day injustices get dismissed by decision makers. Yet, knowledge produced by mainstream institutions through scientific means is often seen as legitimate, regardless of whether it reflects the community’s truths and realities. ~ Research Justice Toolkit, DataCenter
Suggested reading to learn more
Research Justice by
Research Justice (RJ) is a strategic framework and methodological intervention that seeks to transform structural inequities in research. Research Justice: Methodologies for Social Change builds upon the methodological frameworks developed by the national non-profit organization, DataCenter Research for Justice and is the first book to take a radical approach to socially just, community centred research. Challenging traditional models for conducting social science research within marginalized populations, it examines the relationships and intersections between research, knowledge construction, and political power/legitimacy in society. Presenting a new and highly innovative concept of Collective Ceremonial Research Responsiveness, it envisions equal political power and legitimacy for different forms of knowledge including the cultural, spiritual and experiential. The book examines how the co-existence of these various forms of knowledge can lead to greater equality in public policies and laws that rely on data and research to produce social change. Offering a much-needed analysis of the intersections between Research Methods, Public Policy, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, and Sociology, this unique book will be of wide interest to researchers and students in a variety of disciplines
To most effectively find relevant journal articles in Web of Science, Scopus, and other databases, see instructions (from Bio1B) on how to develop keywords, build a search, and broaden or narrow a search. In a nutshell, to broaden a search, think about using truncation, combining synonyms with 'OR', or decreasing the number of concepts in your search. To narrow a search, consider introducing concepts to your search by adding additional search terms with 'AND', using more specific search terms, using phrase searching (""), or using filters/limits.
For example, if my topic were how koalas are impacted by the frequent and severe fires that result from climate change, my search might be: koala* AND (wildfire* OR fire* OR bushfire*)
From your search results, you can identify a relevant article and then use the database's tools to help you find more.
For example, here is a relevant 2021 article at the top of my search results:
You can see more recent papers that have cited this paper (18 papers), view this paper's reference list (45 papers), and find similar articles ("View Related Records") using the Citation Network:
When you are starting your research and exploring topics, it can be helpful to find a review paper (also called a literature review). This is a paper that summarizes and synthesizes primary research (research articles) on a topic. You can filter your search results to review articles under the Document Types menu on the left.
