GOL 111 Assignment Playbook

Keywords are essential to research. Taking the time to select keywords will ultimately save you time and help you write better papers.

• What are keywords? Keywords are concrete nouns that are directly related to a topic. For example, when studying climate change, some keywords are: deforestation, greenhouse gases, pollution, human activity, and others.  When you find keywords related to a topic, you are focusing on the fundamental concepts that define it.  This in turn helps you find relevant sources of information.
• Use your textbook and other course materials to find keywords. If you are writing about feedback loops and there is a chapter in your textbook about them, read the chapter closely and make a list of keywords.  If the chapter has references at the end, track them down in the databases, because they may provide the information you seek.
• Maximize the power of keywords by combining them with Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT).  These operators are code words that tell the database what search results you want.
• Examples:
  • apples AND health -- this search tells the database you want each of the results to contain both words. Results containing only one of those will not be displayed.
  • apples OR health -- this search tells the database you want each of the results to contain the word apples, the word health, or both.
  • apples NOT health - this search tells the database you want each of the results to contain the word apples, but not the word health.  Results with the word health will not be displayed.

Learn more about finding keywords.

Learn more about Boolean searching.

• Students often complain that they can't find anything for their topic.  This issue happens because students expect to find answers to their questions neatly explained in articles that say what they themselves want to say.  This approach to research will always be frustrating, because research does not work that way.
• Research is a process of discovery and because of this it may take time, and it may be very frustrating at times. Researchers may need to reword or redefine what they're looking for. The information the researcher seeks may not be all neatly contained in one or two articles. Most of the time, the information is spread out in many sources, such as books, articles, databases, newspapers, government reports, websites, etc., and it is the researcher's job to find these pieces and combine them to form an argument.
• Things to do:
  • Research before you research.  Until you are familiar with how research works, it helps if you research before you research. What does this mean? Explore your topic. Don't start out searching for specific information. Instead, read general information first. If encyclopedia articles are available, read those. Get books on the topic and explore the tables of content. Read chapters that seem helpful.
  • Narrow your topic. Narrowing a topic means making the topic specific.  When your topic is specific and clear, you will find a lot more information than when your topic is too generalized.
  • Know the difference between subject and topic. A subject  is a broad area of knowledge. Climate change is a subject. A topic is a smaller area within a subject. Microplastics in the ocean is a topic. When you're starting your research, read materials about the subject. As you read, begin narrowing (refining) your topic.
  • As you read, keep a list of keywords that seem related to what you want to write about.

Learn more about how to narrow a topic.

Learn more about how sourcing works.

Where do you go to find sources for an academic level paper? 

Your best bets are library databases, specific academic journals, and specific organizations.  If something you want is not available directly (for example, an article you want is behind a paywall), you can ask the library to obtain it for you via interlibrary loan (a mechanism where libraries lend materials to other libraries).

• Library databases provide a wealth of high level material. Explore the library's database list.
• Specific academic journals that deal with your topic are an excellent source of information and contain a high percentage of peer reviewed articles. Some journals, such as the journal Oceanography are open access, which means they provide their materials for free.  See a list of open access oceanography journals.  If you need other open access journals, run a web search like this: [subject] open access journal.
  • Example:petroleum open access journal
• Specific organizations.  If you're studying topics related to petroleum, for example, run this web search: petroleum organizations.This will yield organizations such as Independent Petroleum Association of America, American Petroleum Institute, and OPEC. Organizations publish reports, statistics, and other information about specific topics.

Are you looking for statistics?

Statistics tend to be spread out all over the place, so you will need to look around.  Many organizations produce statistical reports which can be very useful, and you can find these by running a web search like this: [topic] organizations statistics. 

Example: petroleum organization statistics. This search produces results such as  this list of statistical resources related to petroleum, from the Library of Congress.

You can also use the library's Statista database, a database that collects statistics from a variety of sources.

• For help finding resources, use the information in the library's playbooks. Librarians can help you understand the playbooks, but they cannot conduct research for you.
• For help with formatting citations, please consult the library's citation styles playbooks. Please note the librarians cannot help you with citation generators or with any citation guide other than the library's. 
• For help with composition issues (such as spelling, grammar, flow, etc.), please visit the Writing Center.
• If you have questions, please email the  librarians at reference@pvcc.edu, visit the library and speak with a librarian, or connect via chat. If your section has an embedded librarian, contact that specific librarian.