My Research Process

My research process typically consist of going on google and typing in key words that includes my topic, not caring too much about the topic. That process is all I’ve ever known but now I discovered the google scholar and the Harold B. Lee library since I’ve been at BYU. I really like the google scholar because it provides peer reviewed articles that allow me to know that these articles are a creditable source.  The Harold B. Lee library seems really complicated for me. I think it’s because of the format. It seems like that it’s so much information with abbreviations and keys that I don’t know the meaning to. I find the research a bit frustrating but that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy it. I like to be challenged. That’s certainly what this issues paper is doing to me. This is very useful because I can no longer just read something that I got from a couple of sources and write a paper on it but I actually have to quote, cite sources and do actual research. I finally get to research a topic that is based on my interest which I think makes all the difference with the way I organize and conduct finding sources.

The way that I’ve conducted research so far is by categorizing my issues paper into different questions or things that I want to include. I’m providing information for each question, sub topics, and counter arguments. I want to change my attitude towards the research paper. I’m use to just finding what I want with ease, but I noticed that I actually have to do research and know all about my sources while putting it in an organized manner. I have so many ideas of how to approach my topic but I’m not sure if I’ll be all over the place and loose the reader. I learned that my topic is too broad and I need to narrow my topic to get better sources. Something that I want to do better is once I have found a source looking for other related sources that the article has referenced. For example Wikipedia is a great source to find resources. I want to use those related links more often. Because of my topic I’m going to be trying to persuade a stakeholder to my argument so using creditable authority is important. Using sources as CNN, Forbes or .gov sites would help me to have authority in my article.