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Research Help

The following steps outline an effective research strategy needed to complete an essay, class presentation, or a term paper in most courses at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Start your research

VIDEO: Library Resources for Students (4:20). A quick introduction to KPU Library resources including: Summon search, the library catalogue, research databases, journal title search, subject guides, the Research Help guide, and citation guides. Also highlights how to find library hours and get help from a Librarian.

Research Process flow chart - shows a diagram going from reference material to newspapers to books and then to academic articles

Image from: http://iupui.campusguides.com/startyourresearch/knowledgecycle 

Activity:

MLA Citation:
Brinkerhoff, Celia. "Activity: Which Topic is Narrower?" Doing Research: A Student's Guide to Finding and Using the Best Sources, KPU Library, 2019, pressbooks.bccampus.ca/doingresearch/chapter/narrowing/ . Used with permission.

The first strategy in effective research is to start with a basic keyword search of your topic.

  • Analyze your topic for a few key concepts to use as search terms (keywords).
  • Identify synonyms for your terms, related terms and spelling variations (e.g. cannabis OR marijuana OR marihuana)
  • Use the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT to combine your keywords and to retrieve more relevant results.
  • Focus on key concepts. Don't do a search using a question or a phrase. 

Example: The impact of sea level rise due to climate change on human rights of people living in coastal areas in Asia

Activity:

MLA citation:
Brinkerhoff, Celia. "Activity: Focus on the Keywords of a Research Question." Doing Research: A Student's Guide to Finding and Using the Best Sources, KPU Library, 2019, pressbooks.bccampus.ca/doingresearch/chapter/keywords/.
(Used under CC-BY 4.0 International licence.)

Article: Why is lo-fi hip-hop so conducive to concentration?

LIVE RADIO - Lofi hip hop mix to study/relax to