Start Your Research Here

"Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose."

- Zora Neale Hurston

---

8 Steps to Writing a Research Paper

 

Understand your assignment

What topics can you explore? Are any topics off limits? How long is the finished product? When is it due? How many and what type of sources are required? Will you be describing, analyzing, comparing, solving, or persuading?

 

Choose a meaningful topic

Research is an opportunity to explore topics relevant to you and your life. If your topic isn’t personally meaningful, the research process will quickly become tedious. If you have trouble connecting with a topic, your MJC librarians will have lots of ideas to help.

 

Assess available sources

Before you commit to a topic, run it through a few databases to ensure there is plenty of credible information to fuel your research. Compare the types of sources required with what you are finding. Problems? Talk to a librarian ASAP

 

Do some background reading

Familiar websites and some library databases are great as you begin to develop your ideas. They also help you identify search terms and tune into important conversations unfolding around your topic. Seeing how others discuss your topic can provide useful ideas on how to refine your paper.

 

Create research questions

They help shape your paper, plus save you time as you focus on finding sources answering specific questions. As your research progresses, you may revise and even add to your questions. Research librarians are happy to help you develop some questions to get you started.

 

Gather your sources

Use library databases to find high-quality sources answering your research questions. Follow the assignment’s source guidelines, and rigorously evaluate everything you plan on including in your bibliography. Be sure to follow the citation style set out by your professor.

 

Read, reflect, write, revise!

It’s simple: the more you read, think and write about your topic, the more you’ll learn about it. Read your sources closely and often, tracking the information you plan to use. Get your ideas down on paper as they develop, and cite your sources as you go.

 

Use the Library & Learning Center

MJC librarians can help you get started with your project, and assist you with each and every step of the research process. Tutors in the L&LC will help ensure the grammar, spelling, and organization of your paper is turn-in ready. Visit us early and as often as needed!

Generating Topic Ideas: Five Good Strategies
 

1. Real World Brainstorming.

Answer these questions and compile all your answers into a list of potential topics:

Question: What interests, activities, and aspects of your life define you outside of school?
Question: What problems--physical, emotional, economic, etc.--affect you or those close to you?
Question: What do you think are the biggest problems facing our community/country/planet?
 

2. Brainstorming on the Web

Use your favorite generative AI tool (if you teacher allows its use) or Google a broad topic you've thought about, has been suggested by your professor, or has been discussed in your classroom or textbook. This is a quick and easy way to get a snapshot of how other people are addressing your topic. Write down any ideas you find intriguing.
 

3. Using a Pick a Topic Database

The Library subscribes to several databases providing ideas for topics.
 

4. Meeting with your Professor

Your professor literally invented the assignment and has read lots of successful responses to it. They can likely offer you great ideas from past semesters, plus advise you on pitfalls to avoid. Plus, taking advantage of an office hour is a great way to get to know your professor better. 
 

5. Collaborating with MJC Librarians

Your MJC research librarians collaborate with thousands of students every semester, and they also work closely with classroom faculty. They are a strong and creative source of topic ideas and can also help you get started finding sources.

Pick a Topic Databases

You can get ideas for research topics from several MJC article databases.

---

All research begins by learning basic facts about your topic and what others are saying about it.

Preliminary reading -- sometimes called background reading -- allows researchers/writers to familiarize themselves with existing information, current research, and various viewpoints concerning their chosen topic. This type of inquiry helps evaluate the viability of topics as well as refine or narrow broad topics into a manageable focus. To be clear, preliminary reading isn't about finding your sources -- though you may find some along the way -- as much as it is about finding your ideas. 

Use These Databases to Start Exploring Your Topic

Database content is free for MJC students, faculty, and staff. If you are away from campus, simply log in just like you do for your MJC email or Canvas.

---

Research is All About Exploration

Sometimes we are exploring ideas, sometimes we are exploring current issues, sometimes we are exploring the lives of people or the repercussions of events.  Asking questions is the key to this exploration.

Think of research questions as a grocery list designed to guide you through a huge “store” of information. This list will allow you to efficiently locate and retrieve the most relevant knowledge possible to support your thesis, prevent you from getting off track as you sift through large quantities of information, and even help keep you organized as you begin writing. Your list of questions may change and/or expand as your research progresses.

Research Questions Help You

• Outline the "flow of your paper: beginning, middle, and end
• Create targeted search queries to quickly find the most useful sources
• Track the sources you've found vs. those sources you still need to find

Examples of Research Questions

---

Introductory Questions (help you introduce your topic)

• What is __________________?
• What are the different types of _______________?
• Why is _________________ an important issue?
• What background information is necessary to understand _____________?

Body Questions (help you create your analysis)

• What causes __________________?
• What are the effects of __________________?
• What are the arguments FOR _______________?
• What are the arguments AGAINST ________________?
• Who is affected by ______________?
• What is being done about _________________?

Concluding Questions (help you sum up your findings)

• Based on my research, what do I think about __________ and why?
• Based on my research, I argue _____________ about _________ for the following reasons.
• Based on my research, what should be done about ____________ and why?

After you've done your background reading and understand the basics about your topic AND after you've created some research questions to direct your exploration, you're ready to dig deeper and seek answers to your research questions.

OneSearch

You can begin by using OneSearch, the MJC Library Catalog. Using OneSearch will help you discover books and other sources that the library has either in print at the L & LC or online.

 

 

Additional Resources to Explore Your Topic

All of these resources are free for you. When you are off campus, simply login like you do for your student email or Canvas.

---

Before you jump into hunting and gathering your information, be sure you know how not to be fooled by unreliable, false, or misleading information. It's not hard if you train yourself to ask some simple questions that will help you explain why a particular source is reliable and a good fit for your research project.

When you encounter any kind of source, consider... (CRAAP Test)

1. Currency - When was it written? Has it been updated?
2. Relevance - How is it relevant to your research? What is its scope?
3. Authority - Who is the author? What is their point of view? 
4. Accuracy - Has the source been reviewed? Did they cite their sources? Who did they cite?
5. Purpose - Why was the source created? Who is the intended audience? Where was it published? In what medium?

---

Evaluating AI Content:

• Verify everything: AI output can sound confident, but these tools can make up (“hallucinate”) or misrepresent information, draw false conclusions, make major mistakes and generate fake sources 
• AI doesn’t “understand” the way humans do; these models lack real-world experience and context, so they don’t easily handle irony, humor and complex metaphors 
• Don’t just read AI-generated summaries; take time to read original articles and understand detailed points and context 
• Be aware that many of today’s AI tools are trained on information up to a certain date and may not have access to recent events or new discoveries 
• Challenge AI responses and require the AI to justify its output by citing sources and data 
• Beware of biased AI output 
• Guard against overreliance on AI; challenge yourself to learn and exercise your mental muscles

---

Finding Information to Help You Evaluate

To find out more about an author: 

Google the author's name or dig deeper in the library's biographical databases.

To find scholarly sources: 

When searching library article databases, look for a checkbox to narrow your results to Scholarly, Peer Reviewed or Peer Refereed publications.

To evaluate a source's critical reception: 

Check in the library's article databases to find reviews of the source in order to get a sense of how it was received in the popular and scholarly press.

To evaluate internet sources: 

The internet is a great place to find both scholarly and popular sources, but it's especially important to ask questions about authorship and publication when you're evaluating online resources. If it's unclear who exactly created or published certain works online, look for About pages on the site for more information about the authorship, or search for exact quotations from the text in Google (using quotation marks) to see if you can find other places where the work has been published.

Use lateral reading to see what others say about your source:

While applying the CRAAP Test to a website, that site isn't always the best place to answer questions concerning authority, accuracy, and point of view about itself. You can not always trust what an author or organization says about themselves, and there are sites that may look very professional and credible that are actually promoting a certain agenda or viewpoint. 

If you are unfamiliar with a online source, it is good practice to open a new tab and perform a search on the author and/or organization providing the source. This process is called Lateral Reading. In addition to reading "down" the webpage in order to evaluate it, you open additional tabs and read "across" multiple pages to determine what others are saying about your potential source. This helps you build the body of evidence needed to determine if the source is suitable for your research need or not.

If you need materials (books, articles, recordings, videos, etc.) that you cannot find either in OneSearch or in our databases, we can get it for you. Check out our Interlibrary Loan page below.

Once you're done with your research, you're ready to write.

When you write a research paper, you use information and facts from a variety of resources to support your own ideas or to help you develop new ones. Books, articles, videos, interviews, and websites are some examples of sources you might use.

Citing these sources of information in your work is essential because:

• It gives credit to the author of the original work who provided you with the information or idea
• It allows your audience to identify and find the source material in order to learn more about your topic
• It gives your paper more credibility because it shows you're supporting your arguments with high-quality source. It also helps earn your readers' trust because you're telling your readers the source of your facts so that they can confirm them for themselves
• It helps you avoid plagiarism

Watch this short video from The Learning Portal to learn why you cite and when you cite. Watch, Learn, and Enjoy!

"Why You Need to Cite Sources" by The Learning Portal is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

MLA, APA, & Chicago

Start by selecting your style from the list below. If you're not sure which to choose, ask your instructor.

Other Styles

Learn more on the go with our library of how-to videos on YouTube.

Learn how to research like a pro with our credit-bearing MLIB 100 or our free, non-credit courses.