SOCS 10123 - Applied Research Methods in Early Childhood

Start by brainstorming:

• Review your assignment criteria. What topics are acceptable? How many sources do you need? What types of publications are acceptable?
• Decide on a topic, research question, and keywords. See Planning your Research
• Consider what type of publications would have information about your topic. Books? Journals? Websites? See Types of Sources
• Decide on the best place to look for sources on your topic. See Choosing Databases

Pay attention to:

• The number of useful results. Too many? Too few?
• Where your keywords appear. What keywords did you use that are working? What keywords are confusing your results?
• The vocabulary authors are using. Are there any new words that you could add to your list of keywords?

Modify your search strategy and search terms as needed.

Reflect on your search:

• Did you find enough sources to meet your assignment requirements?
• Were you satisfied with the relevance and quality of the sources you found?
• What strategies worked well? What strategies were not helpful?

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