GETTING STARTED

• Reference Books:  The Holman Library has an excellent reference collection including many subject-specific encyclopedias, statistics books, etc. Reference books can provide excellent background information to help you narrow your topic.

• CQ Researcher:  Provides online access to CQ Researcher issues back to 1923. You can browse by topic or date, or search for a subject of your own choosing. CQ Researcher reports (averaging 24 pages each) are an excellent "first stop" and provide background information, current issues, and chronologies on each topic.

FINDING BOOKS

• Find books located within the GRCC Library by searching the GRCC Library Catalog.

• NetLibrary ebooks on a wide range of topics including specialized nursing and computing collections. Read more about using these ebooks.

• Books can be borrowed from other libraries by using the GRCC Library Interlibrary Loan service. Please ask at the circulation or reference desks at Holman Library.  Allow approximately seven days for delivery.

• Students at the Enumclaw and Kent campuses can request books be sent from the GRCC Library to the Enumclaw and Kent campus (http://www.greenriver.edu/library/libinfo/remote.htm).

FINDING OPINION PIECES

• The library owns several book series which focus on polarized issues such as those you might choose for your topic. The series titles include:

• Opposing Viewpoints
  Information Plus
  Reference Shelf
  Current Controversies

• To find the books listed above, go to the the GRCC Library Catalog and choose "Guided Search". Using the example, search for the topic and books series of your choice.

• Many of these book series can also be found in the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. However, the books come out in a print format 6-12 months earlier than they appear in the database.

FINDING ARTICLES

• You won't find articles by looking in the library catalog. Instead, you will need to search in some of the Research Databases which index journal articles. Your topic will determine the appropriate databases to search, but some suggestions are:
  

  • Proquest: Over 2200 magazines, journals, and newspapers are represented, covering a wide range of topics. Includes coverage of the Seattle Times since 1984 and of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer since 1990.

  • Academic Search Premier: It provides full text for nearly 4,500 journals, including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF back files to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 titles.

  • Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center: As mentioned previously, books come out 6-12 months earlier than they appear in this database; however, our library does not own all the books within a series nor items included in this database.

TOPIC SELECTION & REFINEMENT

• Select a topic, such as "same sex marriage".

• This is still much too broad and will prove both hard to research and hard to write about. Ask yourself "what about same sex marriage?" And keep on asking yourself "what about" your topic until it becomes manageable.

• Narrow your topic, for example "same sex marriage should be legalized". [If your area of research is very new to you, you might want to browse through recent journals in the field, look at related subject-specific encyclopedias, etc. to help you narrow your topic.]

• Write out your research question and identify and highlight the key concepts:

• In the interest of equal rights for all, same sex marriage should be legalized in the United States.

IDENTIFYING SYNONYMS

• Use abbreviations AND proper terms
  Include ALL variations: "ADHD" "hyperactivity" "hyperactivity disorder"
  Consider historical variations: "African American" "black"
  Consider regional/geographic variations: "First Nations People" "Aboriginals"
  Consider singular and plural: "calf" "calves"
  Consider spelling variations

• Who is the author, editor or publisher? What are their credentials or biases?

• What is the content? What is omitted? Is it reliable? Are there misspellings or grammatical errors?

• Why was it created? Is it selling or promoting something? Is it one-sided? 

• Where was it published and what is the reputation of the publisher? For a webpage, what is the domain (.com, .gov, .edu, etc.)?

• When was it published or created? When, for a webpage, was it last updated?

• To determine if a publication is a scholarly journal or a popular magazine, see Scholarly Journals versus Popular Magazines.

ACCESSING GRCC LIBRARIES REMOTELY

• Students doing library research remotely (e.g.: from home or from the Kent and Enumclaw campuses) should be able to access most of the electronic sources that can be accessed in the library.  However, in order to access restricted sources (e.g.: Proquest database), you must enter your student identification number.

• If you are experiencing problems, contact the reference desk for assistance at (253) 833-9111 ext. 2091.

CITING SOURCES

• MLA Style
  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (4th ed)   808.02 G437m 2003 (Reference)
  MLA Style (see especially the frequently asked questions section)

• APA Style
  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed)  808.02 P976 2001 (Reference)
  Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association

• NoodleBib
  NoodleBib is a product that allows you to generate, edit, and print an MLA Works Cited list or APA References list that complies with the rules of the current MLA Handbook and APA Publication Manual.