Getting Started with Your Research Paper

Learning how to read for research will help you:

• Understand how different sources help you to answer your research question - this will make writing easier
• Connect ideas from different sources
• Avoid plagiarism
• Save time when you have to create a works cited or bibliography 
• Keep your research organized

To get a quick idea about what a source is about and if it is relevant to your research you can:

For Academic Articles:

• Read the abstract or summary
• Note if any subject headings or keywords are listed
• Look for the name of the journal the article is published in
• Check what year it was published
• Open/download the article and read the discussion and conclusion section

For Books:

• Read the summary
• Look through the table of contents 
• Look for the name of the publisher 
• Check what year it was published

Once you have decided to give the information source a closer look, be sure to save it. The library website and databases all include shortcuts to email the source or save a permalink.  

Now you will need to do a deeper reading of the texts.  This will involve rereading some sections, consulting other sources when there are parts you don't understand, and taking notes. 

Tips for taking notes:

• Keep your notes organized and consistent.  If you are using Google docs, create a folder that is for this particular research assignment and start a new doc for each source.  
• After you read a section of a paper, try to summarize it.  If you can't summarize it without using sentences taken directly from the text you should reread the section to gain a better understanding
• If you cut & paste text from a source make a note and include some citation info right away - this way you remember where it's from and you don't unintentionally plagiarize 
• As you take notes on different sources you will begin to notice connections between the different texts and how they help you to answer your research question. Make note of these connection when they occur