AUC Libraries | Intro to Library Research

Research type	Essential characteristics
1. Find the population of each country in Africa.	A search for individual facts or data. Concerned with facts rather than knowledge or analysis. Answers can often be found in a single source.
2. Find out what is known about a specific topic. "What is the history of the Internet?"	Report and reviews--these synthesize existing information and give a summary of the past. Answers can often be found in a mix of books, articles, and Web sites. [Note: gathering this information may often include activities like #1 above.]
3. Determine whether violence is related to playing violent video games.	Gathering and analyzing a body of information or data and extracting new meaning from it or developing unique solutions to problems or cases. This is "real" research and requires an open-ended question for which there is no ready answer. [Note: This always includes #2 above and usually #1. It may also involve gathering new data through experiments, surveys, or other techniques.]

Keep these guidelines in mind before you start a research project:

1. Understand the assignment. Don't risk selecting inappropriate materials or addressing irrelevant issues. No matter how well you write or speak, this will usually result in poor work. If necessary, discuss the assignment with your instructor or a reference librarian.

2. Select a topic that interests you. Personal interest makes research more enjoyable and any presentation of the findings more enjoyable for its audience.

3. If possible, select a topic you are already researching for another project. This may not only save you some time but allow you to explore different facets of the same topic and build a deeper understanding.

4. Select an original topic. Imagine a course instructor reading a dozen papers on the same two or three topics. Finding an original topic or perspective is more interesting for everyone!

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