Business & Leadership Research Guide (CAPS & GS)

Common Steps in the Research Process

1.  Analyze your information need

• Write a question or statement about your chosen topic
• Identify key words and phrases that describe your topic
• Determine:
  • The level of coverage and depth of the information needed
  • The type of information needed
  • How much information you need
  • The currency of the information needed
  • How soon you need the information
  • What disciplines or groups would be researching and writing about your topic

2.  Select the best types of information sources for your paper/project/presentation

• Books (including eBooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.)    
• Articles from journals, magazines, or newspapers
• Videos / Audios
• Websites

3.  Select the appropriate resources in which to search

Start with the following pages in this guide:

• Encyclopedias/Dictionaries
• Books & eBooks
• Journal Articles
• Newspaper Articles

4.  Conduct searches using effective techniques
      Learn more about advanced searching

5.  Determine the relevance and reliability of the information sources you located
      Evaluating Sources of Information can help with this.

6.  Develop a working bibliography/reference list 

7.  Locate the desired material 
      This may mean requesting from another library using interlibrary loan.

8.  Read and think critically about your sources

9.  Write/develop an effective research paper/project/presentation
      Resources on the Citation & Writing Help page in this guide can help you with this.

10.  Correctly cite the information sources you used (e.g., using APA Style) 
        Resources on the Citation & Writing Help page in this guide can help you with this.

Smart searching strategies

Examples of "smart searching" techniques:

• Narrow a search by using AND
  • Example: 
    cell phones AND trends 

• Broaden a search by using OR
          (Separate synonyms with an OR) 
  • Example: 
    (cell phones OR smartphones OR mobile devices)
    AND
    (trends OR innovations)

• Search for words as phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks
  • Example:  "cell phones"
• Broaden a search by using Truncation
          (Use a truncation symbol to search for different endings to words)
  • Example:   
    ("cell phone*" OR smartphone* OR "mobile device*")
    AND
    (trend* OR innovat*)