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What Is Library Research?
In preparing to carry out library research in support of the MSE Capstone Project, it is helpful first to classify research.
Primary research is a unique investigation carried out by a researcher. The investigation must conform to a valid research design. Examples of primary research include case studies, experiments, statistically valid surveys, and other types of investigations. At MSOE, primary research that involves work with human subjects must have prior approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Secondary research consists of documents and sources that contain data, information, and results generated from primary research. Secondary research generally exists in the form of reports, studies, and company documents, in addition to books and journal articles. As such, library research often uncovers secondary research. Secondary research publishes or in some way makes available the results obtained in primary research investigations.
Tertiary research consists of documents and sources that summarize or report on information contained in secondary research. Tertiary research typically is found in many kinds of documents, including books, articles, and newspapers. Library research is the most effective way to locate and obtain tertiary research.
It is not the case that one type of research is necessarily superior to the other types. Rather, it is the case that all research must be critically evaluated. For details on evaluating research, see below. As a general rule of thumb, if asked about the use of a resource in a report, research paper or project, the MSE student should be able to defend the resource on one or all of the following grounds:
- The resource is objective, accurate, or reliable
- The resource contributes to an understanding of the Capstone topic, or is associated with a publication that enjoys the general reputation of contributing to the practice and understanding of the Capstone topic
- The resource in some way is significantly relevant to the purposes of the Capstone project.
Steps To Follow Before You Begin Library Research
Effective library research begins before an actual search is undertaken. Consider the following activities.
- Write up a list of concepts associated with your topic. Think broadly. Work outward to the "big picture."
- Write a description of your topic with professional jargon whose intended target is knowledgeable professionals. Use this description to generate a list of search terms.
- Write a description of your topic for a layperson with little or no knowledge of your topic. Use the description to generate a list of search terms.
- Use the Ulrich's Database to identify any journals that may publish articles on your topic or related to it (or use other resources described elsewhere in this tutorial). Find out where those journals are INDEXED by also looking in the Ulrich's Database. Focus on those databases where the relevant journals are indexed.
- Identify any professional associations, organizations, groups, etc. that may be related to your topic. Look them up in the Associations Unlimited. It is also not unusual to discover associations and groups when you start searching the literature. Try to verify if the group has a library and if it sponsors research.
- Establish a plan or a system for tracking bibliographic information. Be prepared to provide copies of all work cited in your project.
Tips For The Library Database Searching Process
Consider the following tips when using library databases to carry out library research:
- It is fundamentally important to realize that for many reports, research papers, and projects, a student should not rely exclusively on database searching to locate useful information. For a brief paper or project, a database search in an excellent business and management database may be sufficient. However, certainly for more ambitious projects -- including thesis and capstone work -- the student should not neglect print resources. Many good resources are available only in print at MSOE. A database search is not necessarily a comprehensive search; it may even be the wrong type of search, depending on the research topic.
- It is additionally important to understand that library databases and web search engines are two very different things. Library databases are true databases that often feature indexing and other features. Search engines are essentially collections of web pages that can be searched, sometimes with sophisticated weighting algorithms. Library databases tend to provide access to published literature (i.e., literature published in books and journals); search engines provide access to web pages, which sometimes feature published literature, but usually not. See below for further details about using the Web for research.
- Database searching is a process. Work in stages. Use the literature itself and your results to modify searches, to suggest other search terms, concepts, and ideas, and to suggest ways of systematically adding and subtracting individual search components. In other words, stop searching, and look at what you've got. Look for clues. Use these clues, other search terms, and additional ideas to rework search statements.
- When doing library research in a database, try a quick, "ideal" search first. If no results -- or no relevant results -- are retrieved, you may need to eliminate search terms. This broadens the search. You may need to work through results and gradually achieve focus. You may also have to use controlled vocabulary (see below).
- Study all available help documentation for databases. To search databases effectively, it is often necessary to employ the native search synatx. Learn what to expect from the database, and what it can and can't do. Does it support boolean searching, exact match searching, and other features? What journals are actually indexed? Does full-text mean that all articles in a journal appear in the database, or only selected articles?
- Keep a log of your search statements. It may seem tedious, but it will save time in the long run. Moreover, try variations of the search statements that appear in your log.
- Block out the time for database searching. A wealth of information is available. You can literally search hundreds of databases. The sheer number available, however, and the fact that they are all different means that database searching is tedious. It is time-consuming. Bibliographic software may help to smooth the process a bit, but it cannot replace the cognitive activities--the intellectual evaluation and critical assessment of material--that take place in database searching. Only you can do that. Accordingly, you need to plan and make the time to do the searching.
- Be systematic and persistent. For large projects,
including thesis and capstone work, consider searching
in a large majority of databases available to you here
at MSOE. Eliminate obvious databases that are probably
not useful for your purposes,
but ultimately do not neglect at least evaluating the merits
of searching every database available to you. Take the time
to look in databases that may not seem to be good candidates
at first glance.
For short papers and projects, it may not be necessary to search all databases, but be sure that you search the relevant ones in the correct manner.
However, for both large projects and smaller projects, always let your results guide you.
In practice, it is often the case that useful information may be retrieved from a database that initially may not appear to be a likely candidate for supplying helpful information.
- Study the index fields and their designations in your selected database. If you wish to limit your search statement in a database, one effective way to do it is by means of index fields.
- Employ Boolean search techniques in databases. If you are not familiar with simple Boolean searching, study the Help documentation.
- Use the Advanced Features of database services. If a service offers "Natural Language Searching," try it.