In CM107, you'll need to find articles related to your field of study. See the assignment language in your classroom for exact requirements, but essentially the articles must be about a new issue or change in your field of study. Below are some tips on how to get started.
The following are ways to conduct some background research and generate ideas.
Search Engines
It may be helpful to first search a web search engine like Google or DuckDuckGo to get ideas about the current issues or topics in your field. Once you choose an issue, you can research that topic in the Library.
Professional Association Websites
Another source for some professions will be professional association websites. Look for news, education, events, and advocacy sections of the association's website and look at the topics listed there for inspiration. If the association hosts conferences or you know of another professional conference, these can also be great ways to see what's going on in your field.
News
News sources can also be a great way to generate an idea and see what changes are happening in your field of study. For example, students in a business program might want to check out the Business section of a newspaper or source, or read a news source dedicated to business like the Wall Street Journal.
Publications in Your Field
You could also look at recent issues of publications in your field of study. To find publications in your area of study, visit EBSCO's Publication Finder tool and type in the name of a publication you know the name of to see if we have it, or select the closest subject to browse available titles by discipline. On the results list, look to the left side to see an option to limit to peer reviewed journals only.
Experience
Also, if you're already working in your field of study, don't forget your personal experience. Ask yourself what has changed recently and see if it's being written about on the web or in the Library.
Below are some strategies to use when developing keywords related to your topic and research questions.
Brainstorming alike terms
Searching for current issues in almost any field of study will likely mention the impact of remote work in some way, so let's use this as an example and assume it's an area you could develop a researchable topic from and could be something you may want to research in the Library. Brainstorming alike terms for remote work will be helpful as a first step, since different search terms and phrases may be used to all talk about this one thing. For example:
There are more, but we're just thinking of examples here to start with. For more ideas on alike-terms and phrases, do some background research on the topic and pay attention to subject headings in results lists, or the ways writers discuss the topic in news stories.
Tying it to your field of study
You can take this pool of brainstormed options then and combine it with more field-specific topics. Taking examples from business, health, and education:
Depending on your field of study, of course, these additional terms are going to vary.
Researching the cause or effect
Additionally, you can add terms related to the impacts of remote work, again depending on your field of study...
It's not so important to think of everything before you've typed in a single keyword into a search, as you'll gain ideas to create new searches as you go. However, it is important to think ahead at least a little and consider what your general strategy will be and some starting keywords and phrases.
Use the PG Library's all-in-one search tool, EBSCO Discovery Service, to start with, embedded on the Search page in this guide.
After trying out EBSCO, if you still haven't found an article you like yet, try out ProQuest Central. A link to both are also below.
