CCCS Research Help Toolkit (Updated for 2025)

1. Understand Your Assignment

   1. Read through the assignment instructions carefully. If you do not understand what the assignment rules are, please contact your instructor for clarification. 

2. Choose Your Topic or Your Question

   1. Sometimes you are given the option to choose your topic.  Other times the topic is chosen for you.  Either way, be sure you are clear what your topic is and how to move forward. 

   2. If possible, put your topic in the form of a research question.  You know you are done researching when you have the complete answer to your research question. 

3. Background Information and Pre-Research

   1. Write down what you already know about your topic.  If you do not know very much about your topic, you can do some background information using encyclopedias and dictionaries or general websites.  You will NOT use these sources in your final assignment. These sources should only help you understand your topic better so you can find better sources. 

4. Develop a Search Strategy

   1. Read the section on Search Strategy below to learn about developing a search strategy

5. Do the Research

   1. This is where you go to a database, use your Search Strategy, and look for sources for your assignment.

6. Organize Your Sources

   1. Make sure you have the full article of all your sources, the citation for every source, and know what information you plan to use in your assignment. 

7. Complete the Assignment

   1. Put it all together and complete the assignment.  Be sure to double-check the assignment instructions to make sure you have it completed correctly. 

Evaluating the sources found during research is very important.  Evaluating helps to ensure you have reliable information for your assignment. 

There are many methods you can use to evaluate your sources.  The following is how CCCS librarians recommend you evaluate sources. 

• Authority
  • Who is the author? Are they an expert in the field?  Have they published before?  Do they have degrees in the field? 
  • Google their name to find out these answers
• Coverage
  • Does it provide an overview or specifics of your topic? 
    • You likely only need one overview source for your assignment since most overview articles on this topic should be similar
    • If it is specific, find several similar articles to help you discuss more details in your assignment
  • If you need a total of 4 sources, you should have 1 overview source and 3 specific sources
• Objectivity and Bias
  • Is it objective? Does it just provide facts? 
  • Is it biased?  Does it try to convince you that the author's side is the correct information without providing counter arguments? 
  • The easiest way to determine objectivity and bias is to find more sources. Then, compare those sources with each other. 
• Accuracy
  • Is it accurate? 
  • The easiest way to determine accuracy is to find more sources. Then, compare those sources with each other. 
• Currency
  • Is it current? 
  • It depends on your assignment instructions and your topic.
  • Some topics require very recent sources (science and technology) while other topics accept older sources (history). 

A database is an organized collection of information, usually articles, that allow you to search and find the information you need.  Most databases are paid by subscriptions.  Please use the links below to access the databases (do not search Google and use that link as it will ask you to pay for access).  

Where are the databases?

Here is an A-Z Database List for all of the databases available to you.

Choosing a database can be difficult when you start to do college-level research. 

If you are unsure which database to use, you can search them all at once using the "Start Your Search" link on the library page. This allows you to search everything you have access to. 

As you continue with your schooling, you will become more familiar with the databases that are specific to your major. For example, if your major is business, you will start to use databases like "Business Source Complete" and "Regional Business News." 

In these guides, librarians have put together databases by subject so you can find them more easily. 

Be sure to contact a librarian for help with your research! 

A Search Strategy is a method of preparing to do research.  Having a search strategy will help you find better sources faster.  These strategies will work in any environment (Google or databases), but they work best in databases. Use the following steps to create a good search strategy. 

1. Determine the keywords of your topic or research question (databases don't like full sentences or questions; they prefer keywords)
   1. Keywords are the most important words that you are searching for
      1. Example: How harmful is global warming to the artic circle 
         1. Keywords: harmful global warming arctic circle
2. Find synonyms for your keywords (this helps you have some options as you search)
   1. Example: global warming > climate change
3. Phrase searching
   1. Put quotation marks around terms that go together to force the database to search for those words in that exact order
      1. Example: "Global warming" or "climate change" 
   2. Only use phrase searching if those words are used often in that order and are always together
      1. Example of incorrect use of phrase search: "global warming climate change bad" 
         1. Since those words are not put together in that order, you will receive zero results
4. Boolean Operators
   1. Three words make up Boolean Operators
      1. AND
         1. Example: global warming AND arctic circle
         2. Only results with all the words included will show
         3. AND gives you fewer results
      2. OR
         1. Example: (Global warming OR climate change)
            1. Results with either phrase will show
            2. Place parentheses around the terms connected with OR 
         2. OR gives you more results
      3. NOT
         1. Example: global warming NOT pollution
            1. All results that include global warming that do NOT include pollution will show
5. Wildcard
   1. The asterisk * is a wildcard that allows for searching versions of a word without having to type them all out
      1. Example: harm* 
         1. Results that include harm, harming, harmful, and any other use of "harm" will show
6. Search String
   1. A more advanced method of putting your search strategy together into one search
      1. Example:( "global warming" OR "climate change") AND "arctic circle" AND harm*
         1. This will search for
            1. global warming AND arctic circle AND harm* [meaning any version of harm]
            2. climate change AND arctic circle AND harm* [meaning any version of harm]
7. Building and using a good search strategy takes practice and patience.  

Be sure to contact a librarian for help with your research! 

A journal is a publication that is often dedicated to a particular subject, discipline, or career field.  Some journals are called scholarly or peer-reviewed.  That means that the research articles within that journal have all been reviewed by other experts in that field before the article and approved before they get published.  This makes for a very reliable, credible article!  Journals can be in print or electronic.  Search the library databases to find journal articles for your research. 

How is a journal different from a magazine?  A magazine is also a publication that has articles within.  However, these articles are not scholarly or peer-reviewed.  These articles need to be evaluated further before using them in your research. Magazines can also be in print or digital form and can be found by searching the library databases. 

Search all of the journals you can access by title or subject! 

Popular sources are from magazines, newspapers, YouTube videos, most websites, social media, and other similar methods of delivery. These sources have not necessarily been evaluated for accuracy, objectivity, and lack of bias. These may be sources you can use in your assignment depending on the specific criteria. 

Scholarly or Peer-Reviewed sources are from scholarly journals and scholarly websites.  To become a scholarly/peer-reviewed source, that source must have been reviewed and evaluated by experts in that field (the same field that the source is about) for accuracy, objectivity, and lack of bias.  These sources are the most accurate and credible sources you can find.  

Please contact a librarian if you need help finding your sources.  If you are unsure if you can use a source in your assignment, please ask your professor for their opinion.  

If you locate an article you wish to use, you can often email it to yourself.  You do not need to use your student email address.  While on the article result page, you can often get the citation (APA, MLA, or Chicago Notes and Bibliography) by clicking on the "Quotation marks."  

If you locate an article in a database or online and are either required to pay for access, or you cannot find the full text, here's what you can do! 

Contact your local college library and ask if they can help you find the full text. Please give them time to obtain the article and email it to you.