Research Depot: Developing a Search Strategy

Introduction
OK, you've picked a topic. Now you have to start finding resources that can help you develop that topic in greater depth and with clearer focus. Some of this work will happen through meeting with or talking to your instructor and by using some of the texts you've read in class. But you'll definitely have to do independent work as well. What should you look for and how should you go about finding it? This section of the Research Depot will help you develop a search strategy for locating those good sources.

Books on research usually divide sources into secondary and primary. We find it more helpful to think of "framing sources" and "case sources."

Sources as Framing or Case
Science might provide a good analogy for understanding this difference. Scientists make "hypotheses" about how the world works, and then they do specific experiments to test these hypotheses. If the evidence from the experiments supports the hypothesis, then it's generally accepted as true. The work you do in this class is very similar. The authors you read in class are making hypotheses about the world of that topic, about what race is and how it comes into being or about the family and the way it has changed. In their works, they often look at specific cases that show how these theories work. Their hypotheses are the frames, their specific examples (think of these as experiments to test the hypotheses) are the cases.

You're being asked to do the same thing in your research essay. You need to find a frame that will help you examine your case, or vice-versa. In other words, you need to reach a conclusion about a hypothesis by examining the specific evidence provided by the experiments that are your cases. Researchers do this all the time: either they propose a new theory supported by specific evidence, or they re-examine that evidence, or introduce new evidence, to challenge or modify an existing theory.

Now it's your turn to do that, and you'll do a lot of it in the library. When you start researching, keep both frame and case in mind.

Framing Sources
Many of the readings that you discussed in your section of 201 can be thought of as "framing" texts. That is, these are secondary sources that offer a theoretically developed perspective on the issues affecting your topic. These sources offer you terms and ideas for interpreting (or framing) specific examples. While you may be able to write a passing paper in 201 using only the framing texts you've encountered so far, you'll probably need to find more specific or even opposing framing sources to put in dialogue with the course readings.

You can use this understanding of the course to help you in your research. Here's how you might conceive of the types of research you are looking for, and how you might go about finding it:

• More Specific Framing Texts. The readings in the typical 201 course tend to take on general questions and may only touch upon the specific topic you have chosen. For example, if you have been reading about the construction of ethnic identity in the United States in the Ethnic Identities section, you probably have lots of useful terms for thinking about ethnicity, including the way that ethnicity is often reinforced through the formation of ethnic enclaves which tend to use space to mark boundaries between groups. However, if you want to explore further how ethnic groups are "spatialized" you might want to look at more specific framing sources that explore that idea. You might find that your book points you to these sources, but you will probably need to do some research using "space" and "ethnicity" as search terms.

• Opposing Views. Because framing sources are the product of a specific perspective, they are often engaged in an argument with other texts—it's just like two different scientists with two different theories . The readings you have had in class might explicitly take issue with the ideas of other writers who have written on your topic. You might begin your research by looking at these opposing views. Sometimes this dialogue can help you to see new approaches to your idea.

When you're done with this kind of research, you should be able to go to your instructor and say, "I am using X as my frame, who argues Y about my case material. I'll show how X clarifies the case material (or how X's theories are limiting, and need to be revised).

Case Sources
The case is the example you want to look at using your frame. It's a particular example that helps to illustrate, test, or complicate the ideas you're exploring in your framing sources. These may be either primary sources (such as autobiographies, statistics, news reports, surveys, works of art, films, or factual data) or secondary sources (such as studies, ethnographies, or biographies). For example: a student who had been reading about the ways in which racial groups tend to form ethnic enclaves by establishing boundaries wanted to test these ideas against the experience of Chinese Americans who congregate in the "Chinatown" section of various cities. Ultimately, she discovered that there had been a lot written about "Chinatown" in San Francisco and "Chinatown" in Philadelphia. Using ethnographies and news sources, she was able to challenge her framing sources by arguing that boundaries surrounding ethnic enclaves are more related to class than to ethnicity.

It doesn't matter which comes first, the frame or the case, so long as you have both types of sources. A scientist couldn't prove anything without experiments (cases), and there wouldn't be a point in having those experiments without a hypothesis (frame). Many students begin by doing research on their case and only later discover a useful frame for examining it. Others have good framing ideas and then must find a case against which to test them. Ultimately, though, the frame and the case must be able to work together and must fit together logically. It may take you a while before you recognize the connection between case and frame.

Places to Begin Your Search
Now that you know the type of sources you are looking for, you will have to physically start searching. During the library orientation you should have been exposed to the key electronic search tools available to you through the Rutgers University Libraries. For a good refresher on the search information covered in your library orientation, check out The Knowledge Maze, or skip ahead and read the "Step by Step Library Help" of the Research Depot. These three basic electronic search tools include:

• IRIS (for finding books)
• Indexes (for finding journal articles or news sources)
• The Internet (for finding news or online sources)

Books and journal articles will generally be the place to find framing sources, while you might want a combination of books, journal articles, news sources, and internet sources for your case.

In the end, you want a good balance of sources. You will want to use books and scholarly articles as well as, perhaps, websites and popular articles. Having a variety of research (and thereofre evidence) will make your own argument that much stronger.

Trying Out Terms
Research is often described as a "hermeneutic" process, which works through a constant circling back and refining of your ideas. Like the three step dance of "specific-general-specific" described in "Pick a Topic, Keep a Topic," your search should develop through a succession of narrowing and broadening searches as you refine it to find the most helpful sources. Looking into our science analogy even more can help.

The Experimental Method
The process of trying out terms often seems rather haphazard, but you can proceed logically. You begin by hypothesizing about what terms might work, then experimenting with search terms, compiling useful terms from the better sources you find, refining your approach, and repeating the process until you feel you can reach valid conclusions.

• Hypothesize. As you understand your topic now, what terms do you think might work? Likely in the process of coming up with a topic you generated some terms. Write those down. Before you go to the library or sit down to do a search remotely, brainstorm some terms that might lead you to information on your topic.

• Experiment. Once you have your list of terms, start trying them out. Some terms will give you too many sources to search through, meaning you will need to refine your search by combining terms (using Boolean logic—more on that on the next page). Others will yield no results or too few. Slowly you should start to see which terms are most useful.

• Compile Data. Pay attention to the useful sources that you find. What terms do they use to discuss your topic? If you are looking at abstracts of articles or books, be sure to consider the subject headings that have been used to categorize the most interesting sources. In IRIS, for example, if you find a useful book, try clicking on the different headings used to classify it to see what other books you find. You can do the same in online indexes. Whenever you find somehting useful, use that to restart your searching. If you find an author who wrote a good article on your topic, search by that author's name to see what else they've written that might relate to your research. You can also consult the huge books of Library of ongress subject headings, which provide the "official" headings for cataloging books. In all cases, when you find something that works, jot down the terms you used to find it and then use those terms in other places. In online indexes, for example, you can often run the same search in different indexes.

• Refine Your Approach. Once you have more improved terms, try your search again. Try looking for more specific sources.

• Repeat as Needed. It's going to take a lot of going back and trying again to get all the information you need, so be prepared to cover the same ground again and again. Don't think that because you tried IRIS once, you're done looking for bookes. When you find some useful names or terms from an online index, go back to IRIS, and vice-versa.

Some Advice
If you are still struggling to find good sources, try some of these ideas:

• Talk to the Reference Librarian. Reference librarians can be found at the Reference desk in the library, and they are glad to help you. In fact, it's their job. Of course, the better the questions you ask a librarian, the better he or she will be able to direct you to useful sources. But don't be afraid to turn to them. They're experts in searching, and they may be able to save you some time and frustration.

• Be Sure to Check the Bibliographies of Good Sources. If you find a good source, be sure to look closely at its bibliography or its footnotes. Often, a good article on your topic will discuss the most important work on that topic. You want to be sure to do the same.

• Read What You Have Found and Try Again. Usually some preliminary reading will help you to define your topic more clearly and thus help you find better sources. Don't expect to find everything you need all at once.

Searching on the internet is another option, and one we will examine in detail in the next section.

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