BUS 101: Business leaders research and library resources: What is research?

What is research?

In many of your classes at TCC, your instructor will ask you to do research. Although the term research can have different meanings, when your instructor mentions "research" they usually mean the collecting of information about a particular subject.

The research process refers to the steps you take to locate written, oral, and visual information about a topic and then how you use that information to inform your thinking about that topic.

What are research papers?

When an instructor asks you to write a research paper, he or she means that the work you produce should be informed by outside sources.

In general, a good research paper provides a good balance of your own ideas and the outside sources that shaped and supported your ideas. 

What are sources?

A source contains information that you will use in your research. A source can be any of the following:

• books
• magazines, journal and newspaper articles
• web pages
• brochures                                                                    
• government documents
• films of television programs
• interviews

What's the difference between a "source" and a "resource"?

​Instructors may interchangeably use the terms sources or resources -- they usually mean the same thing.

Does format matter?

If the source is reliable and appropriate for your needs, it should not matter whether the source is in print, audio, video or electronic format. It is the information, not the "container" that is important.