ENGL 101: Muir, A. (Fall 2025) - Imagination

Research Questions

A "research question" is similar to a precis or thesis. It boils down to a question that needs to be answered -- and will be answered -- through your research process. It's the overall theme or purpose or catalyst to your research.

Here's a video that steps you through developing a focused research question:

Keywords

"Keywords" are also known as "search terms" or "key search terms." You will hear librarians talk about keywords ALL THE TIME! These are the words you use to type into a search engine, like Google, or in a library database, to try and find resources. Search engines take the words you type in and then match them to resources they have access to. 

What's the Key Takeaway Here?

The more relevant and focused your keywords are, the more relevant and focused your results will be! 

Where Do You Start With Keywords?

Librarians often advise students to start with the keywords that are already in your research question or topic!

Sample Search

When you add keywords together, that's known as a "search string." Here's an example of a "search string" I would type into Google to search for programs in Tacoma to help the homeless:

(click on image to enlarge)

Notice how I eliminated extra words, like "the" and "in"? That's on purpose -- I'm typing in the keywords that describe the major concepts in my research topic.

Scholarly Articles

• Are written by an expert in a particular field, such as communications, sociology, political science, chemistry, psychology, etc.
• Are written with the intent to advance knowledge in that field by sharing new analytical techniques, new information, or new insights about a topic 
• Are written for an audience of other experts, or scholars, in that (or related) fields

How Do You Know It's Scholarly?

Scholarly works often have the follow:

• Long, descriptive titles describing a narrow area of study: "Alcohol abuse in Russian delinquent adolescents: Associations with comorbid psychopathology, personality and parenting";
• Many authors - usually more than 2;
• Long length - 8 or more pages is common, sometimes more than 20;
• Many citations within the text and in a list at the end of the article;
• A lengthy abstract within the body of the article. It is a paragraph or more, headed with "Abstract", describing the article, often written by the author(s).

What's the Difference Between Scholarly, Popular, and Trade Journal Articles?

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

As defined by the Library of Congress:

"Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience."

Primary sources are also known as "original sources" or "evidence." Examples of primary sources could include speeches, laws, diaries, autobiographies, paintings, etc.

Examples of secondary sources would be articles from newspapers or magazines written about events or topics. Secondary sources are often written by those using primary sources!

Here's a video about primary vs. secondary sources from the perspective of using them for academic topics:

Library Databases

Library databases are also sometimes referred to as "electronic databases" or "research databases." The word "database" by itself simply describes a collection of things. "Library databases" are subscriptions to collections of different resources, which are accessible only to students and faculty who are users of their library. Your TCC Library has subscriptions to over 60 different library databases. Each database has thousands, even millions, of resources, which are much easier to store electronically than physically.

Library databases can focus on the following:

• A specific format, like our Ebook Central database for e-books.
• A specific topic, like our History Study Center database, which is all focused on history resources. Or our ARTstor database, which is full of art and images.
• Multiple types of formats and topics, and librarians often refer to these as "general library databases." Examples of these would be our Academic Search Complete and ProQuest library databases.

Citation Styles

Citation styles are formatting rules for citing other authors' work within your paper and in a bibliography at the end of your paper.

• Citation style guides are directions and examples for formatting your paper and its bibliography. 
• A bibliography is the list of resources that you used in a paper. A bibliography is also referred to as "works cited" or "references"
• Citation builders are online tools that automatically format your resources in a specific style. Remember that robots sometimes make mistakes, so it's a good idea to verify your citation formats in a citation manual or guide. 
• Citation manuals are official citation style guides and are available for in-library use at the TCC Library's Research Desk.

There are many citation styles used in different fields of study, so always be sure to ask your instructor which citation style you should use. For this class, you'll be using APA and MLA citation styles.