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Mapping Out Your Research
When starting research, it’s a good practice to map it out: What are some of the broader related topics? What are some narrower topics? Are there specific names of sites or individuals that are important? Mapping out research can help you see where to focus, and these topics can serve as entry points to finding books, articles, and other resources.
Examples:
- broader topics
history of Indianapolis, history of urban planning in the United States, 19th century American history - narrower topics
city planning in Indianapolis, Alexander Ralston's approach to city planning - synonyms or alternate names
city planning vs. urban planning, American history vs. history of the United States - named sites or individuals
Alexander Ralston, Monument Circle
Search Tip:
The topics and words you map out will help you identify which research databases are most relevant to your project and which keywords to use for starting your searches.
Research Resources
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OneSearchSearch for books, DVDs, building material samples, and other materials in the University Libraries and articles in select databases.
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Access World NewsA news-focused database which includes magazine articles, videos, transcripts, and other sources.
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America: History and LifeKey database for research in American and Canadian history. Indexes journals from the 1960's to the present, containing articles on all eras of American history.
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Business Source CompleteIndexes scholarly and popular journals, magazines, and newspapers. Covers city planning and offers full text for several planning journals.