Overview. Use your workshop time strategically! Explore the resources on this guide, refine your research topic, gather possible sources for your annotated bibliography, and ask the librarian or professor if you need help!
Set Your Goal(s). What is your goal (or goals) for this time? Here are just a couple of examples of possible goals:
- Gather possible resources for my upcoming annotated bibliography of 4-5 key resources.
- Explore resources and use them to help refine my research topic or choose among possible topics.
Explore. Explore as many of these options as you can during the workshop time. Keep track of your searches and what you found. But before you start exploring: brainstorm keywords, related concepts, and broader concepts for your topic. Jot them down and revise them as needed when you search.
- Review the Geography Journals tab.
- Select one or more databases and search for *academic articles* related to your topic. Revise your search terms and strategy as needed.
- Keep a running list (by whatever method works best for you) of possible source for your bibliography. Download full text PDFs or request via Interlibrary Loan today.
- Review the Geography Books tab.
- Select a book from the Geography Reference Works tab that looks relevant to your topic and find an entry related to your topic. Jot down the name of the reference book and any useful information it provided (for instance, the definition of a key concept or a list of key works on the topic)
- Scroll down to the Catalog Search Box and search for books on your topic. Limit your results to Source Type: Book. Hint: Books are often broader than articles, so you may need to search conduct a broader search. Expand your search results to "Libraries Worldwide" and see if there any useful books at other libraries.
- Add any useful books to your running list of possible sources for your bibliography. Check out the books at the Information Desk or request them via Interlibrary Loan.
- Review the GIS & Geospatial Data tab.
- Might any of these resources be useful for your topic? If so, which ones? If not, brainstorm possible data sets of this type (if any) that might be useful, and that you might want to search for.
- Review the Wider Resources tab.
- Ask yourself, would my research project benefit from information from sources beyond "traditional" resources such as scholarly articles and books? Whose voices are most likely to be discussing the issue? How would information on the issue likely be communicated or shared? What are the best ways to access information about the issue? Do the sources you've already found mention any additional sources that you might pursue?
Reflect and Share.
- Reflect on the progress you made during workshop time (remember that research is not a linear, predictable process).
- Identify your next steps and keep up the momentum!
