Research takes time. Having a strong research question will drive your research and keep you on a path of success. Stay organized along the way, and use the resources provided here.
Reach out to those directly impacted by the historical topics you are researching.
5 Steps to aN NHD PROJECT
Partner with your school's librarian for support
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FORMULATE A RESEARCH QUESTION
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LOOK FOR INFORMATION (RESEARCH)
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MAKE SENSE OF THE EVIDENCE (ANALYSIS)
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DRAW CONCLUSIONS
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PACKAGE THE PROJECT
Learning Modules: Research Learning & Teaching with Primary Sources:
https://www.thinkport.org/tps/research-learning-modules.html
FORMULATIng A RESEARCH QUESTION:
Good questions compare and contrast, look for cause and effect, impact, and they contextualize. They also look for change over time, illustrate trends, and evaluate relationships.
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Significant
There must be something important at stake in the answer-- it must have consequences.
Researchable
There need to be valid scholarly and available sources, both primary and secondary, on the topic.
Narrow
The question should not be open ended and have a credible and concise answer.
Debatable
The answer to the question needs to be complex in that there are many possible answers, but one answer you believe is superior.
keyword searching
Keywords are important words/concepts found in your research question or thesis.
A quick and dirty way to pull keywords from a research question/thesis is to choose the most important nouns; all other words are irrelevant.
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Using keywords to search will always retrieve more results than phrases or sentences.
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using the internet to locate resources
Websites can be reliable information sources, but you must evaluate their credibility before citing them for an assignment. For every website, consider:
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Currency (look for a date)
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Relevance (appropriate for academic work)
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Authority (purpose or organization with expertise)
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Accuracy (fact based)
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Purpose (educational, commercial)
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