Gathering Data

 

Gathering Data 

The search for sources is a serious task that will take time. Some leads will turn out to be dead ends; other leads will provide only trivial information. Some research will be duplicated, and a recursive pattern will develop; that is, you will go back and forth from reading, to searching indexes, and back again to reading. One idea modifies another, connections are discovered, and a fresh perspective emerges. In every case, try to adjust research your experience, moving from general reference works to the specialized indexes and abstracts your filed.

 

Preliminary work in library:

 The key to research is library. The research paper almost always will rely on material found in the library. Since your reading will be extensive, and will usually range through a number of books and articles and be done over a long period of time, you must keep careful records. The next step, then, is to prepare a working bibliography, recording on a separate card the full bibliographical data for each book or article you will wish to use. Almost certainly the bibliography will grow as the work progresses. But if from the beginning you carefully take down the necessary bibliographical information for every item you think you will use, you can save much confusion and hours of rechecking when you write your paper and prepare the final bibliography to hand in with it.

 

 The bibliography is prepared in the library with the help of the card index, the various bibliographical guides, periodical guides, general and special bibliographies, reference books, and other aids and resources. You must therefore learn to use these indispensable tools early in the process.

 

Purposes of preliminary work in library:

1. It gives you an overview of the subject.
2. It provides a beginning set of bibliography cards or computers printouts.
3. It defines and restricts the subject.
4. It suggests the availability of sufficient source materials with diverse opinions and real disagreements.

 

 Your research strategy might conform to the following list, with adjustment for individual needs:

1. Searching available sources:  card catalog, indexes, abstract, bibliographies, electronic sources, and reference books.
2. Refining the topic and evaluating the sources: browsing, reading abstracts, skimming articles, comparing sources, citation searches, and skimming books.
3. Reading and note-taking: books, articles, essays reviews, computer printouts, and government documents.

References:

Atallah, Dhuha. (2011). A Course in Library and Research Work. College of Basic Education/ Al-Mustansiriah University.