WWHoW! A guide to finding information for student research
Author: Yen Verhoeven
LIB 1600, Introduction to College-Level Research, is a course that all undergraduates are required to take in order to develop a strong foundation in basic academic research skills that will enhance the quality of their research assignments in other classes.
In this occasional series of articles, we’ll share frameworks and concepts from LIB 1600 that instructors can use in their classes, and that researchers and students can use to support their research projects.
Whether it’s a simple assignment or a detailed thesis, knowing where and how to search for information saves time, and it can increase the quality of your research. The WWHoW (pronounced wow) is a simple, four-step guide for students and researchers alike, designed to streamline the process of finding relevant and appropriate information for various academic tasks. This guide will help your students navigate the vast and daunting sea of information while making the research process efficient and more productive.
WWHoW stands for what, where, how, and when. Students who are enrolled, or who have taken LIB 1600 should be familiar with the framework and the terminology within the guide.
| What kind of information? | Knowing the kind of information you need determines where you go to find it. Primary vs. secondary information sources Primary information comes from first-hand accounts of an event, an eyewitness or a researcher’s account of their information. Secondary sources summarize or recount the event after the fact. These sources may put an event into a historical context, or it may analyze, compare, contrast, and synthesize primary information toward new perspectives and insights. Scholarly vs. popular information sources Popular information sources are written for the general public in clear and simple language. On the other hand, scholarly information sources are peer-reviewed and written for scholars in the field. |
| Where do I look for information? | Google and most web search engines like Yahoo and Bing are good for finding popular information sources that are freely available on the web. However, it is difficult to find scholarly information with these tools. Article databases, Google Scholar, and our library’s Quick Search are the best search tools for finding scholarly information that is more specific to your research topic. |
| How do I look for information? | You know how to use web search engines like Google, but mastering keyword development from your topic or question can significantly improve your search results. Databases and search engines use keywords to retrieve results. The problem is that researchers may list their research under keywords that you may not be using. When you don’t use the right keywords, you may be missing important research. In this video, Emily Simmons, one of our subject librarians, shares strategies for finding the right combination of keywords in article databases. These strategies can be applied in other search tools. |
| When was this information published? | Your assignment may require you to find information published within a certain date range. Most search tools have an advanced search feature that will allow you to limit your search by date. Another way to look at publications by time period is by citation chaining. Citation chaining backward in time The reference sections in scholarly articles list information sources that a specific researcher used to build their arguments. These sources are probably relevant to your own research, and they can be used to understand how the ideas around your topic were formulated. Citation chaining forward in time To understand how the academic conversation has evolved on your topic and your topic’s current issues, you can use search tools to locate newer articles. Look for the “cited by,” in Google Scholar and article databases, or the “citing this” link in the item records from Quick Search. |