Citing Sources
An important part of research is creating proper footnotes, endnotes and bibliographies.
Williams College Citation Guides
Zotero - citation generator and manager tool
Generating Keywords for Your Search
What are keywords?
Keywords are individual words or short phrases that represent the main ideas in your research topic or question.
To come up with keywords for your research, consider doing the following:
1) Think carefully about your topic. Write it out in a sentence or two.
2) Circle the key concepts in your topic sentences.
3) Brainstorm synonyms or related terms for your key concepts. One approach to brainstorming is to create a concept map. You can do this with simple pen and paper or via free online programs such as Coggle (you will need to sign in with a Google account to use Coggle), Bubbl.us, MindMup, or Text2MindMap.
4) These are now your search terms. Experiment with different combinations of the terms using AND/OR.
5) When you successfully find sources that are relevant to your search, pay attention to the keywords and subject terms in the database record and the source itself. This may lead you to additional sources.
Primary Sources in the Sciences
Primary Sources in the Sciences are not exactly like primary sources in history or literature. They are most often found as journal articles, and:
- Report original research, ideas, or scientific discoveries for the first time
- Report results/findings/data from experiments or research studies
- May also be referred to as primary research, primary articles, or research studies
- DO NOT include meta-analyses, systematic reviews, or literature reviews - these are secondary sources
- Are frequently found in peer-reviewed or scholarly journals
- Should explain the research methodology used (randomized controlled trial, etc)
- Almost always include separate parts of the article called "methods," "results," and discussion or conclusions
- Are factual, not interpretive
Secondary sources may also be useful, but you should be able to distinguish them from primary sources. These typically involve reviews of the primary literature, meta-analysis of data from multiple primary sources, or editorial writing.
Subject Librarian
