ENGL 391: Advanced Composition

Research Process Tips

1. All of you have complex, multidisciplinary topics. Use a concept map to brainstorm keywords you could use to find information about your topic.
2. Use UMD Discover to find books and general overviews on your topic. These can be useful places to find statistics or summaries of the research.
   • Sign in to UMD Discover and use the "pin" feature to save some relevant sources.
   • If you find relevant articles, look to see what database they come from.
3. Use the Database Finder to find a journal article database in one of your subject areas.
   • If you found multiple articles in UMD Discover that came from the same database, that could be a good place to look.
   • Combine your keywords in the database to search for academic studies about your topic.
   • Download a relevant study.
4. Use Google (try the Advanced Search) to look for some government information and statistics.
   • For example, a search for site:.gov car crashes brings up statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation.