Doing your research
The 5 tabs below take you step by step through each stage of your research journey.
- Plan - It is important to spend time planning what you want to research before you start searching for relevant literature.
- Search - When you have identified what you are interested in, use the library resources to do your searching.
- Read - Read what you find.
- Evaluate - Review and evaluate what you find to see if it meets your needs.
- Reference - Remember to correctly acknowledge and reference any sources in your assignments.
Click on each tab to develop your research skills in finding and using information efficiently and effectively for your assignments.
Steps in your research
Identifying your keywords and creating your search strategy.
Before searching for relevant resources, take time to think about the subject you want to research. Consider what you are interested in and why you want to research that subject. Here are some tips and tricks on thinking through and around your topic before you start searching.
Creating what we call a 'search strategy' is an excellent way to focus your research and to help you find relevant literature for your assignments.
- This video walks you through how to start with your topic and think about potential search terms or keywords and synonyms. It introduces you to techniques such as searching for phrases which can help you be more efficient and effective in your searching.
- Whilst you watch this video, think about how you can apply these techniques to your assignment topic, whatever subject you're studying.
- You can also read our 'Tips and tricks for advanced searching' guide.
Why is it important to refer to published literature in your assignments?
It is important to contextualise the work you are doing and the ideas you are writing about in the context of what other people are doing. If you refer to a resource such as a book, journal article or web site, you need to give credit to the author who has produced that work, and correctly reference it in your assignment.
Part of the generic assessment criteria for university assignments highlights the importance that literature plays, and this is illustrated in the following video.
Decide what information sources you may need
Once you have decided on the keywords you want to use, conduct your searches with your chosen keyword combinations and limits, on your chosen search tools.
When you are researching for your assignments, you need to think about what resources are suitable for your academic studies. Do make the most of the wide range of resources that the University Library subscribes to, so that you do not have to pay to access them.
There are many different types of information available to you, and you need to think about what sources are suitable for the academic research you need to do for your assignment.
This includes academic books and journal articles, subject-specific resources relevant to you such as exhibition catalogues.
- Consult the bitesize Library Search videos to ensure you are making the most of searching the multidisciplinary Library Search engine. Details are given in the 'Books and Ebooks' and 'Academic Journals and Articles' pages in this subject guide.
- Box of Broadcasts is an excellent resource for all subjects of television and radio broadcasts that the Library subscribes to. We strongly recommend you explore this as part of your research, particularly if you are exploring contemporary issues. More information is available on the tv, film and radio page.
Tips from Sunderland lecturers
From the mouths of those who mark your assignments, find out from some academic staff in the university about what they look for when marking your assignments, and listen to their tips for academic success.
Pause and Reflect
- Critical thinking is a skill that you will need to apply in your research, reading and academic writing.
- After each search, pause and review your results - ask yourself how relevant they are for your assignment. Like many databases, Library Search gives you the option of doing more advanced searching that includes or excludes certain subjects – the following video show you how to do this.
- Consider questions such as who has written the book or journal article, when was it written, and whether there are accurate references that you can follow up.
- For more critical questions consult our 'Evaluating Information' guide.
Review your strategy
- You may need to adjust how you have searched for your literature if you're not finding a lot of resources on your topic, or if the results you do find give you further ideas to explore.
- It's a good idea to use the subject terms in your results or in the literature you read to inspire new keywords you can use yourself.
- You may not find what you want the first time you search, but by using a number of well-thought through keyword combinations you will have more success.
Research speed dating
- A really good way of getting started with this, is to chat with someone else about your research. This could be with a friend or a colleague. Vocalising to someone else what you want to do is a powerful tool in helping you articulate your thoughts.
- One way to do that is by doing 'research speed dating' which is explained in this 3-minute. The video talks about this activity in relation to a dissertation but can equally be used in the context of any piece of research:
Tools to help you with your critical thinking
- Reading for Success - This tutorial was written particularly aimed at new students but is beneficial to anyone wanting to develop critical reading skills. It contains lots of excellent advice for you. The content includes how to question your reading, note taking and tips for managing your reading.
- We have an evaluation checklist which you can use when deciding how relevant the literature you have found is for your assignments.
- This model of critical thinking from Plymouth University suggests critical questions you can ask - it can be applied to reading, planning your research and academic writing. The video walks you through how to apply this model to your research:
Would you like help in developing your critical thinking skills?
Reading critically
- Do you understand the difference between being a passive and a critical reader? Learn how critical reading can help your academic writing.
Thinking critically
- This short video helps you to think about how you need to think critically when doing your university studies.
Writing critically
- Explore our Study Skills guides for advice on how to improve your academic writing skills including what language is appropriate to use in your assignments.
Would you like to chat with one of our team?
- Contact us via our 24/7 Library Talk.
- Chat with a member of library staff at one of our library help desks.
- Pop along to one of our weekly study skills drop-ins for a quick 10 minute chat.
- Book a one-to-one consultation with one of our Study Skills Advisors.
Why do we reference?
It is important to contextualise the work you are doing and the ideas you are writing about in the context of what other people are doing. If you refer to a resource such as a book, journal article or web site, you need to give credit to the author who has produced that work, and correctly reference it in your assignment.
We have resources and support that will help you to understand what referencing is, why we have to do, and how to do it correctly, whether you are doing it for the first time or wish to use referencing management software to organise your references. These include:
- Cite Them Right - This is a fabulous tool to help you create and format your references correctly. You can access it online (logging in with your university user ID and password) as well as consult printed copies in our libraries.
- Referencing management software - You can use these tools to help you organise and manage your references.