Los Angeles Valley College LibraryLos Angeles Valley College
Library
5800 Fulton Ave.
Valley Glen, California, 91401-4096
Phone: 818-947-2425
Fax: 818-947-2751

Researching a Paper
  1. Choosing, Identifying, and Developing a Topic for a Term Paper or Speech
    1. Defining Your Topic by Asking Yourself Questions About Your Topic
  2. Stating your topic as a question
  3. Identifying the Main Concepts in Your Topic
    1. Finding Synonyms for Your Main Concepts
    2. Testing Your Topic
    3. Narrow Your Topic
    4. Broaden Your Topic
  4. Determining if the Information Meets Your Needs
  5. Finding Background Information to Get an Overview of Your Topic
    1. Using Bibliographies
  6. Finding Materials
    1. How to Find Books
      1. Author search
      2. Title search
      3. Subject search
    2. What Are Periodicals?
      1. Scholarly
      2. General Interest
      3. Popular
      4. Sensational
      5. Newspapers
    3. Finding Periodical Articles
    4. Finding Resources on the World Wide Web (WWW)
    5. Evaluating Print Sources
    6. Evaluating Web Resources
  7. Citing Sources
    1. Electronic Resources
    2. Print, MLA

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    02/09