IMSF BUSA 432/451 Creating Impact Through Research

Before you start searching for information, consider these questions first.

• What is already known about your research topic?
• Are there any problems or gaps in this research?
• Are there any experts or notable researchers to consider?
• What aspects of the topic are up for debate?
• What methods are researchers using to study this topic?
• What are the current trends for research on this topic?

Brainstorm potential answers and keywords for each of these questions.

When looking for peer-reviews academic articles and other information, start with the databases linked below. Follow these steps:

1. Identify your topic.
2. Within your topic what is the question you are trying to answer? Narrow it down and be specific. Is there a population or a region you want to include? 
3. Draft your thesis statement.

Write down your keywords by concept. For example if our topic is "sustainable fashion", the question we might ask "What carbon tax legislation and practices exist to make textiles more sustainable in China?" 

When you've finished brainstorming you can put all of your keywords together to create an effective search strategy.

("carbon tax" OR "carbon footprint") AND (legislation OR regulation OR subsidies) AND (textile OR fashion) AND China

By grouping your terms together like this you will better control your search results and limit the amount of non-essential articles that show up in your results. This will save you time and help improve your research by getting you to the articles that matter most more quickly.

Don't forget to asses the articles you find before including them in your research proposal. Ask yourself:

1. How current is the source? Is the information up to date?
2. How reliable is the source? Is it a publication that is trusted?
3. How accurate is the source? Can you verify the claims, are they citing their sources?
4. How authoritative is the source? Is the author an expert in their field?
5. What is the purpose of the source? Is there an underlying message and does that message have bias?

Bias and Fact-checking Tools: 

• AllSides: Select Bias Ratings and then browse or search for a journal, news outlet or source, to see how its bias is politically rated (left, centre, right). 
• Factcheck.org: American focused. Search for or browse a topic to see what facts have been collected about it. 
• MediaBiasFactCheck.com: Select Search > All Search Options and enter a news outlet, journal, or source to see its political rating and accuracy rating.