Academic Research Process - MTE580 - Materials Science & Engineering Seminar - Zhong - Guides at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Steps in the Academic Research Process

Identifying your research topic/question, i.e., what is your information need?
What are the main concepts of your research topic, and what are their keywords and their synonyms?
Where do you find this information?
How do you know this is the “right” information i.e., how do you evaluate the information?
How do you properly document and cite that information?

Generating Keywords and Synonyms
Use this worksheet to generate keywords and key concepts for your research topic, and to generate synonyms for these elements. This process will make your searching more effective.
Type of Information Needed
Use this chart to identify various types of information and the sources in which you'll find the information
Types of Informatoin Sources
Use this chart to see where you can find various types of Information sources.

Anatomy of a Scholarly Journal Article
This guide highlights the various sections of a scholarly journal article and explains their purpose.
How to Read a Scientific Journal Article
This guide from Rice University's Cain Project in Engineering and Professional Communication provides a good outline of how to read and understand a scientific journal article.