conducting Research

 conducting Research:-

1. OBJECTIVES :-

This guide serves to achieve the following;

• To guide students, step-by-step on how to conduct research systematically
• To help students know where relevant material can be located
• To guide students on different types of materials that can be used for academic research

To conduct proper research, one needs to realize that conducting research cannot be done in a 

haphazard manner. To organize or focus the search, the process needs to be keyword driven; 

what you retrieve from a search will be dependent upon the computations you put on the search 

field. Therefore;

• It is advisable to put your topic in question form first
• Then ask some basic questions

 What is the main idea of my paper?

 What specific ideas am I trying to describe or prove?

 What academic discipline does my topic fit into?

 What specific aspect of the topic do I wish to consider?

• Also try to answer the where, when who why and how of your topic

2. LOCATING PUBLISHED INFORMATION

A lot of information is published on every subject imaginable. To retrieve only what’s relevant 

to the topic, you need to identify the type and source of information you collect. The following 

formats are what is acceptable in scholarly research and should form the basis of your research:

• Journals
• Books
• Newspapers
• Government publications
• Primary sources
• The Internet
• Quick reference Publications including Almanacs, Statistical collections, Biographical information, Directories of companies, organizations, and government agencies, Scientific data, Opinion poll data

• General reference publication
• The following are some of the reference sites available online; some are free and some charge a fee for information

 www.encyclopedia.com – a free online encyclopaedia with a general coverage

 http://www.Britannica.com – general coverage encyclopedia

 www.scholar.google.co.za – a search engine linked to the library’s e-resources

 www.sabinet.co.za – a search engine covering South African research papers

 http://journals.sabinet.co.za - The SA ePublications service with the most 

comprehensive, searchable collection of full-text electronic South- and Southern 

African journals in the world (available through SABINET)

 www.isiwebofknowledge.com – a useful citations website with linked full-text 

articles 

 www.emeraldinsight.com – a database dedicated to management research

 www.sciencedirect.com – a comprehensive multidisciplinary database with strong 

emphasis on sciences

 www.ebscohost.com – a multidisciplinary database

 www.jstor.org – Social sciences coverage

 http://stardata.nrf.ac.za/star/ccrplogin.html - Current and completed research 

including thesis and dissertations

 http://ajol.info – African journals

 www.saps.gov.za – crime statistics 

 www.hsrc.co.za – Human Sciences Research Council 

 www.csir.co.za – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 

 www.gov.za – Government website, for government related information

 www.statsonline.co.za – South African statistics

 www.un.org – United Nations website

3. SEARCH STRATEGIES

A number of strategies can be employed to conduct a search. Depending on the strategy you 

choose, you can either narrow down or expand your search. The following are the methods used 

to conduct a search;

1. Using Boolean Search Terms

Using a Boolean search allows you to define the relationships between keywords and phrases by 

using AND, OR and NOT to enlarge or narrow the search. For example:

• Search for: HIV AND rural women
• Result: all records containing both HIV and rural women
• Search for: HIV OR rural women
• Result: all records containing either HIV or rural women
• Search for: HIV NOT rural women
• Result: all records containing HIV but not rural women

Boolean search terms can also be used in combination with each other to construct complex 

searches. For example:

• Search for: HIV OR treatment AND rural women NOT testing
• Result: all records containing either HIVor treatment AND rural women - but not testing

2. Using Quotations (“ ’’)

Putting quotation marks around search term narrows a search considerably. If you are interested 

in the impact of computers on writing instruction, for instance, you could search for the exact 

phrases, "computers and writing instruction" or "computer-assisted writing instruction." 

3. Using Wild Card Symbols

Wild card symbols can be used to expand a search in cases where one is not sure of spellings. 

() – expands search by entering only root of a word - Entering writ into the search field will 

allow writ, write, writes, writer and written, as well as writing to be returned in your search 

results, whereas entering writing will result only in returning all records that include the word 

writing.

(?) – helpful in retrieving possible spellings of word in a keyword - is useful for including 

possible spellings of a word in a keyword search. For example: 

Entering "S?weitzer" into the search field when unsure of the spelling of Albert Schweitzer's last 

name, will return records with both "Schweitzer" and "Sweitzer" in the search results. As it turns 

out, both are common spellings of the great humanitarian's name.

(%) – use to match any string of 0 or more characters - J%son – matches; Jason, Jackson and 

Johnson.

4. Using Specific Publication Information

Bibliographic details of a book can be combined with search phrases to narrow down a search 

when using a keyword search. Details that can be entered are titles, authors and publication 

dates.

8. EVALUATING JOURNAL ARTICLES

In order to determine whether what you retrieved is relevant to your search here is a checklist:

(substantially reproduced from http://lib.colostate.edu/howto/evaljrl2.html

• Purpose: Why was the article written: to inform, to present opinions, to report research 

or to sell a product? For what audience is it intended?

• Authority: What are the author's credentials? Are qualifications, experience, and/or 

institutional affiliation given? Is the publisher and the author reputable?

• Accuracy: Is the information correct and free from errors?
• Timeliness/Currency: Is the information current enough or does it provide the proper 

historical context for your research needs? Know the time needs of your topic and 

examine the timeliness of the article; is it: up-to-date, out-of-date, or timeless? 

• Coverage: Does the article cover the topic in depth, partially or is it a broad overview? 

Does the information substantiate

• Objectivity: Does the information show bias or does it present multiple viewpoints?

Does the information appear to be well-researched?

• Illustrations: Are charts, graphs, maps, photographs, etc. used to illustrate concepts? Are 

the illustrations relevant? Are they clear and professional-looking?

• Bibliography: Scholarly works always contain a bibliography of the resources that were 

consulted. The references in this list should be in sufficient quantity and be appropriate 

for the content.