Eileen Benson's blog : Conducting Secondary Research – A Complete Guide | 2022
Students in higher education institutions have to do tons of research. To write a research paper, you need to learn the ways to conduct secondary research. However, if you have written essays before, and if you follow the instructions in this article closely, writing a research paper will be a walk in the park for you. As an essay writer, you know a lot more about research than you think. All you need to learn is how to conduct secondary research.
So, stop wondering ‘how will I be able to write my college paper if I don't know how to conduct research’ and read this guide thoroughly to understand how secondary research is done. This article will walk you through the process of conducting secondary research, since most of the research that is done in educational institutions is secondary research. But what exactly is secondary research? It, unlike primary research, involves analysis of secondary research sources such as textbooks, journal articles, and encyclopedias. Moreover, in secondary research, data is collected from government dossiers, statistical data, and academic papers. The following steps will guide you in conducting secondary research for your first research paper.
- Focus on Your Research Topic
Your research topic is your most important tool in conducting secondary research. The topic of your research is the subject that you are interested in scrutinizing through your research paper. The topic that you have decided on will be key to locate sources such as books, journal articles, and papers that are relevant to your research. The first step of conducting secondary research is to settle on a research topic that you want to investigate. Another important tool along with the topic is a research question as it will help you in finding keywords that can help you to locate information online. Some students find topic choosing to be a tough stage and seek assistance from a college essay writing service this guide will help them a lot.
- Research Keywords
By now you should have a focused research question that will help you to come up with keywords. Keywords are words and phrases that help you to locate information that is pertinent to your research in online databases, as well as, library and government archives. Look for prominent words and phrases in your research topic to identify what keywords are related to your research. You can also find keywords in research papers that are similar to your own. You will come across many keywords during your preliminary research, keep track of them, and use only those that seem to be closely related to your topic.
- Identifying Sources
Now it is time to identify sources using the keywords that you decided on in the first steps, as they relate to your topic and might also be found in other research papers. These keywords can now be used to identify sources in many databases. All you have to do to identify sources using your keywords is to go to the search page on catalogs and search for those keywords individually. When you find research papers, carefully read their abstract, topics, and conclusions to get the gist of the research paper. If a paper seems relevant to your research topic, save it to use it in your research. This is your secondary source. Keep repeating this method until you are sure that the amount of research paper you have saved will be enough to cover all aspects of your research topic.
- Conducting Research Online
Most research paper databases, government archives, and research journals can be accessed online, so you must learn to do proper research. The most obvious ways to find research papers are through Google Scholar, Google Books, and online journal databases such as JSTOR, BMJ, and Academia. If you are still confused and don't have to do research online then you can also consult an online assignment help service online.
- Using Google Scholar
Think of Google Scholar as a Google counterpart that only searches and finds research papers. Google Scholar is the most important tool that you use to conduct online research. To locate research papers and find those which are relevant to your research topic, search the keywords that you have planned by putting them in the search bar, just as you would with a normal research paper. The page that comes up will show all the research that contains your research keywords. Carefully select papers that are relevant to yours.
- Using Google Books
Google Books can be used to search for books that are relevant to your research topic. A bonus feature of Google Books is that, unlike other catalogs, it searches inside the books. Feed your research keywords to Google Books to locate information that you can use in your research paper.
- Using Online Journal Databases
Secondary sources are also available on the online databases of famous journals such as JSTOR, BMJ, and Academia. Go to the websites of these journals to find research papers that are relevant to your research topic.
- Using Secondary Sources
It is not possible to read every secondary source that you locate. Try skimming every research paper that you think is relevant to your topics and highlight facts, figures, and sentences that seem to reinforce your claim. You can use these in your research paper in the form of direct quotes or incorporate them by rephrasing and citing the research papers.
Now you know how to conduct secondary research, writing a research paper will not be difficult for you if you are an essay writer. Remember that if you are still confused, you can contact an essay writing service to have your research paper written for you. It is, however, suggested to do this on your own as it will polish your skills on research.
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