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Research Guides

    CEP 490 Hostetler Fall 2016: Home

    Use this guide to assist with the start of your CEP Senior Thesis

    Where To Start?

    • Tend to Narrow Your Topic, Rather than Expand
      • This is a student paper not a book
      • Pick a topic that truly interests you
      • Consider how your argument can be broken into logical sections; can the sections be finished in the time allotted? Are all sections necessary?
    • Rely on Peer-Reviewed and Scholarly Sources
      • What makes a source scholarly?
        • Is the issue seen from various perspectives?
        • Is it well written? If you want jelp with your writing skills, consider talking to someone at the Odegaard Writing and Research Center OWRC or look at online writing pages, such as Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)
        • Is it thorough? Does it cite key references?
        • Is it an original synthesis of other ideas?
        • Does the source credit other people's ideas?
      • What does peer-reviewed mean?
        • Teams of subject specialists read and critique the text, then make recommendations about changes and publication
      • Most article databases will have filters that select only peer-reviewed articles.
    • What Makes a Source Reliable?
      • Is it current?
      • Is it authoritative?
        • Who was the source of information?
        • Does the author have proper background in an area?
        • Is the source credentialed?
        • Is this source biased? Why could there be bias and unreliability?
        • How do I acknowledge an author's bias?
      • Was the author published by reliable or respected presses? University presses are good, e.g. University of Washington Press
        • Some presses spcecialize in one area
      • Printed materials published by or with professional organizations, i.e., the American Planning Association, the US Green Building Council, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
    • Does the Source Properly Credit Its Sources?
      • Does your source contain footnotes and/or a bibliography?
      • Footnotes indicate the care with which a paper has been prepared, and show respect for other authors and their works
      • Proper footnotes can demonstrate how a particular conclusion has been reached
      • Footnotes often have other information that can be pertinent
      • Use footnotes to lead you to other sources
    • Supplement Scholarly Writings with Other Reliable Sources
      • Primary source documents: letters, manuscripts, oral histories, eye-witness accounts, interviews, government reports and studies
        • Primary documents are often held in archives and special collections departments, e.g. UW Libraries Special Collections
        • Use of primary documents often can provide original interpretations
      • Secondary source documents: informed analyses of original documents, eyewitness accounts, interviews
      • Tertiary source documents: encyclopedia or dictionary entries that provide general overviews
      • Dissertations and theses
      • Certain newspapers, e.g. the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times
      • The Seattle Times can be very useful for local subjects
    • Think Outside Your Discipline
      • Consider the facets of your theme. Bicycle usage has many facets: political, sociological, engineering, and public health
      • Explore article databases in various disciplines using UW Libraries Research Guides

    Doing Research: Finding the Right Databases

    • General Databases: WorldCat
      • Results can be large, but be patient in your search
        • Narrow a huge results list, but take the time to view up to 100 hits
      • Use limiting features at left to narrow results
        • One of these limits is to peer reviewed journal articles
      • Try to narrow results to below 100 hits
      • When you find one good source
        • Use its subject headings to find related works
        • Check out works by the same author
        • Notice who published the work
    • Google Scholar
    • UW Libraries Catalog: Primo
      • Rely on limiting features
      • Primo contains books only owned by the Summit Alliance's 39 schools in WA, OR and ID
      • Use subject headings to find related items
      • UW Libraries Special Collections manuscript and archvial materials can be found here
    • Interdisciplinary Article Searches
      • Every topic has various facets
        • Bicycle equity and safety: Political science, sociology, design, public health, history
        • Transit oriented development: Economics, political science, psychology, engineering
        • Homelessness policy: Political science, public health, psychology
        • National policies for sustainable development: Political science, environmental science, engineering
      • Consult UW Libraries Research Guides
      • Consider using interdisciplinary databases in US or world history, economics, psychology, sociology, environmental studies
    • Architecture Database: Avery Index to Architectural Literature

    Assessing Web Resources

    • Assessing Sources on the Web
      • Look for official or authoritative sources: .edu, .org, .gov, .mil
      • What is the commercial or ideological bias of any site?
        • What is the particular bias of a .com site?
      • Was the information appear original or was it copied from other sources?
      • How was information taken from other sources credited?
      • Does the site have footnotes or bibliography? How careful was the author about the origin of ideas?

    Doing Research: Finding Key Words

    • Finding Key Words for Searching
      • Use the web to find correct spelling
      • Find synonyms for a word
        • Search with multiple synonyms
      • Use various forms of a word: e.g., bicycle, bike; equity, equality, fairness
      • Recombine keywords in different searches
      • Keep track of what databases you searched and what key words that you used
    • Look at Wikipedia essays as introductory information, but verify its facts from two other sources
      • Make sure that the corroborating sources are not just looking at Wikipedia and nothing else
      • Does the topic have jargon or a specialized vocabulary?
        • Is the subject and its jargon very new? That can affect the sources used
      • Who are the authoritative writers on the subject?
        • Do some research on the author on whose work you depend
        • What are their credentials?
        • What are their biases?
      • What are the key texts on your topic?
        • Look at book reviews of key texts
        • Don't just use Wikipedia to summarize a text

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    Contents of a Research Paper

    • Table of Contents
    • List of Illustrations
    • Introduction Statement of Problem | Rationale for the Inquiry
    • Audience to Be Affected
    • Research Methodologies Used | What Is the Model of Inquiry?
    • Articulation of Chapter Organization
    • Literature Search
    • Body of Paper
      • Explanation of what is known | Discussion of diverse analytical theories and their evidence
      • What has been observed? Does it agree with prevailing theories?
      • What has changed? What do the changes portend?
      • What is not known | Avenues for future research
    • Summary | What is the relevance? | What is the solution to the problem? | Suggestions for new models, policy changes, new designs
    • Footnotes
    • Bibliography
    • Appendices: Large chunks of information: letters, experimental data, original lists, case studies, tables important to argument
    Subjects: Built Environments
    Tags: CEP