Start with a Question
Before you begin researching, it’s important to come up with a research question. A strong research question will provide focus and direction for your entire research process. It’s okay if the question changes a bit as you research and write; in fact it probably will. But if you don’t begin your project with a clear and focused research question, then it’s hard to know how and where to begin finding sources.
Note that a research question is different from a research topic. A research topic is something like “the Civil War,” “Pride and Prejudice,” or “the Gospel of Matthew.” Having a research topic is great, but you want to focus your topic into a specific research question. For example, “What factors caused the Confederacy to lose the Civil War?”, “How does Jane Austen use characters in her novel, Pride and Prejudice, to satirize early nineteenth century English society?”, or “How do Jesus’ parables in the Gospel of Matthew contribute to Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus?”
Types of Academic Sources
Once you know what your research question is, you can start finding sources. There are many different types of sources, so it’s helpful to know what your options are so that you can figure out what to do next.
1) Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other general reference works
These sources are helpful early on in the research process because they will give you a general overview of your topic. They can tell you what the debates are, what’s known, what’s unknown, etc. Encyclopedias can be especially helpful for finding important scholars, books, and articles that you might want to take a look at. Even sources that you probably shouldn’t cite in your paper (like Wikipedia) can still be helpful for finding other reliable sources. You’ll also want to see if there are encyclopedias specific to the area that you are studying, e.g., an encyclopedia of American history, a biblical encyclopedia, etc. Be aware that these subject-specific encyclopedias are sometimes called “dictionaries” even though they do more than just define words.
2) Books
Believe it or not, books are still one of the best resources for your research. Books are more thorough than many online resources. They often tend to have a broader focus than journal articles, which tend to focus on rather specific issues. Now, you may think, “I don’t have time to read a whole bunch of books!” And you’re probably right. That’s why when you get a book, you will read selectively. You might read or skim the first chapter to understand what the author’s thesis is and then take a look at one or two other chapters, depending on which parts are relevant to your research question. Most academic books have pretty good indexes in the back, which can be helpful for finding the parts of a book that are relevant to your research. For example, if we take our research question about parables in the Gospel of Matthew, then we might search the index of a book on Matthew for “parables” and see what we can find.
To show you how easy this is, I searched the CUI library database for books that might be helpful for our research question on the Civil War. Here’s what I found in just a few minutes of searching:
- Beringer, Richard E. et al. Why the South Lost the Civil War. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986.
- Foreman, Amanda. A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War. New York: Random House, 2010.
- Freehling, William W. The South vs. the South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Hurt, R. Douglas. Agriculture and the Confederacy: Policy, Productivity, and Power in the Civil War South. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015.
- McPherson, James. Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
When searching for books, play around with different search terms and see what you get. I found all of these by searching “civil war confederacy.” You could also try throwing in other keywords like “lost,” “fell,” “decline,” or “north won.” Also, since the books on the shelves in the library are grouped topically, it’s often a good idea to go down to the area of the library where the books on your topic are and skim through the titles to see what else you can find.
3) Journal Articles
Journals are serious academic publications in which scholars publish academic essays. These articles are short enough that you could easily read several of them in their entirety in preparation for writing your paper. Journals articles tend to have a much more specific focus than books, which means that if a journal article directly addresses your topic it might be extremely helpful.
To save time and energy, familiarize yourself with the research databases available at Concordia University Irvine, e.g., JSTOR, EBSCO, and ATLA. Different databases have different focuses and user interfaces. Try them out and see which are the most helpful for your discipline. Again, playing around with different combinations of keywords can make your search more successful.
Here are some journal articles relevant to our research question on the Gospel of Matthew I found after a few minutes of searching on JSTOR:
- Aichele, George. “The Fantastic in the Parabolic Language of Jesus.” Neotestamentica24, no. 1(1990): 93–105.
- Grindheim, Sigurd. “Ignorance is Bliss: Attitudinal Aspects of the Judgment According to Works in Matthew 25:31–46.” Novum Testamentum50, no. 4 (2008): 313–331.
- Kingsbury, Jack Dean. “The Title ‘Kyrios’ in Matthew’s Gospel.” Journal of Biblical Literature 94, no. 2 (1975): 246–255.
- Kingsbury, Jack Dean “The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen and the Secret of Jesus’ Divine Sonship in Matthew: Some Literary-Critical Observations.” Journal of Biblical Literature105, no. 4 (1986): 643–655.
- Newell, Jane E. and Raymond R. Newell. “The Parable of the Wicked Tenants.” Novum Testamentum. 14, no. 3 (1972): 226–237.
In addition to journals, you may find that articles from newspapers and magazines are helpful. This may especially be the case if you’re writing about something more recent. Just make sure that you use respectable sources, e.g., The New York Times, Time, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal.
4) Primary Sources
Primary sources are sources that are directly involved with what you are researching as opposed to scholars who are writing about it later on or from a distance. If you’re researching something historical, primary research would include writings from the time period that you’re writing about. If your research question is focused on a particular text as with our research questions on the Gospel of Matthew and Pride and Prejudice, then your primary source is the text itself. Depending on your research question, there could be other relevant primary sources, such as journals or Jane Austen’s personal letters. With our research question on the Civil War, primary sources would be anything from that time period written by people who were directly observing what was happening.
Here’s an example of a book with primary source material in it from the CUI library:
- Genoways, Ted and Hugh H. Genoways. A Perfect Picture of Hell: Eyewitness Accounts by Civil War Prisoners from the 12th Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2001.
Primary sources are always a great addition to your research. This is especially true if you are writing in the discipline of history.
Other Tips
Don’t hesitate to ask for help!
If you’re confused or don’t know where to begin, ask your professor. They know their own field and they would be glad to point you to sources which will help your research. Librarians are also great resources who love to help people with their research.
Follow citations.
Instead of going down to the library and grabbing a giant stack of books, consider grabbing just a few and start to skim through them. Notice which scholars or sources keep coming up. If you pay attention to what sources keep being referenced by other scholars, you can quickly discover which are the most important and influential works in the field. This can also be a great way to find primary sources. Even if the CUI library doesn’t have the book, they can help you request it through an inter-library loan.
Don’t be afraid to modify your research question.
You may find that your original research question was a bit of a dud. You may find that there’s another aspect of your topic that really captures your interest. You may find that what you originally thought about your topic is not quite right or is more complicated than you initially thought. That’s okay! Changing your research question is part of the process and should be embraced. Follow the research wherever it takes you.
Happy writing!
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Kendall Davis graduated from Concordia University Irvine in 2016 with a BA in Biblical Languages and Theatre. He is currently working on his MDiv at Concordia Seminary-St. Louis, where he provides writing tutoring and editing services to both Masters and Doctoral students at the Seminary. Recently, he helped to start Concordia Seminary’s student journal, Grapho, which published its first issue this past May. He has a deep love for helping people utilize writing as a medium to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively and persuasively.