Now that you know your research question and have a working thesis you can continue your research to a greater depth. Be careful to include all important information that could help you locate your source in the future or to document the source in your Works Cited. It’s easier to gather all the citation information about the source when you find it the first time, instead of having to look for the information again at a later time.
Your working thesis will guide your time; there is no reason to research information that doesn’t directly relate to your thesis.
Research comes in two varieties:
Primary – Research conducted by yourself or is considered the origin source.
Example: you create a survey, pass it out to students, collect and analyze the data, your results are considered primary research. If you were writing a paper on George Orwell’s 1984, the novel itself is considered the origin source and is therefore, primary research.
Secondary – Research commenting on a primary source.
Example: if a classmate read your survey results and wrote an article about it for the campus newspaper, the article would be considered secondary research because it comments on the origin source and the writer didn’t conduct the survey. If you read an article by Gorman Beauchamp about George Orwell’s 1984, it would be considered secondary research because it is commenting on the origin source.
To view library resources that will be helpful in your research, click on any of the following sections on the left side of the page: