{"id":1234,"date":"2016-02-15T12:45:40","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T12:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2018-02-14T23:20:40","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T23:20:40","slug":"need-help-coming-up-with-a-topic-for-your-research-paper-or-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/2016\/02\/15\/need-help-coming-up-with-a-topic-for-your-research-paper-or-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Research Topics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you struggling with finding the right topic for your research paper? This short Research Therapy video gives you suggestions on where to look for topic ideas, how to narrow your topic, as well as a couple of online library resources that are a great place to begin your research.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/NaIC3Bl6He8\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1263\" src=\"http:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/files\/2013\/03\/Topic-Exploration-image.png\" alt=\"Topic Exploration\" width=\"503\" height=\"295\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Concept Mapping<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Concept mapping is a great way to expand on a general topic; it also helps you to think about the different aspects of your topic. Here\u2019s a <a title=\"Concept Map\" href=\"http:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/files\/2013\/03\/Conceptmaptemplate.doc\">template<\/a> for a basic concept map.\u00a0Here\u2019s another <a title=\"Second Concept Map\" href=\"http:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/files\/2013\/03\/whowhatwhentemplate.doc\">concept map <\/a>when you\u2019re trying to identify the who, what, when, where, why or how of a topic.<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned in the video keep in mind the different angles you could take on a topic:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Geographical \u2192\u00a0where<\/li>\n<li>Sociological \u2192 who<\/li>\n<li>Psychological\u00a0\u2192 why<\/li>\n<li>Historical\u00a0\u2192 when<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Library Databases<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After you pick a general topic it\u2019s a good idea to do some general background resources. Oviatt Library has several different online reference resources such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographical resources and more. The databases mentioned in the video are <a href=\"http:\/\/library.calstate.edu\/northridge\/databases\/proxy\/171\">Opposing Viewpoints in Context<\/a> and Credo Reference, <strong>the library no longer has access to Credo so use <a href=\"http:\/\/library.calstate.edu\/northridge\/databases\/proxy\/104\">Gale Virtual Reference<\/a> instead<\/strong>. \u00a0We also have a list of online reference resources listed under the <a href=\"http:\/\/library.calstate.edu\/northridge\/databases\/subject\/reference-resources\">Find Articles by Subject<\/a> page, as well as an organized list of our databases by subject.\u00a0 We also have a general <a href=\"https:\/\/libguides.csun.edu\/research-strategies\/\">Research Strategies<\/a> guide to help you along with the research process.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t forget to <a href=\"http:\/\/library.csun.edu\/ResearchAssistance\/AskUs\">Ask a Librarian<\/a> if you have any questions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u00a0<a title=\"Laurie Borchard\" href=\"http:\/\/library.csun.edu\/lborchard\/\">-Laurie Borchard<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you struggling with finding the right topic for your research paper? This short Research Therapy video gives you suggestions on where to look for&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/2016\/02\/15\/need-help-coming-up-with-a-topic-for-your-research-paper-or-project\/\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Exploring Research Topics<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10,12,15],"tags":[177,218,219],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","category-reference","category-research-therapy","category-video","tag-research-therapy","tag-topic-exploration","tag-topics","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4425,"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions\/4425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.csun.edu\/blogs\/cited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}