I'm not yet entirely
sure what I want to research and write about for my issues paper
assignment. To get an idea for where to
start researching though, I started with basic Google searches on the suggested
topics listed in the prompt. I started
searching general parts of the prompt and then tried to get more specific.
I began by just searching for "religion in the
public sphere". I was directed to
over three million results in less than a second and found many to be quite
general. The amount of results seem fair
according to the generality of my search.
I then tried to narrow my search.
The search suggestions seemed to help narrow things down - especially if
I knew what I was really looking for. I
tried getting more specific. I searched
for specific topics like Boy Scouts and Planned Parenthood. Just searching for these topics was helpful
to get overall facts about them but obviously I had to search for more
specifics if I wanted to find examples.
I went to the library's website next and began looking
through research guides and databases.
This seemed to be much more helpful finding specifics as well as actual
resources rather than just plain facts.
I was able to narrow down my search much more quickly and I knew what
resource I was looking at much more accurately.
Overall, I found doing a Google search or searching in
the library's guides can both be helpful.
Both methods did produce results.
The Google search method seemed to offer more general information even
while trying to narrow down results. The
library searches seemed to start more specific.
I feel that Google would be a good place to start while using the
library would be a good place to continue more specific research.
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