Academic research can feel daunting. Where do you even start? How do you turn a pile
of notes and articles into something coherent and compelling? What qualifies as a
reliable source, and where can you find it?
In reality, every researcher, from a first-year undergraduate to a tenured professor, has felt exactly that way. Conducting research and turning it into a strong paper is a skill, and just like anything, it gets easier with practice, the right tools, and a little guidance.
Fortunately, the Fulton Library has you covered. This guide walks you through the entire research journey, from choosing a topic to citing your sources, so you can approach your next project with confidence. For even more support, librarians have built an interactive online tutorial with helpful videos to answer your questions along the way.
Jump to Section:
Understanding the Research Process
Choosing and Refining a Research Topic
Developing a Research Question
Understanding Different Types of Sources and How to Find Information
Managing Sources and Research Notes
What Is Academic Research?
Academic research is disciplined curiosity in action—a structured journey from question to discovery, and ultimately to presenting your findings in a way that moves your field forward. It’s the process of investigating questions, examining evidence, and building on the work of scholars who came before you. It’s an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to dialogues happening in a specific academic discipline.
In higher education, research takes many forms: literature reviews, lab reports, term papers, senior theses, capstone projects, or even conference presentations. Regardless of format, the goal is the same: to develop and support an argument using credible evidence.
Academic research teaches students to think critically, evaluate information, and communicate complex ideas clearly. These are skills that follow you into every career and every corner of adult life.
Understanding the Research Process
A research project may have a beginning and an end, but research itself is never really finished. Scholars and students move through a recurring loop: identifying questions, searching for information, evaluating sources, synthesizing ideas, drawing conclusions, and sharing findings. Those findings often raise new questions, and the cycle begins again.
Understanding this life cycle can help relieve a little pressure. You don't need to have everything figured out before you start. Research is inherently iterative. Your topic will evolve. Your argument will sharpen. Your sources will lead you somewhere you didn't expect to go. That's not a sign that something is wrong; it’s actually the process working exactly as it should.
Think of it this way: knowledge is built incrementally, one study, one paper, one question at a time. When you do academic research, you're participating in that ongoing conversation.
Choosing and Refining a Research Topic
One of the hardest parts of any research project is deciding what to write about. A few strategies can help.
- Start broad, then narrow. Pick a general area that interests you, then look for a specific angle. "Voter behavior" is a subject. "The relationship between negative political advertising and voter turnout in U.S. elections" is a topic.
- Look for gaps. As you do preliminary reading, pay attention to what's not being said. Where do researchers disagree? What questions are left unanswered? A research gap is often your best entry point.
- Check the scope. If your topic is too broad, you'll be overwhelmed by sources and unable to say anything meaningful. If it's too narrow, you won't find enough existing research to work with. A good topic is specific enough to manage your focus, but wide enough to have a conversation around it.
If you're struggling to define a topic, Fulton library has librarians dedicated to specific areas of study. These subject librarians can help you identify a viable direction before you invest hours going down the wrong path.
Developing a Research Question
Once you have your topic, the next step is to define a research question. The two are often treated as synonymous, but, in reality, they do very different work. A topic is what you're exploring. A research question is the specific, arguable question your paper will answer.
A strong research question is:
- Focused — answerable within the scope of your assignment
- Complex — not answerable with a simple yes/no or a quick fact
- Relevant — grounded in existing scholarship and worth asking
- Original — offering a fresh angle, even on a well-studied subject
In the example from above, a strong research question could be, “does negativity in political advertising and media coverage correlate with voter turnout in U.S. elections?”
Tip: Your research question is also different from your thesis statement, though they are closely related. The question is what you're asking; the thesis is your answer to it. You'll often find your thesis only after you've done significant research, and that's completely normal.
Understanding Different Types of Sources and How to Find Information
Not all research sources are equal, and knowing the difference is a valuable research skill.
Scholarly vs. Popular Sources
Scholarly sources include things like peer-reviewed journal articles, academic books, conference papers, and dissertations. They are written by experts, for experts, and go through a rigorous review process before publication. Popular sources like magazines, new articles, websites, and blogs can be useful for context or current events, but they don’t carry the same academic weight as scholarly sources.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Primary sources are original materials. These are historical documents, interviews, survey results, or other raw data. Secondary sources analyze or interpret primary sources. Examples include a journal article that examines the results of a clinical trial, a historian’s analysis of a census, or a peer-reviewed article interpreting survey data. Depending on your discipline and the focus of your research, you may need a combination of both types of sources for your research projects.
Evaluating Sources
Before you trust information, it’s important to vet your sources. One great strategy is the SIFT Method, a four-step framework for evaluating information and spotting misinformation, developed by Mike Caulfield.
- Stop – Be aware of your emotional response to the headline and wait to use the source until you’ve found out more about its content, creator, and publisher.
- Investigate – Leave the webpage and look for the information elsewhere. Take a moment to look up the author and source that published the information.
- Find – Validate the information you’re looking at in other sources. This helps verify the truth of the information, but can also lead to finding a better, more trusted, source of coverage.
- Trace – Trace claims, quotes, and media back to their original source so that you can understand the context and ensure the information is presented accurately.
Following these steps can help ensure that your research is based on correct information that supports your academic research question, rather than just another person’s opinion.
Search Strategies
There’s an art to crafting a good search term, and it can take practice to get it just right. A few tips to help you get started:
- Use keywords rather than full sentences
- Combine terms with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to refine results
- Apply filters to limit results by date, source, type, or discipline
The Fulton Library provides access to a wide range of academic databases. Your subject librarian can help you narrow down a few that will work best for your area of study.
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Research
AI writing and research tools are increasingly part of the academic landscape, but they come with limitations. AI can help you brainstorm, summarize, or define search terms, but it can also generate false citations and incorrect information. Always verify AI-generated content against primary sources and check UVU’s and your professor’s AI policies before using it in your coursework.
Managing Sources and Research Notes
The more research you do, the easier it is to lose track of what you've read, where you found it, and what you thought about it. Staying organized from the beginning of a project can help with this.
Citation managers like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote allow you to save, organize, and cite sources automatically. These are free tools, widely used across disciplines. The Fulton Library offers support for getting started with these tools. While these tools can be extremely helpful, you should always review the automatically-generated citations to ensure they adhere to the rules of the citation style you’re using.
Whether you use a digital tool or old-fashioned paper and pencil, develop a consistent system for organizing your notes. Best practices include recording the full citation immediately, noting your key takeaways, and flagging any direct quotes you might use later in the project. You'll thank yourself later when you're deep in the drafting phase and need to track down a page number for your citation.
Writing the Research Paper
Once you've gathered your sources, it's time to write. Having a solid structure makes the process far less overwhelming. Here are a few quick tips:
- Nail down your thesis. Before you start drafting, make sure you can articulate the central argument of your paper in one or two clear sentences. Everything else — your structure, your evidence, your analysis — should support that argument.
- Build an outline. Even a rough framework gives you a roadmap to work from. Group your ideas into major sections and identify which sources support which points before you write a single paragraph.
- Support your argument. Every paragraph should do work. Introduce a point, support it with evidence from your research, and explain how it connects to your overall argument. Avoid "quote dumping,” where you merely repeat someone else’s words. Context and analysis matter as much as the evidence itself.
- Draft, then revise. Your first draft doesn't have to be great. The most important thing is to get your main ideas down on paper. Write through the rough patches, then come back with fresh eyes to revise for clarity, flow, and logic. Revision is often where the best writing happens.
- Ask for feedback. Even the most seasoned researchers and writers rely on feedback. Visit the Writing Center, or ask an instructor, librarian, or classmate for their input on your writing. Outside perspectives can help identify unclear phrasing or gaps in your argument.
Citation Styles and References
How you cite sources often depends on your discipline. The most common styles are:
- APA (American Psychological Association): used in social sciences, education, and psychology
- MLA (Modern Language Association): common in humanities and literature
- Chicago: used in history and some humanities; offers both footnote and author-date formats
- Discipline-specific styles: fields like medicine (AMA), law (Bluebook), and science (CSE) have their own citation conventions
When in doubt, ask your instructor which style they’d prefer. The Fulton Library's Citation Help page includes information about the most common styles.
Getting Help from the Library
One of the most important things you can know about academic research is that you don't have to do it alone. The Fulton Library is here to support your research at every stage. Whether you're just starting out or stuck in the middle, the library can help you move forward.
Librarians are available for in-person or virtual one-on-one research consultations and can help you find the best databases, evaluate sources, and refine your research strategy. If you can’t find a source through the library's collections, a librarian can also help get you access to materials from other libraries, often within just a few days.
The library's research guides are available online, 24/7, and can be a reference for any stage of the research journey.
Academic research is one of the most demanding but rewarding parts of higher education. The work you do now has the potential to shape how others think, teach, and build knowledge for years to come.