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FYS 100-02: Take a Hike: Step 2 - Background Reading

Background Information

As you develop your research question, you will find yourself needing some preliminary information before you can truly start researching it.  Background knowledge is important, as it will allow you to:

  • Know how your topic is being discussed.  Learning the language surrounding a particular topic will give you some starting points for searching databases and finding sources on the topic
  • Help you figure out if your topic is focused enough.  If your initial searches retrieve so many results it is hard to find any common ground between them, then you will need to further narrow down your topic

Background information can come from many sources – books, articles, websites.  At this point in the process, not everything needs to be scholarly (though it does need to be accurate).  This will change when you are writing your paper.  But for now, we are using this information to point us in the right direction.

 

Background information gives you starting. It is not the entire process, and you should be using what you discovered from the background in your next round of searching in places like scholarly article databases.

 

An infographic that describes the types of sources you can find while researching

Wikipedia has its place in the process as a general source of background information, but you have to use it properly.  You can use Wikipedia to:

  • Find background information – Look at the entries, embedded links, and bolded words to generate ideas and learn the terminology related to your topic.  You can use these as search terms when searching library databases.
  • Look at the bibliography - The bottom of the page should list the sources used to compile the entry. They can point you to other resources (sometimes scholarly) on the topic.

And you want to avoid:

  • Citing Wikipedia - Like any other encyclopedia, you generally never cite such sources of background information in the final paper.  You use it to help you find more credible sources that you can use as citations.
  • Believing everything with no evaluation - While Wikipedia is fairly accurate, the content is created by anonymous users and there is no mandatory review process.  Use what you discover from Wikipedia and take it to other databases where you can find credible sources.

Library Catalog

UMU Catalog Search

Click on relevant subjects found under the Suggested Terms tab to browse materials that share similar subjects.  Some subjects that would be useful for your assignment are:

The book catalog can be a great starting point for background research.  Books and ebooks offer broader in-depth coverage of a topic and can provide an overview that can help you refine your topic.  This will help you to narrow down your research question and give you plenty of keywords you can use when searching for scholarly articles.

  • If you find a print book, you can show the call number to a librarian or student worker at the Circulation Desk.  They can pull the book for you.
  • Use AND to search for materials that contain all the keywords you enter.
  • Add OR in between words to search for variations, such as walking or hiking.
  • Look at the Full Record tab to read the table of contents and summary, if available, and help determine if this book might be useful for you.

Research Help

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Write Stuff Down

As you look at background sources, write down any words that look like they would be good search terms.  You will be using these to construct your search.