Review the following tips & strategies for your Theoretical Research Paper to learn how to effectively find research on theories and their theorists, history, tenets, & applications.
Then use these strategies searching in the library's catalogs and databases for scholarly books, ebooks, & articles.
There are differences in how we--and more importantly, how others--refer to theories. These difference impact how we can best search for information & scholarly research on them.
(1) Theory/ Perspective/Model/Approach - sometimes, but not always, interchangeable
(2) Sometimes Theory/Perspective/Model not used at all or if so, very rarely
(3) Sometimes the theorist is often mentioned with the theory
We need to use the terms others' use in order to find what they've written.
Integrate multiple search strategies into your searching in the library catalogs & databases--don't settle for just one!
(1) Try exact phrase search with quotation marks around phrase
(2) Interchange Theory / Perspective / Model / Approach in your searching
(3) Try one-word search using a single term unique to the theory
(4a) Try theorist last name + AND + one word unique to theory
(4b) Try one word to represent your theory + AND + one word to represent a unique aspect/application you wish to focus on
TIP: If you do this kind of a search, be aware that the results will not sort by relevance, so you might need to scroll down a bit to find what you need.
(5) Try just the theorist(s) by last name
(6) Try a SUBJECT search for theorist by last name, first
The goal with this guide is to enable students to:
Course Research Guide content & student learning outcomes are based on course syllabus outcomes & assignments.