Welcome to the new library homepage for students who enrolled through Northcentral University. To access the old NCU library homepage, click here. If you enrolled through National University, click here. Please be aware that the NU and NCU students have access to all of the same resources, and we will be merging library homepages by next year.
Welcome to the new library homepage! If you are looking for the old homepage, click here.
Use these databases to access online reference materials. Get started by clicking a logo below.
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Content: Books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos on research methods and design.
Purpose: Use to learn more about qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research.
Special Features: Includes a methods map, project planner, and "which stats" test
Academic research is a multi-step process that doesn't always move in a straight line. You may find yourself returning to previous stages as you refine your topic. Begin your research by finding some background information on your topic.
Think broadly about your research topic, then narrow and refine the focus as you gather background and additional information.
Check out my sample mind map below introducing students to the concept of narrowing down a research topic from a broad idea or click here for a tutorial (7:16) on how to use this free presentation tool!
Use reference sources like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks to get a general overview of your topic. Use this information to help narrow and focus your research topic.
Bibliographies
Note any useful sources (books, journal or magazine articles etc.) listed in the bibliography at the end of the encyclopedia article or dictionary entry. The sources cited in the bibliography are good starting points for further research. Consistently following up on sources cited in bibliographies can generate a large list of books and articles on your research topic in a relatively short time.
Searching for Known Items
There are two tools I like best for searching for "Known Items" or rather one specific thing (i.e. one article, or information about one book).
Click on the corresponding tabs in this box to learn more.
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature.
To have Google Scholar search National University library databases, you'll need to link your Google account to the library. View the tutorial below (2:14) to show you how.
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