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English 102: College Writing (Prof. Osborn)

Full Research@UWW Search Box

Research@UWW

Best Places to Search Based on Your Needs

Where you search the most effectively and efficiently is determined by what type of information you are looking for:

  • Search the Internet for Jackie Chan's birthday
  • Search library databases for research on martial arts moves used in American and Chinese feature films
  • Search Research@UWW for a book on the history of American martial arts movies

Tools Chart containing six tool types and their uses. 1. Research@UWW. I want to be able to find books and articles using one search. I want to use a variety of information sources. I am searching for a book that UW-Whitewater owns. I am looking for a book from another UW System library. 2. Library Databases. I am most interested in finding articles. I want to do a more focused search. I am looking for only the most relevant material. 3. WorldCat. I am looking for a book that is not available at UW-Whitewater or from another UW System library. 4. Course Guides. I want to find research help and sources that have been customized for my class or assignment. 5. Google Scholar. I have already searched the library website and databases and I want to see what other scholarly (academic) materials have been published on my topic. I am having trouble finding scholarly (academic) materials on my topic. 6. Internet Search. I need to verify a quick fact. I am looking for general websites, not scholarly information. I am just looking for a general introduction to a topic.

Search Tools:

Source Type Choice: Timeliness vs. Depth of Analysis

The below chart will help you answer questions like these:

  • What type of source would be best for you to use to find the information you need?
  • Is the currency of a source important to your topic?
  • Does the date of a source need to be close to the time the event you are researching occurred?
  • Is in-depth coverage of your topic important?

On the same topic is a terrific video about the Information Life Cycle (2:34) from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. 

Information Chart: Timeliness vs. Depth of Analysis with three stacked boxes. First box: Timeline from today to the distant past: Day of. Week of. Weeks after. Months after. A year after. Years after. Second box: Timeliness triangle with larger end to left over depth of analysis triangle with larger end to right. Meant to visualize that newer events have less available depth of analysis than events that happened in the increasingly distant past. Third box: Timeline of information types and formats. Breaking news found on the internet, radio, social media, tv. News stories found in newspapers, government releases, or magazines. Scholarly Articles and Books found in academic journals, government reports, books, reference works, documentaries or textbooks.