These are some of the questions that have been most frequently asked by previous capstone students.

How can I tell if a source is peer-reviewed?

Many databases and search tools, including InfoHawk+, have a filter that allows you to screen for peer-reviewed results. This can usually be found in the sidebar of your results page and/or in the "advanced" search tab. In InfoHawk+, you can also tell if a source is peer-reviewed by looking for the purple "peer-reviewed" icon or by looking in an item's description for the phrase "Refereed/peer-reviewed." You can also try Googling "Is [journal name] peer-reviewed," as peer-reviewed journals should have confirmation of their status on their website. If you are still unsure, this is a great question for your professor or your librarian.

How can I quickly analyze a source to see if it's a good fit for my project?

Read the abstract first (or the first page, if it's a book chapter). If that seems promising, look over the first and last paragraph of each section to get a general idea of the how author's argument develops through the piece. (You may feel like it's "cheating" to skim a source like this---it is not. Especially not at this stage of the research process.)

How can I find materials by women, people of color, and other historically marginalized groups? 

Unfortunately, this can sometimes be difficult. Here are some resources and tips that may be useful: 

• Look for demographic-specific databases, such as Black Thought and Culture and Ethnic NewsWatch Complete
• Look for databases of scholars from marginalized backgrounds, such as CiteBlackAuthors or these databases collected by The Open Notebook
• Look for demographic-specific publications, such as African-American and LGBTQ+ periodicals and newspapers

If you're still stuck, this is a great question for your professor or your librarian. 

How can I research local history?

Here are some potential starting places:

• Browse the Iowa City Public Library's local history collection or The State Historical Society of Iowa 
• Check out the LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library
• Read through this local history LibGuide

If you're still stuck, this is a great question for your professor or your librarian. 

How can I keep my research organized?

Everyone eventually hits a phase where they're swimming in sticky notes, sources, and extremely long notes documents, so don't feel bad if this is you. Here are a few tricks you can use to minimize the chaos:

Organizing Sources by Priority

As you collect potential sources, organize them by priority. Once I determine that a source may be useful for a project, I immediately sort it into one of three buckets: "High Priority," "Medium Priority," or "Low Priority." I also add a couple of bullet points about why I think the source might be relevant to my project, so I'll remember why I chose each source when I revisit my notes later. 

When I begin reading my sources more deeply, I start at the top of the "High Priority" sources and work my way down. That way, if I run out of time before I can get to all of my sources, I know I got to the most important ones.

As I sort my sources, I ask myself the following questions:

• How relevant is this source to my topic?
• Does this source offer a perspective that is already covered by another source I've selected? 
• Who is the author of this source? Have I already selected several sources by this author? Is this a scholar from a marginalized background relevant to my project topic?
• What is the publisher of this source? Have I already selected several sources by this publisher? 
• How accessible is this source to me? How realistic is it that I will be able to read this item attentively before my project deadline? 

As I read my sources more deeply, I may reorder them if I find they are more or less relevant than I had initially thought.

Coloring and Tagging

While taking notes on your sources, tag them with the primary themes and keywords you notice. Many students find it helpful to color-code sources based on their themes in order to help visually differentiate them in their note-taking tool of choice. As you read and collect sources, you might notice clusters of themes and keywords naturally emerging. This can help you see which of your sources are in conversation and where they can slot into your paper. It can also help show you any gaps in your research.

Use a Citation Management Tool

For some students, citation management tools are essential, while for others, learning a new piece of technology during a large research project only introduces more stress. Know that these tools are an option, and click here for tutorials and more information.

Remember to Use Permalinks

When you find a source in InfoHawk+ that you want to save, do not copy and paste the url from your search bar into your notes. This url breaks easily, and it may not lead back to the same source later. Instead, use this button, found at the bottom of the item record, to copy a permalink. This is a permanent link to the item record, and it will always be able to recall the source:

How can I continue to be productive when I feel stuck?

Try to formulate a search for your topic using different keywords than what you've been using. This may bring up new literature that sparks a realization or new direction. ​​​​Seek feedback from classmates, your professor, or your librarian on the shape of your argument so far, and check that there are no missing pieces. If you've identified some sources you know for sure you will be using, you can get started formatting the bibliography.

Or, if possible, temporarily release yourself from the expectation to be productive on this project today. Take a "productive break," such as by washing the dishes or doing laundry, or take the day to emotionally recharge by engaging in your favorite hobby, going on a walk, or calling your friends. All researchers need breaks, and our energy often flows naturally in waves and seasons. 

How can I find archives and manuscripts? How do I go about accessing the materials?

There are three archival repositories on the U of I campus:

• Special Collections & Archives in the Main Library
• The John Martin Rare Book Room at the Hardin Library for Health Sciences
• The Canter Rare Book Room at the Rita Benton Music Library

Each of them is home to non-circulating collections of archives, manuscripts and more, and each collection is searchable via InfoHawk+

Special Collections & Archives and the John Martin Rare Book Room each have reading rooms accessible to the public, where you can view their holdings (though the John Martin Rare Book Room is currently under renovation--please contact Damien Ihrig for more information) 

The Iowa Digital Library is home to digitized versions of items from some of these collections. 

Which AI tools would you recommend to help me locate additional sources? To understand how the scholarly conversation connects across sources?

Each of the following tools use Semantic Scholar's data.

• Research Rabbit - Free tool can help visualize citation connections between papers and discover author networks based on chosen groups of articles. Suggests additional authors and creates digests of papers you might find interesting. Zotero integration is a plus.
• Elicit - Free tool to help see trends, concepts, and high-level synthesis of group of relevant papers retrieved from search. Trends and paper summaries are presented in a customizable table.

I have a lot of broad topical interests? Where might I go to find ideas for narrowing down my topic?

Newspapers and magazines are good places to read about ideas, problems, and solutions in action.

• Find popular news magazines at The Main Library Perch or online through our library subscriptions.
• Check out or News and Newspapers guide for access to a comprehensive list of our local, historical, national, and international news collections.
• The Solutions Journalism Network hosts a searchable Solutions Story Tracker database containing "rigorous reporting on responses to social problems." You can limit searches to a variety of search fields, including a list of "Success Factors" that let you find stories based on the types of solutions they are covering. 
  • From the Solutions Journalism Network about page: "Solutions journalism investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, how people try to solve widely shared problems. While journalists usually define news as “what’s gone wrong,” solutions journalism tries to expand that definition: Responses to problems are also newsworthy. By adding rigorous coverage of solutions, journalists can tell the whole story."

I am looking for examples of policies written by organizations working to solve the problems I am researching? 

Policy documents are an example of grey literature. Grey literature includes documents and information published outside of traditional, often for-profit publishing systems. The documents include but are not limited to: pre-prints, commission reports, committee reports, white papers, technical reports, government reports, technical standards, data sets, theses, dissertations, and more.

• Google Advanced Search provides search strategies for locating grey literature freely available online. After entering your search terms in the "Find pages with..." section, use the "Then narrow your results section by..." to limit to features common to grey literature documents. 
  • site or domain: Grey literature is often produced by non-profit, governmental, or educational organizations. Enter an organizational website into the site or domain field to search for documents found only on that site. Enter .org, .gov, or .edu in site or domain field to expand your search to retrieve results from all websites ended with your chosen domain. 
  • file type: Limit file type to .pdf to retrieve formal documents like white papers, policy statements, or reports.