Essay Topics for English 151 are either assigned by your instructor or chosen based on your personal interests, passions and concerns. The topics in ENGL 151 are diverse, so Camosun Library's Single Search is the best starting point to find the resources you need to complete your research.
What's the difference?
Search means looking for something you know exists, an answer or solution someone else has already provided. Imagine a straight line from question to answer.
Search engines try to find matches for the words, questions or phrases you type into them. They work best for finding information that already exists.
Research is a human activity: a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding. (Cambridge Dictionary) Imagine a line that curls out and curves back over itself many times as you figure out what what information to use and the direction your writing will take. When researching you must discover the answer.
As you research you learn specific terms and gain understanding that might change your research direction or help focus your topic.
Use the topic keywords your instructor has provided or use the words you currently know are connected to your topic or idea. Do not use a phrase or question like you would on a search engine like Google.
Create a Research Log as a soon as you start exploring your topic, this will give you a place to save links, citations and notes about possible quotes and how the source can contribute to your research paper. You could group them by the paragraph ideas you have, or in what ever way makes the most sense to you. If you decide not to use a source or citation you can simply delete it.
Lateral Reading is fact-checking a source before you have read it completely as a way to decide if that source is useful or trust-worthy.
You may be familiar with the CRAAP test which helps you find clues within a document or source. Lateral reading is very similar, because you are thinking about and looking for 'outside proof' of authority, accuracy, relevance, timeliness, etc.
Rather than staying within the app or website, you open other tabs on your browser and search for other sources that support or reinforce claims or ideas and verifies that the author or group has the expertise to be making these claims.
If this sounds time consuming, it is!
Using sources found on the Camosun Library Databases means your fact-checking process is more likely to have a positive result and take less time. Remember, even peer-reviewed journal can also publish letters and opinion pieces or links to websites with unknown fact-checking standards. Open Access(OA) initiatives have unfortunately led to some spoof sites that pretend to be peer-reviewed OA journals.
If you are unsure about a resource found either in the library databases or elsewhere, ask your instructor or a librarian for help.
Very quick how to: open a new browser tab and search the name of the author or organization
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