Research Guides: PADM 400: Developing a Researchable Question

Finding Background Information

Newspapers

Chicago Tribune This link opens in a new window
Complete full-text of Chicago Tribune from 1989 to date.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Provides selected full text for more than 20 national and international newspapers and over 398 regional U.S. newspapers.
Features full text of radio and television news transcripts as well as indexing and abstracts for many other national newspapers.
New York Times This link opens in a new window
Full-text access from 1980 to present.
Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) This link opens in a new window
Considered to be the preeminent publication for business news and information on financial markets worldwide. Full-text access for 1984 to present.

Popular Magazines

Developing Your Research

A. "Developing a Research or Guiding Question" (by Arizona State University): This video will help you understand the difference between a topic and a research question. It will also help you develop good research questions.

Check for Understanding

B. "Generating and Using Keywords" (by Arizona State University): This video explains how to determine keywords/concepts. It also explains the importance of finding synonyms or related concepts.

Other Sources of Background Information

Encyclopedias/Databases

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
An online collection of many reference books covering a wide variety of subjects, with entries covering such subjects as medicine, art, technology, law and more.
Credo Reference is an online collection of many reference books covering a wide variety of subjects, with entries covering such subjects as medicine, art, technology, law and more, all aggregated and integrated in a robust search engine.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
A database of in-depth, authoritative reports on a full range of political and social-policy issues. Each report is footnoted and includes an overview, background section, chronology, bibliography and debate-style pro-con feature, plus tools to study the evolution of the topic over time.