Business Enterprise in American History: Research project/annotated bibliography

A good research topic is:

• Directly related to the content of the course but not something was already covered in detail. Look for tangents and questions that came up as you look over what you've read already, and skim what's ahead. 
• Not too broad. If you can write a whole textbook chapter about it, it's too big to write a research paper about. (Research papers are meant to go into the nitty gritty details.)
• Not too narrow and not too obscure. Research papers require scholarly articles for sources, so you need something that's been written about enough. 
• Something that has unanswered questions or unresolved differences of opinion. You need something that you can say something new and meaningful about.  

In order to focus your essay, you need to turn your topic into either

• a research question - something that requires a long form answer, not a yes, no, or single sentence with no elaboration.
  OR
• a thesis statement. All a thesis statement is your proposed answer to the research question.

For example, if your research question is, "How did the National Recovery Act of 1933 affect the coal mining industry?" you could have a number of thesis statements based on your focus and your (informed) opinions. But one of them might be, "The National Recovery Act of 1933 stabilized the coal industry by creating the conditions for a truce between labor and management." 

A research paper is usually pretty short - between 5 and 30 pages. There is not much room to talk about everything you find in your research. The research question or thesis statement focuses you; tells you what is relevant and what should be left out; and suggests what order you should present your information to be clear and persuasive.

Any research project will require scholarly or peer reviewed articles (and possibly other kinds of sources too.) 

What is a scholarly/peer reviewed article? 

• It's written by experts, for experts
• It's also reviewed by additional experts for things like unclear language, errors, inadequate research methods, things that should have been cited, etc.

Why is that important?

• Expert authors are held to a high standard for accuracy, complexity, and detail
• The peer review process (when it goes right) filters out misinformation and mistakes

Where do you find these scholarly articles? 

• Primarily, in library databases (links below.)
• You can also use OneSearch, which is the search bar at the top of the library homepage. OneSearch searches almost all of the library's databases (it doesn't do a good job with Nexis Uni.)
• There are also articles in repositories run by universities, professional associations, etc. Those can be found using Google Scholar. 

If you want to find the A to Z list of library databases without having to come back to this guide every time, go to the library homepage and scroll down on the left side to click Article Databases. 

To access the database, click its name. If you're not already logged in, you will have to enter your Empire username and password. 

Citing your sources is important for two main reasons:

• It acknowledges where you got your information so that you aren't claiming what somebody else discovered or created (which is called plagiarism.)
• It lets your reader go back to the sources you used so they can verify and learn more for themselves. 

Citing is done in very structured, formal styles that can be frustrating. If you can't figure out the perfect citation, focus on finding the closest format that fits, and including all the important information:

• Who is responsible for creating this content? 
• When was it created?
• What is it called? 
• Is it inside something else, like a journal, an anthology, a website, etc? The citation should include useful information for locating it inside.
• How do I get to it? (Web link, permalink in a database, or DOI - a unique ID for scholarly articles.) 
  • Print materials won't have this part.

If you can't find some of this information even after a thorough search, opt to leave it out rather than guessing.