LibGuides: IPOL 386: US Foreign and Security Policy: Home

Important Concepts and Tips

Picking Your Topic Is Research
Tip - Getting Started

Picking Your Topic Is Research

Picking your topic is intertwined with finding and reading sources as well as writing and editing your paper.
Essentially, picking your topic and testing it through searching is part of the research cycle.

Look for a few published articles or books relevant to your topic.
Understand that quite often, your initial research leads you away from your original topic.
That’s more than okay; that is expected.
Most writers go through this cycle multiple times before writing/editing a paper.
Most likely, you will need to go back and consider additional resources.

Use the online reference sources listed here to get brief background information on your topic.

Look for important keywords, people, places and dates that you can use in subsequent searches.

Remember to follow the references/bibliography at the end of the pages to find more sources.

Reference Resources
Guide to all reference resources available from the library

Electronic Resources from the Library

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text online versions of general and subject dictionaries and encyclopedias.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides online, full text access to Gale subject encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Includes Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History; Encyclopaedia Judaica; Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy; Encyclopedia of American Industries; Encyclopedia of American Religions; Encyclopedia of Bioethics; Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security; Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology; Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World; Encyclopedia of Population; Encyclopedia of Religion; Encyclopedia of Sociology; Encyclopedia of the American Constitution; Environmental Encyclopedia; Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America; Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology; New Catholic Encyclopedia; New Catholic Encyclopedia Jubilee Volume; New Dictionary of the History of Ideas; St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture; and West's Encyclopedia of American Law.