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Research Process

This libguide walks the reader through a Research Process informed by Dr. Carol Kuhlthau and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

How to IMMERSE

Use Google and Wikipedia (with caution)
Use the Credo Reference Mindmap
Use the CQ Researcher database
Browse the books
Collect facts

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
This is an online collection of over 950 titles with particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks as well as short reference videos, art images, and additional images across all subject areas. As subject coverage is diverse, this is a good place to begin a topic search before formal research.
If you receive a "Connection refused by search.credoreference.com, please try again later" error message, please refresh your browswer to continue to Credo Reference.To avoid seeing this error, it is best to clear your browser's cache.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
A database of full-text, non-scholarly articles with coverage of a wide variety of current issues written by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked to provide an introduction to a subject or topic.
Full-length articles include an overview, historical background, chronology, pro/con feature, plus resources for additional research. Graphics, photos and short "sidebar" features round out the reports. This is a great resource for topic selection and obtaining applicable terms or key words to use when performing further research.

Step 2 - a deeper explanation

Build background knowledge
Connect to content
Discover interesting ideas

In the Immerse phase, the Inquiry Community begins to build background knowledge together through an immersion experience. The Learning Team designs engaging ways for students to immerse in the overall ideas of the content area under study.

The main task of Immerse is to guide students to connect with the content and to discover interesting ideas to explore further. Learners are guided to think about what they already know and what seems particularly interesting, curious, surprising, or troubling. As they build background knowledge, students reflect on ideas that matter to them and are worth further investigation.

Kuhlthau, Carol Collier, et al. “Guided Inquiry Design Framework.” Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, 2nd ed., Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, CA, 2015, pp. 56–56.