Once you have made a decision, you should generate keywords. Keywords are search terms that you use when searching for information about your topic. The above video explains how you can write keywords. Watch it, then continue reading this section.
Once your instructor has approved of your choice of a research topic, you should create keywords for that specific theory. Keywords, which will be your search terms, should not be too broad or too narrow. You could, for example, start with a broad topic of public defenders. Then you could narrow this topic by applying particular issues, populations, or locations to that broad topic as follows:
Most of the library's resources, including news articles, journal articles, videos, ebooks, and print books, can be searched through this single search portal. This video shows you how to use it.
Criminal justice faculty members have recommended that students use these scholarly journals for their research.
Consult these websites for US and Texas criminal justice statistics.
We have two excellent ebook databases. These let you read full-text books online. The interfaces can be confusing, so I have included a tutorial video for each one.
The video above shows you how to search the ebook database titled EBSCO eBook Collection.
The video above shows you how to search the database ProQuest EBook Central.
The above video shows you how to search the database Gale eBooks.
This is our video that introduces APA documentation. I urge you to watch the entire video carefully before starting to write your paper or annotated bibliography. It is much easier to cite correctly as you go along, rather than try to fix your documentation after you have written your paper.
This is our complete APA guide, which goes into more detail about citing sources and formatting correctly.
It includes our sample paper. When you're writing a paper, you can model the formatting of your paper after this one.
If you are unsure how to set up the formatting in Microsoft Word so that it fits the requirements for APA formatting, you could instead download this blank Word document that has the formatting already set up for you.
If you've already learned MLA documentation, there are a few things that you need to know about APA documentation that are significantly different:
