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ENG 102 / ENG 108: Research Papers, Literary Criticism & Annotated Bibliographies

This guide has been designed for MCC students taking English 102. It serves as a starting point for the research paper assignment. Use the tabs at the top of the guide to get started finding, using and evaluating information for your assignments.

Database Search Tips

Boolean Logic

For better search results, try Boolean Operators!

AND connects terms and narrows the search
OR  expands the search (finds either term)
NOT use to exclude terms


For example:

  • bullying AND adolescents
  • textiles AND China
  • fashion OR couture
  • body image OR self esteem AND psychology
  • zombies NOT films OR "motion pictures"


Quotes

When searching on phrases or titles, use quotes!

For example:

"Wuthering Heights"

"to be or not to be"

Truncation

To look for variations of a root word, try truncation!

For example:

teach* will search for teach, teacher, teaching, etc.

 

Boolean Operators

The following video provides an overview of how to use the Boolean Operators AND, OR, and NOT to combine keywords in a search strategy:

Choosing Keywords

The following video shows how to choose keywords and brainstorm for alternate words: