Research Statement Guidelines
To be considered for the First-Year Program Library Research Prize, your essay must be accompanied by a “Research Statement” in which you will reflect on your use of library research tools, sources, and services at each stage of the research process, emphasizing what you learned.
Requirements
Your research statement should be written as a narrative essay, with a length of 500 to 1,000 words.
It will be evaluated on how well you address ALL the following elements:
Identify & Develop a TopicState your research topic, thesis, or question.
Describe how your research process informed or shaped your research topic, thesis, or question. - Did you decide to change or modify your topic in any way (e.g. narrow or broaden the scope; change it slightly or completely)? If so, how and why?
Select Research Tools Outline the research tools you used and explain how you picked those tools. - How did you decide what types of research tools to use (e.g. databases, search engines, research guides, etc.)?
- Which specific research tools (e.g. Academic Search Complete, Google, Psychology Research Guide, etc.), did you use, why did you use them, and how well did they cover your topic?
Develop a Search Strategy Describe your strategy for finding sources including keywords and how you generated and revised them over time.- How did you decide which keywords to use?
Specify whether you used any filters, limits, or advanced search features.
- Did you incorporate synonyms, variant spellings, or Boolean operators (AND/OR) into your?
- Did you use filters to limit to a publication date range, source type, peer reviewed articles, etc.?
Evaluate Sources Describe how you evaluated the sources you found. - How did you determine which sources were of sufficient or appropriate currency, authority, accuracy, purpose, and relevance to use in your essay? You might find it helpful to review the items listed in the “Source” section of the “Source and Beyond the Source” document*.
- Did you consider any of the questions from the “Beyond the Source” section when evaluating your sources? You might find it helpful to review the items listed in the “Beyond Source” section of the “Source and Beyond the Source” document*.
Reflect on Learning and Growth Share what you learned about the research process. Describe the challenges and successes you encountered during the research process and explain how you addressed those challenges.- Were there any steps of the research process that struck you as being significantly more or less challenging than expected? How did you address the more challenging steps?
- If you received research help, how did it affect your research process?
Discuss how you will apply what you learned to your future research.
- How did your understanding of what it means to conduct research evolve throughout the research process?
Your responses do not have to address these elements in order, but they should be woven into your statement. Be as detailed as possible and incorporate specific examples from your experience.
Questions?
Contact Firouzeh Rismiller (frismill@depaul.edu).