UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Getting started with research:

The first step for a successful paper is to deal intensively with its subject matter. Before and also during the literature search and reading the literature you should look into your subject matter again and again:

What is the meaning of the topic?
Which aspects are alluded by the topic?
Which are not?

In many cases you will recognize that the topic must be limited and focused on a certain question, otherwise it would be much too extensive.

Therefore, before researching a topic, try to make sure what exactly you are looking for!

Flesh out your topic by asking yourself a set of questions. Think of appropriate terms that describe parts of your topic, including synonyms or related terms.

To learn more about strategies for a successful catalog and database search for any topic, you should definitely check out the guides and courses the UCL (University and City Library of Cologne) has on offer.

Somewhere in between your initial idea and settling on a research question, you'll need to do background research on how scholars in a particular subject area have discussed your topic. You may find background information in a textbook or reference sources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks.

Always use subject-specific reference books.

Use general encyclopaedias, Wikipedia, or other internet sources only to get familiar with a topic. These sources cannot be cited in your work as references for papers, term papers, theses!

Start with the most recent reference book and then work backwards. A comparison of more recent and older texts shows you how scholars in a particular subject area have discussed your topic.
Take a look at the bibliography and the footnotes of books, book reviews, and review articles that you have already identified as crucial for your topic.

Use subject-specific resources for a broad overview of your topic, key terms, and a list of recommended books and articles.

A subject-specific dictionary contains specialist terminiology (i.e., jargon). Use it to understand the specific language and meaning assigned to words and phrases specific to a discipline or area of study.

Use a subject-specific dictionary to confirm the meaning of terms within the context of American history.

Encyclopedias are collections of short, factual entries, often written by different contributors who are knowledgeable about the topic.

Use a specialized encyclopedia to get an overview of a topic and use the list of resources at the end of the articles to expand your research.

A handbook (or textbook, studybook) introduces you to the basic questions and problems of a topic and conveys the current state of research. (Please note the year of publication of the handbook).

In addition to dictionaries and encyclopedias, you should also consult a subject-specific handbook.

Before you start reading, take a look at the table of contents and the index to find the introductory chapters and text passages on questions and concepts that are of interest for you. The bibliography lists important literature for further reading.

Print:

Find reference works in the catalog by searching for:
encyclopedia, companion, dictionary, textbook, handbook

Most reference works in the library are non-circulating. Some textbooks with a periodical or local focus can be borrowed.

Some examples of textbooks in our library:

• Routledge history handbooks 
  For example: The Routledge handbook of the history of settler colonialism. Ed. by Edward Kanavagh. 2020. Signatur: 325.3Rou/Cav
• Major problems in American history series. Cengage Learning
  For example: Major problems in Asian American history. Ed. by Lon Kurashige. 2nd. ed. 2017. Signatur: 973.02Maj-30+2
• Wiley Blackwell companions
  For example: A companion to Custer and the Little Bighorn Campaign. Ed. by Brad D. Lookingbill. 2019. Signatur:  973.04Com-32
• The Bedford series in history and culture
  For example: Slave revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804. By Laurent Dubois. 2nd. ed. 2017. Signatur: 972.94Dub/Sla+2

E-Books:

The UCL offers full access to a great number of e-books from different publishers. Here are some examples:

• Oxford Handbooks online
  For example: The Oxford handbook of American political history
• Cambridge Companions online
  For example: The Cambridge companion to Abraham Lincoln
• Oxford Research Encyclopedia in American History
• Gale Virtual Reference Library
  Note: permits simultaneous full text search of hundreds of dictionaries and encyclopedias

World clouds can be a useful way to define key terms for your research question. They can help to structure your topic or visualize the key concepts of a paper or presentation.

A word cloud - you could also call it (depending on its form) term taxonomy, term matrix, term field, word list, or mind map - offers a visual sense of the key terms and main themes concerning your research topic or idea.

To create one, use terms that describe your topic and ones which you have already noted down during the preparation for your research or during the orientation phase. This will help you to categorize your findings.

In the course of your work, the terms can change or the cloud can grow larger or smaller and it may become a preliminary stage of the structure of your presentation, term paper, or final paper.

How to create a word cloud

Consider creating a word cloud as a flexible working tool to help you find key terms and concepts of your topic or research idea!

You can start using terms from your first preliminary considerations for your topic:
- synonyms, related terms, alternate forms of your keywords, names, english and german terms, technical and colloquial terms

Work through textbooks (table of contents, index), literature lists, abstracts (if available) to find additional material to expand the word cloud:
- time period of your topic, regional case studies on your topic

Here you can find an example for a word cloud. This is a relatively unstructured and unspecific word cloud on the broad topic of 'land rights'.
The points marked in green and blue letters could be grouped together (blue: types of rights; green: society and land rights).
In the course of developing your research topic, several points may be dropped (- depending on the question) or added, individual points can be given subpoints, etc.

Another way to generate key terms for your topic is to create research questions. This will help to identify key phrases which will assist you when you begin looking for resources.

An example:
Research question: What role did newspapers play in the ratification of the Constitution?
Keywords: Newspaper, Constitution of the United States, ratification, public opinion, journalist

Brainstorm different ideas related to your topic.

Since different databases use different terms for the same concept, it is a good idea to generate synonyms and related terms for the concepts you wish to explore.

When searching the catalog for your research, it is helpful to know the difference between keywords and subject terms. That way you can utilize both techniques to locate relevant sources.

Keywords (Geman: Stichworte) are words anywhere in the title or subtitle of a book, article, or online resource. The title of a publication does not necessarily say anything about its content. Accordingly, you may not find important literature on a topic with a simple keyword search.

A subject term (German: Schlagworte) is defined as the most specific word or group of words that captures the essence of the subject of a book, article or online resource. Subject terms are different from keywords in that they are standarized terms assigned to a certain topic. They do not necessarily appear in the title or subtitle of a publication.

For example, the American Revolutionary War can be described using the following terms:

American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, War of the American Revolution, American War of Independence, War of American Independence, War of Independence

You could search the library catalog for all those words. Or - use one subject heading to find all of the library's materials about the the American Revolutionary War:
Nordamerikanischer Unabhängigkeitskrieg

Keyword searches are a good substitute for a subject search when you do not know the standard subject term. Keywords may also be used as a substitute for a title search when you have incomplete title information.

Subject terms can be a great way to easily find things related directly to your topic. Once you have identified a book or article that is worthwhile, look at the subject terms. You can click directly on the subject terms to get a list of books on the same subject.

You need to be aware that not every library assigns the standard subject terms from the "Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND)", many libraries devise their own terms.
We use the authority file of the GND when we assign subject terms. Please keep the following points in mind:

• Subject terms are in German and singular form
• Some titles list subject terms in English, assigned from other libraries
• Not every book has subject terms listed

The University of Cologne subscribes to many databases. You can find the complete list here.
A list, sorted for databases of interest for students of American history and English studies, can be found here.

Here are some examples:

• Academic Search Ultimate
  Collection of full-text journals, books, conference papers, and reports
• JSTOR
  Provides full-text access to thousands of articles from archived academic journals. Date coverage varies by individual journal title, but a typical coverage range is from the beginning of the journal until 5 years ago.
• Base
  BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is one of the world's most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources. BASE provides more than 240 million documents from more than 8,000 content providers. You can access the full texts of about 60% of the indexed documents for free (Open Access).
• MLA International Bibliography
  Bibliography for journals, books, websites, and other publications.
• Project MUSE
  An online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books.
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
  American and British multi-disciplinary dissertations and theses since 1861
• Web of Science
  Provides access to multiple databases that provide comprehensive citation data for many different academic disciplines.

Please keep in mind to use a VPN-client to access e-resources from home!

On the website of our library, you can find a list of electronic resources free on the web.

Check footnotes, bibliographies and the index in books or articles to find search terms and further literature.

Don't forget to:

• come up with different ways to express your search term (synonyms, homonyms, different languages)
• search for more general or more narrow terms to adjust the number of your results
• combine different subject terms to retrieve more relevant results
• use the asterisk (*) to specify any number of characters to search for variable endings of a root word
• Use quotation marks to search for your terms as an exact phrase (e.g., "Cold War")

To learn more about search strategies take a look at the tutorial "Effizient recherchieren". Unfortunately, it is only available in German.