The Research Process

Understanding how to organize and undertake a research project is critical to conducting successful topic-based inquiries and projects. NU Library provides significant collections of resources designed to support the development and practice of research skills.

Sage Research Methods provides a range of materials to support researchers, including how-to videos, encyclopedias, and handbooks.

Logo for the Sage Research Methods Online collection.   

For a refresher on steps in the research process, check the Sage Project Planner. IMPORTANT...As indicated by the red circle below, the research question doesn't emerge until the literature review is well under way!!

Overview of the Sage Research Methods Project Planner which describes each step in the research process. The section called "Developing a Researchable Question" is highlighted to show that the question emerges after the literature review is substantially complete.

Encyclopedias and Handbooks - Topic Focused

Encyclopedias and handbooks often provide background material needed at the beginning of a research project. NU Library offers access to a wide range of these reference materials from publishers like Oxford, Elgar, Routledge, and Palgrave. 

To identify additional titles, search in Scholar One and experiment with different terms as shown below.

Shows a search for handbooks on migration in Scholar OneSearch, one of many library databases, but the only one to include the library's catalog.

In addition to using known publisher names in searches, you may search for words like encyclopedia or handbook with topics of interest.

"human rights" handbook

"human rights" encyclopedia

migration handbook

"threat assessment" handbook

Oxford handbook security

* Enclosing phrases within quotation marks can streamline a search. For example, "threat assessment" looks for that exact phrase while threat assessment without quotes will retrieve additional search results,

Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and Video - Research Focused

The Sage Research Methods video collection supports browsing by discipline, method (qualitative data analysis, action research, etc.), or video type (case study, interview, etc.).

Overview of the Video collection within Sage Research Methods showing that video may be searched by discipline, research method, or type.

 

Sage Research Methods also provides an extensive collection of encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and other resources, including the famous Little Green and Little Blue books for quantitative and qualitative research respectively.

Overview of the Books and Handbooks section of Sage Research Methods showing the wide range of materials available in this collection.

Need more help?

Please e-mail Roxanne Palmatier, library contact for Political Science, Security and Resilience, Security and Intelligence Studies, International Affairs, and the Policy School.