English 1B (Online): Welcome

Welcome! This guide covers resources that will be helpful for finding resources that will help you with the research component of your claim essays for this class. We'll also discuss some strategies for finding and evaluating research effectively.

Getting Started: One activity to do once you've selected a topic is to brainstorm about the topic you have chosen. Figuring out what words to use to find the most relevant information on your topic is going to be one of the biggest obstacles you face when researching. 

Once you've selected a topic, ask yourself: what words or phrases might be used to search for information on it, including synonyms and related terms? For instance, for factory farming, what other terms or keywords might also describe or be related to this topic? What other words or phrases occur to you? Brainstorm and write down some of the potential words and phrases. A good strategy is to keep a running list of potential search terms as you research. As you search for information on your topic, you may discover other terms that describe your topic that you may not have thought of at first. You may want to re-search resources using the new terms you have found to find additional, relevant sources.

Having trouble picking a topic? Try our Opposing Viewpoints database. There are broad categories with sample topics on the front page with links to longer lists of potential topics. Click on a given topic to go to a gateway with links to full-text resources as well as a short description of a topic.