ENGL 15 Rhetoric and Composition
Research Tools and Strategies for Upcoming Assignments - 9/30/20
Contact Jen Jarson, Head Librarian, for help with research!
Email: jmj12@psu.edu / Phone: 610-285-5119
UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION NEEDS
1. Notes about information needs:
DEVELOPING SEARCH STRATEGIES
2. What are the major concepts you want to explore? Write a few sentences or brainstorm a list
of words that describe your interests / ideas. What are the building blocks? Which words or
ideas are most important? Circle/underline/highlight the most important words.
 Video Games
 Football
 Baseball
 Covid-19
 Economy
3. Organize your major concepts in columns. Isolate the building blocks of your idea. Assign
each concept to a column. Group related words. Add other words that are synonyms or
otherwise related to each concept.
Concept 1
Video Games
Football
Baseball
Covid-19
Economy
Concept 2
Mental Health
Nintendo
Sega
Sony
Microsoft
Player Health
Social Justice
Player Health
Substance Abuse
Concept 3
Behaviors
Games
Consoles
Protests
Concussions
Covid-19
Arm Injuries
Steroids
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Politics
Social Distancing
Economy
Death Toll
Supply and Demand
Stock Market
Small Businesses
Corporations
Laws and Policies
Masks
6 feet
Shut Down
Small Businesses
Essential Workers
Opportunity Cost
Income
Demographics
Covid-19
Price Floor and Ceiling
Government Involvement
Free Market
4. Create keyword search strategies by combining one word from each column.
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NAVIGATING SEARCH TOOLS
5. Go to the Penn State University Libraries website (https://libraries.psu.edu/). Choose the
FIND: Books, Articles, and More tab. Experiment with strategies to locate quality, relevant
sources. Record notes about how to use this search tool effectively.
Contains Author, Publication Info, Topics, Availabilityz
6. Go to the Penn State University Libraries website (https://libraries.psu.edu/). Choose the
Databases tab. Choose Academic Search Complete. Experiment with your search word ideas in
order to locate quality, relevant articles. Record notes about how to use the database
effectively.
Academic Search Complete
JSTOR
Project MUSE
ProQuest
7. Go to the Penn State University Libraries website (https://libraries.psu.edu/). Choose the
Databases tab. Choose one or more of the other recommended databases: JSTOR, Project
MUSE, ProQuest - U.S. Major Dailies. Experiment with your search word ideas in order to
locate quality, relevant articles. Record notes about how to use the database effectively.