Have you ever been given a research assignment and had no clue where to begin? Enter the Texas State University Libraries of 2023. We have created a powerful resource that walks you through the research process as if you were working alongside a reference librarian. While our librarians are still here to help you via chat and consultations, the Research Tutorials Guide will show you how to level-up your research skills and prepare you for your academic journey. Whether you simply need to do research to complete an assignment or you need to conduct comprehensive research, our online guidance can help you succeed. As you work through the self-guided online research tutorials, from the comfort of your dorm room or even on your smart phone, you will engage with interactive materials that will help you master library skills. If this seems overwhelming, don’t worry — you can take your time, work through it at your own pace, and focus on the sections that matter to you.
What is covered in the Research Tutorials?
These online research tutorials help you improve your research skills and assist you in every step of the research process. You will begin by learning about the research process and will turn your research topic into a research question. You’ll be guided through how to find books and scholarly articles relevant to your research topic, and given resources for taking notes, citing your sources, and writing your paper.
The online tutorials are grouped into sections that allow you to navigate through each step of the research process or jump around to the part that you need. It is self-guided and all up to you!
On each page, you will have an introduction outlining what you need to know, what you’ll learn, and why you should care. There will be several interactive pieces that break up the information into bite-sized chunks. Finally, you’ll have a chance to practice what you’ve learned using your own research project! We want you to focus on the work that matters to you, whether it is a fun research project or a class assignment, so we made sure to create practice activities that can be applied directly to your assignment — no busy work here. Just make sure to save your work at the end so can refer back to it later.
How Do I Use the Research Tutorials?
If you are a student, you can access these online tutorials on the Research Tutorials Libguide! If you get stuck at any point in the process, feel free to use the Ask a Librarian chat for assistance. If you are a first-year student, you might find our First Year Research Libguide particularly helpful.
If you are an instructor and want to use the tutorials in your class, you can add the guide directly to your Canvas course. Instructions on how to do so can be found on the Instructors Libguide. Do you already have an instruction session scheduled? Talk to your library instruction team about using the online tutorials as additional instruction materials for your class. They can even create additional online content specifically for your subject area.
This article was contributed by Henna Punjabi, Instructional Design Specialist.