Research Process

1. Revise the Introduction to your project you did in the "Research Plan" assignment to reflect the changes and adjustments you have made in the course of your research.

What is being done to aid the people of Darfur and what is being done that is inadvertently encouraging the Darfur conflict.

2. Go through your assignments, notes, and journals to prepare the Topic Analysis in which you:

o Identify the academic disciplines which are related to your research result. Include only the disciplines that relate to your approach to the topic.

Some of the academic disciplines which are related to my research results are history, anthropology and social studies.

· Create a list of the Library of Congress Subject Headings that was most effective in identifying relevant materials in library catalogs. (HINT: Examine the online catalog entries of some of the "best" books you identified. What is the subject headings assigned to your books? LCSH are subject terms; Library of Congress Classifications are letters assigned to books to help organize them on the shelves. )

A list of the Library of Congress Subject Headings and numbers that were most effective in identifying relevant materials are:

DT-History of Africa
DT 155-155.2 Sudan Ethnography
DT 155.3-147.67 History of Sudan
DT 159.6-159.9 Sudan Local History and Description
AE-General Works
AE-90 Encyclopedias
AN-Newspapers


· List the useful keywords and subject headings in retrieving relevant materials from indexes and databases.

Some useful keywords and subject headings in retrieving relevant materials from databases and indexes include aid in Darfur, NATO involvement in Sudan, Coalition for International Justice in Sudan, China in Darfur, Amnesty International and nonprofit aid in Sudan.

· List the most important databases and other periodical indexes.

The most important databases I have used that have yielded the best information for me include Infomine and ProQuest.


· Write a brief description (1 or 2 paragraphs) of your experience identifying keywords and subject headings (including LC subject headings)

My experience in identifying keywords and subject headings has gotten better as before I would post simple keywords like Darfur Conflict and not be met with what I was actually looking for as pretty much any and all news the correlates with the words Darfur Conflict isn’t guaranteed to tell me who is aiding in ending the conflict or who might be helping to fund that conflict, even if it is inadvertent. I have also found that naming specific organizations that are helping Darfur seems to lead me to more information about what is being done to aid in ending the conflict.

I also felt that it was helpful to write down things that I read about such as teens fundraising to help aid in ending genocide in Darfur and then searching the keywords “teen fundraising for aid in Darfur” and was met with information regarding their cause and help.

3. Write a three-paragraph essay on your research process in which you:

o Describe your strategies for finding information and how you overcame any challenges, such as too much or not enough information.

When I searched things in particular on databases and the web, in order to facilitate narrowing my results and finding information that was appropriately for my topic I used selective keywords as well as narrowing down what I was searching from determining whether I wanted a news article, an article from a scholarly journal or even narrowing down on certain databases whether I wanted complete articles or information on where to find certain articles and in what periodical I would locate them.

· Discuss the nature of your topic.

The nature of my topic is determining who if anyone is giving aid to stopping the Darfur conflict and whether these are entire countries or organizations or even just a group of people or single person that is working towards helping the people of Darfur as well as what countries and places are actually helping with all of their resources or just certain resources. And what countries are potentially helping the Sudanese economy to stay afloat and in essence continue in their war (i.e.-China).

· Discuss the kind of information you have found and speculate on how the nature of your topic affects the types of information available. Explain why you think this was the case. (For example, if your topic is very current, you may have found newspapers to be especially important sources. In this case, you might also explain what other sources, such as reference and books contributed.)

I’ve found the kind of information that has been most informative of my topic has been news websites and information pamphlets that allot me information from nonprofit organizations or people who are helping to end genocide in Darfur. I have also found in finding information about how China is helping to inadvertently fuel this war that news and other periodical resources seem to be the best venue for acquiring information especially news for up to date information.

· Describe any differences between what you expected to find and what you found to be most useful.

I accepted to find that reference books would be most relevant to my topic and though they provide good history of what has occurred in Darfur and the varying reasons for its initial conflict I have found that they offer little in the way of up to date information on aid in Darfur or for Darfur.

o Compare the Internet as an information resource with other information resources you found on your topic.

The internet as an information resource has been very helpful, although it was unable to give me print out pamphlets from organizations trying to help Darfur it has also been very helpful in finding the agencies, organizations and government information that tells me how and who to get a hold of in order to get the information that I need such as information pamphlets. It’s also been an excellent aid in the fact that there are periodical databases which offer me more options and areas to locate the news on my topic from more sources then what is available at an actual library (even academic libraries).