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Federal Government Overview

Guide created to support research in Federal Government at TCC

Background Information

You might need to learn a little bit more about your topic before you start researching it.

Gathering some background information can help you: 

  • Become more familiar with your topic.
  • Identify keywords you can use for searching.
  • Think of ways you can refine and focus your topic.

Start Here

Where do I start?

arrow pointing towards text

Start with your assignment

Read over your assignment and make sure you understand what it is you need to do. See if you can answer the following questions:

  • What is the assignment? Are you creating a presentation? Are you writing an essay? If so, what type of essay (descriptive, cause-effect, etc.)?  
  • Did your instructor provide a topic or do you have to come up with one yourself? 
  • What types of works (journal articles, books, etc.) can you use as sources and how many sources do you need? 
  • What style do you need to use to cite your sources?

Choosing a Topic

Where to get ideas

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If you are picking your own topic, you might get ideas from:

  • Class materials or discussions
  • Current events or news
  • Topics you are interested in

Check your assignment to see if there are any guidelines related to what your topic can be. Check with your instructor if you have questions about whether a certain topic is acceptable for an assignment.

Keywords

When choosing keywords to use for searching, think about your topic. What are the main ideas that you are interested in? What words could be used to describe these ideas?

Try different words and phrases:

"debt limit", "government shutdown", "spending policy"

General Search Strategies

asterisk

Returns all variations of the root word.

Example: 

govern* will find governs, government

quotation marks

To search two or more words as a phrase

Example: 

"voting rights"

Venn diagram showing only the intersecting part of two overlapping circles shaded in

Results only include those with both of your keywords.

Example: 

voting and real id

Venn diagram with intersecting and non-intersecting parts shaded in

Results include those with either one or both of your keywords.

Example: 

voting or real id

Venn diagram showing only the non-intersecting part of the first of two overlapping circles shaded in

Results do not include keywords following NOT.

Example: 

voting not real id