Thirty-one planners, worksheets, checklists, templates, and quick guides for every stage of the research process — organized for fast lookup, not sequential reading
The tools collected here are built for lookup, not for reading start to finish. Each one is a single page or a short cluster of pages you can open in the middle of a research project — when you are stuck choosing a database, unsure whether a source counts as primary or secondary, second-guessing a citation, or trying to decide if a claim circulating online deserves your trust.
Every tool ties back to a model or checklist introduced somewhere in Chapters 1 through 48. Where a tool draws on one of the textbook's five core models — the MGU Research Question Model, the MGU Source Evaluation Model, the MGU Misinformation Check, the MGU Research Note Model, or the MGU Synthesis Model — that connection is named directly, so you can flip back to the full explanation if you need the reasoning behind the tool rather than just the tool itself.
Use this section the way you would use a library reference desk: walk up with a specific problem, find the page that answers it, apply it, and move on. The goal is the same one that runs through the whole textbook — do not merely find information; earn trust in information — applied here in the most practical form possible.
Use this to turn a broad topic into a focused, researchable question. Built on the MGU Research Question Model.
If you cannot fill in the Evidence Needed row, the question is not yet researchable. Go back and narrow the Focused Issue row first.
Use this when a topic is too broad to research in the time and length you have. Work down each row until the topic feels specific enough to search.
| Narrowing Lens | Ask Yourself | Your Narrowed Version |
|---|---|---|
| Time | What years or period am I actually interested in? | |
| Place | What country, region, or institution? | |
| Population | Which group of people, organizations, or cases? | |
| Cause or Effect | Am I asking what caused this, or what it caused? | |
| Comparison | Am I comparing two things, periods, or places? | |
| Debate or Problem | What is the specific disagreement or unsolved problem? |
Narrowing only the wording of a topic without narrowing its scope. "Social media's effects" and "the effects of social media" are the same size topic in different words — neither is narrow enough to research well.
Use this before your first database or catalog search. Translate your research question into the vocabulary a search system will actually match.
| Concept From Your Question | Synonyms / Related Terms | Broader Term | Narrower Term |
|---|---|---|---|
Use this any time a search returns too many, too few, or the wrong results.
| Operator / Symbol | What It Does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Narrows results to items containing both terms | climate AND migration |
| OR | Broadens results to items containing either term | teen OR adolescent |
| NOT | Excludes items containing a term | jaguar NOT car |
| " " | Searches an exact phrase | "food insecurity" |
| * | Truncation — matches word endings | educat* finds education, educator, educating |
| ( ) | Groups logic so it runs in the right order | (teen OR adolescent) AND vaping |
Too many results, mostly irrelevant: add AND + a narrower term, or use quotation marks for an exact phrase.
Too few results: replace AND with OR between synonyms, or remove a quotation-marked phrase.
Use this to move efficiently from a catalog record to a usable source.
Use this to choose and search subject databases efficiently.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Match the database to the discipline of your question, not just to general availability. |
| 2 | Run an initial broad search, then apply filters: date range, peer-reviewed only, full text, document type. |
| 3 | Scan abstracts before opening full text — abstracts tell you in seconds whether a source fits. |
| 4 | Use the database's own subject terms or thesaurus, not just your original keywords, for a second search pass. |
| 5 | Save searches or set alerts if the project will run over several weeks. |
| 6 | Export citations in your required style as you go, not at the end. |
Use this when academic sources alone cannot answer your question and the open web is appropriate.
| Operator | Use |
|---|---|
| site: | Restrict results to one domain, e.g. site:.gov |
| filetype: | Restrict to a file type, e.g. filetype:pdf |
| " " | Exact phrase matching |
| - | Exclude a term |
Identify who published it, check whether it is sponsored or promoted content, and verify the claim against at least one independent source before using it as evidence.
Use this to choose the right MGU Library resource for the task in front of you.
| If You Need... | Use... |
|---|---|
| A quick definition | MGU Library Dictionary |
| Background and context on a concept | MGU Library Encyclopedia |
| Quick facts, tables, or figures | MGU Library Reference pages |
| Step-by-step process help | MGU Library Guides |
| A hands-on skill walkthrough | MGU Library Tutorials |
| Course-specific or structured learning support | MGU Library Departments and Course pages |
| Source Type | Best Used For | Caution |
|---|---|---|
| Scholarly journal article | Established findings, methods, literature review | Can be highly specialized; check date for currency |
| Book / monograph | Deep, sustained treatment of a subject | Slower to publish than articles; check edition/date |
| News report | Recent events, timelines, public reaction | Early reporting may be incomplete or revised later |
| Government report / data | Official statistics, policy, legal facts | Check agency and methodology, not just the headline number |
| Website / organization page | Organizational positions, practical information | Check who runs the site and what they are selling or advocating |
| Social media post | Public reaction, breaking information, primary voice | Rarely verified; treat as a lead, not as confirmed evidence |
| Encyclopedia / reference work | Background and orientation only | Not a citable source for an argument's main evidence |
| Category | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Direct, firsthand evidence created at the time of the event or by the people involved | Diaries, interviews, raw data, legislation, original research articles, photographs |
| Secondary | Analysis, interpretation, or commentary created after the fact, about primary material | Journal articles analyzing data, history books, literary criticism, documentaries |
| Tertiary | Summaries or compilations of secondary and primary material | Encyclopedias, textbooks, dictionaries, almanacs |
The same source can shift category depending on your question. A newspaper article is primary evidence about how an event was reported, but secondary evidence about the event itself.
Built on the MGU Source Evaluation Model.
Built on the MGU Misinformation Check.
Use this instead of reading deeper into a single suspicious page.
Judging a source only by how it looks or how confident its tone is. Design and tone are not evidence of accuracy.
| Check | Question to Ask |
|---|---|
| Sample size | How many cases, and is that enough to support the claim? |
| Axes | Do the axes start at zero? Are scales consistent and labeled? |
| Average vs. spread | Does an average hide important variation? |
| Correlation vs. causation | Does the source claim causation when it has only shown correlation? |
| Cherry-picking | Is this the full dataset, or a selectively chosen slice? |
| Source of data | Who collected it, and how? |
| Date | Search Tool / Database | Search Terms Used | Result / Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
A research log prevents repeated dead-end searches and gives you a defensible record of how thoroughly you searched.
Writing only a summary. An annotation without evaluation and usefulness is a description, not an annotated bibliography entry.
Built on the MGU Research Note Model.
| Note Type | When to Use | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Quotation | Wording itself matters — precise, memorable, or legally significant phrasing | Exact words, quotation marks, page number |
| Paraphrase | You need the idea but not the exact wording | Your own words and sentence structure, page number still recorded |
| Summary | You need the overall point of a longer passage | Condensed, your own words, captures only the main idea |
Swapping a few words in the original sentence while keeping its structure is not paraphrase. It is a citation problem even when a citation is present.
Built on the MGU Synthesis Model.
| Theme / Issue | Source A | Source B | Source C | Pattern or Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fill rows by theme, not by source. The empty cells often reveal exactly where sources disagree or where evidence is missing.
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| No author listed | Use organization name, or move title to author position per your style |
| No date listed | Use "n.d." (MLA/APA) and search for an archived or print version with a date if possible |
| Source has no page numbers | Use paragraph numbers, headings, or omit the locator per style rules |
| Citation generator output looks off | Check it manually against the official style guide — generators frequently misformat titles and punctuation |
| Same author, multiple sources | Add a short title or letter (a, b) to distinguish in-text citations |
AI tools can generate citations to sources that do not exist. Always verify a source independently before citing it.
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Working Thesis | One sentence stating your central, evidence-based claim |
| Introduction | Context, focused issue, and thesis |
| Body Sections | One main point per section, each supported and analyzed with evidence |
| Counterargument | The strongest opposing view, addressed honestly |
| Conclusion | What the evidence shows, and what remains uncertain |
| Works Cited / References | Checked against every in-text citation |