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Wellesley College Research Guides

AFR 304 / POL3 302: The Politics of Chocolate and Other Foods

Welcome!

This guide provides some useful starting places and strategies for doing research for this course. Use the blue tabs to navigate to the pages you need.

I am happy to consult with you on any aspect of your research, from developing a research question to finding, evaluating, and citing sources.  Email me or make an appointment on my calendar.

Choosing a Research Topic

Start by brainstorming some potential topics to explore further.

  • Look through your syllabus or textbook for themes, concepts, or ideas that interest you, even if you haven't covered them in class yet.
  • Search the topic or a broad theme from the course in Google, SuperSearch, or a library database. What aspects of the topic jump out at you or resonate with you?
  • Think about your major or your hobbies. Do any of your personal interests overlap with the topic of the class?

 

Adapted from "Choosing Your Research Topic," University of Texas Libraries. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.

Now that you have a potential topic in mind, find out a little more about it to make sure it will work for you.

  • Use some of the resources on this page to find  background information and get a general overview of the topic.
  • Sometimes what you find is not what you expected. Make sure the topic still sounds interesting, since you'll be spending a lot of time reading and writing about it.

 

Adapted from "Choosing Your Research Topic," University of Texas Libraries. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.

Now search SuperSearch or a library database to see if journalists or scholars have written about your topic in the popular press or academic journals. You can use the filters to limit to particular source types (e.g., news, scholarly articles, books) or publication dates.
 

Adapted from "Choosing Your Research Topic," University of Texas Libraries. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.

Finally, you'll need to find the right scope for your topic. If it is too broad or too narrow, you may have difficulty covering it adequately in the length assigned for your research project.

  • Too broad - if you found too many results when testing the topic, you might need to choose a specific aspect to focus on. Try looking back in your background information for particular details that interest you.
  • Too narrow - if you had trouble finding any relevant information in a library database, think more broadly about the topic and what interests you. What are the larger concepts or ideas that your topic falls under?

 

Adapted from "Choosing Your Research Topic," University of Texas Libraries. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.

Explore a Topic in Reference Sources

Reference sources such as specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries are a good place to gather factual information, get an overview of a topic, find ideas for keywords, and get bibliographies that point to key books and articles on a topic. 

Below are different resources for finding reference sources.

Reference Sources in SuperSearch

Search here to use the "Encyclopedia articles & more" filter in SuperSearch, which finds articles in a range of reference works from several databases. For more focused searching, and to find some Reference content that SuperSearch doesn't have, search one of the individual databases below.

Reference Databases

Specialized reference databases provide a more focused search experience, with filters and other features that can help you narrow in on what you need. The databases below contain a range of specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and other reference sources in different subject areas, allowing you to explore a topic or concept from a variety of perspectives. 

Individual Encyclopedias & Handbooks

For even more focused searching or browsing, try an individual reference work. Here are some selected titles related to topics of this course.

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