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AAS 385W Voting Rights & Voter Suppression (Main)

Getting Started and Quick Links

Below are some quick links to help you get started with your research and information about the content on this guide. Please get in touch if you have any questions!

Getting Started with the Emory Libraries Website - https://libraries.emory.edu

Library catalog - search here for e-books, print materials, and other resources at the library. See the Finding Books tab for help with locating books

Research Guides - African American Studies is inter-disciplinary. See our full list of research guides for different subjects and topics here. 

Library Databases - we have hundreds of databases where you can find articles, data, streaming videos, newspapers, archival materials, and more. See the Finding Articles tab for more information and recommended databases.

Academic Search Complete - one of our most general databases and a great place to start your research

Subject Librarians - see a list of our librarians and the subjects in which they specialize. Always feel free to contact a subject librarian for help with your particular research project.

Choose Your Research Topic

Developing a research topic can be tricky. Here are some tips to help you get started with developing your topic.

Explore and test out your topic idea - try searching for your topic online and in library databases to see what you find. Are you finding information that you can use for your research project? Is what you are finding interesting to you? 

Scope your topic - sometimes a topic can be too broad or too narrow. Refine your topic with these tips

  • Narrow topics - if you aren't finding information, think about ways to broaden or expand your idea. What are some larger themes or concepts that you could explore in your topic?
  • Broad topics - if you are overwhelmed with search results and feel that your sources are all over the place, think about how you can narrow things down. Is there a specific detail, place, person, event, etc. that you can focus on for your research?

Talk to an expert - connect with faculty, grad students, and librarians at Emory who specialize in the area(s) you are researching. Reach out via email and see if they have the time to chat with you about resources, texts, or authors you should look into while you are researching your topic. While they may not be able to read your research proposal, they may be able to recommend additional reading to help you develop your research topic.

Think outside of Emory - depending on your topic, you can research or connect with organizations outside of Emory that specialize in your topic. For instance, you might find a museum in Atlanta that has an online exhibit up on your topic.

Research Best Practices

We conduct research for a variety of reasons, and our final research products can take many different forms. From research papers, to presentations, to op-eds, to blog posts, to websites, to digital exhibits, etc. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you work on a research project.

  • Research is iterative - you might have to repeat steps, go back and refine your topic, run a variety of searches to find sources. It can be a lengthy and at times messy process!
  • Think about your deliverable and your audience - what are you creating and who are you creating it for? The types of sources you use, and how you put your sources together, can vary depending on whether or not you are writing a scholarly paper or creating an online exhibit.
  • Stay organized - staying organized can ensure that you are keeping track of your various sources and ideas, and can help you avoid plagiarism by making sure that you have the information you need to cite your sources properly.

Research assignments often occur in stages, such as beginning with a proposal or an annotated bibliography. For more information on annotated bibliographies, and how they can help you with your research assignment, see this guide from Purdue OWL.

Picking Your Topic Is Research Video

This video was created by the NCSU Libraries and is published under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license.