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POLS 023: Slavery and its Legacy for US Politics (SC)

Political Science 23: Slavery and its Legacy for US Politics - Schwartz (Spring 2024)

Research Mapping

Mapping your research ideas

Walks you through the process of creating a simple map to generate, visualize, and clarify your research ideas. (here's another example concept map)

Tool for research mapping:  Coggle.it

screenshot of coggle mindmap

• Topic, ideas, questions

• Keywords and searches

• Groups of sources

 

Organizing your project and materials

photograph of bookshelves with books organized in a rainbow of colorsOrganize your research materials

  • Annotate sources as you find them

  • Be consistent: save everything in a predictable way

 

Useful tools:
 

  • Zotero - create a personal research library, attach notes, format citations, cite sources in Google Docs (some set up required)

  • ZoteroBib - quickly create a list of formatted citations

  • Coggle - create a topic map for your research + keep track of what you find

  • Synthesis Matrix - make a simple table to keep track of your sources and ideas

Keeping track of research materials: Zotero

Organizing Your Research

More advice on organizing your research: