Background

Why Background Research?

To become familiar with concepts and vocabulary that is used and help you narrow down your topic. If you don't have the right words or phrases, your searches will give you poor answers. Your background information gives you keywords, key phrase, names, events, sub-topics.

Where do you find this background information?

• Reference and eReference material
• Suggested sources to the right 

Examples of keywords and phrases for these topics: 

• gender AND race AND gangs
• "self-esteem" AND sports
• "self-esteem" AND gangs
• sport sociology
• race AND sport
• race AND "social movements"
• (gender OR sex) AND "social movements"
• "gender identity" AND sports
• disability AND sport
• gang (membership OR affiliation)
• sports AND (membership OR identification)
• (global OR societal) AND change AND sports

Then what?  Use your new keywords and have a search strategy when looking for articles.

Using Wikipedia for Academic Research?

 How do I use Wikipedia?

• Background research--key names, dates, issues, people to use in searching for journal articles
• References list--links to sources, some journals, books, websites
• External links--to other sources and websites that might be useful

When do I NOT use Wikipedia?

• Never cite a Wikipedia entry in your paper--academic work never cites any encyclopedic work. Special encyclopedias are a part of your personal background research for overview and to help find other sources.
• When the article has a "bad" grade--below a "B" you shouldn't even look at it