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How to Find Sources for Writing My Climate Change Research Proposal?

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Phdassistance

info@phdassistance.com

In Brief

You will find the best dissertation research

areas / topics for future researchers

enrolled in all subjects. In order to identify

the future research topics, we have

reviewed the literature (recent peer-

reviewed studies) on research proposal.

Climate change related sources are easy to

find but the credibility and reliability must

be evaluated. Even though Wikipedia is not

a valid source, it can be used for

preliminary research. Secondary sources

from other reference articles can be used.

Categorization must be done and specific

keywords must be used for searching the

articles.

Keywords: Research Proposal, Climate

Change, Literature Review, References,

Sources

I. INTRODUCTION

Research on climate change and thus related

topics have been a debatable topic and

developing research paper on this topic

required credible sources and varied

information. Incorporation of different

topics in the research proposal needs to be

critical and to the point in order to develop

the proposal and find an answer.

Additionally, climate change related sources

for research proposal are easy to find but the

credibility and reliability of these sources

need to be evaluated before taking notes

from them. There are various ways of

searching effective sources for writing up

climate change research. These ways will be

structured afterwards.

II. START SEARCHING WITH

WIKIPEDIA

It has been known that Wikipedia is not

always a credible source for writing up

important research papers or for conducting

any type of researches. However, that is not

always the case. Students could visit

Wikipedia for two main reasons. While

writing proposals on climate change

students could visit this source platform for

get an impression on the specific topic area

included in the vast arena of climate change

research and effects. Articles in this

platform could provide with an idea of the

vast topic area based on the chosen research

proposal subject. This platform is sometimes

effective in acquainting with other common

areas that could hinder while writing the

proposal without having specific

understanding. Beginning the research

through this source will help in developing

understudying and knowledge on climate

change as this is a debatable matter for ages.

Additionally, on a second level, this source

platform helps in finding out other important

study material and their sources in this page

(Esteves Gonçalves da Costa & Cukierman,

2019). Often, it could be said that different

links are used to attach with the articles and

clicking on them students could get more in

depth understanding of the related topic

areas. Therefore, for the initial stage, it is

effective ton consider this platform as

credible.

III. SEARCHING THROUGH LIBRARY

In the second step, after excavating thorough

Wikipedia and published articles on this

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platform, students should visit the library. It

should be challenging for students to find

some elements that have been recently

started into existence. For example, trying to

find articles and documents about the social

media pages (Facebook, Instagram and

others). The university or any other

institution affiliated library should not have

these types of articles. But, the climate

change issues are really considered

important for debating and research,

therefore, students could easily find books,

articles about this topic from the library

resources. If students still find it difficult to

select papers from the library, peers and

teachers are there to help out. They know

and understand better regarding various

topics; therefore, it could be really helpful if

students ask for help form them. Searching

through the library resources need log in ID

and password. Usually, students have this

credibility for logging into the library

(Bremer & Meisch, 2017). After log in and

with the achieve basis understanding from

Wikipedia, begin pointing out the effective

sources. It should be remembered that

students must not go after any resources.

The best research resources should be

identified. Pointing out the best resources

could be complicated sometimes; but with

recent date publication, specific material

highlighted in the books, journals and

finding out how many times these articles

had been used by others, students could

identify their own research sources.

IV. SEARCHING THROUGH

SECONDARY RESOURCES

After identification and gathering important

data form these two sources, students should

measure their research size. This proposal

size will help in determining what kind of

external secondary sources they will

required afterwards to make their paper

more credible. Obliviousness of the fact that

most credible sources to be taken from the

secondary sources are not appreciated.

Credibility of the shorted papers and sources

could be done through judging the materials

included in the papers, how vast and in-

depth analysis is done in those papers and

who are the authors of these papers. On the

other hand, it could be remembered that

students should always target for the most

recent secondary sources from various

platforms. The most recent articles and

journals could deliver information that is

happening current around the globe as an

aftermath of the climate change calamities.

Recent papers are required for reviewing

most revenant and scientific technology

application for reducing climate change in

various countries across the world (Hancock

& Algozzine, 2017). This information is

necessary for increasing richness of the

research proposal you are intending to write.

Additionally, it should be remembered that

while considering on the most recent and

convincing secondary sources, one must

check how many times these sources have

been cited by others. Most remarkable and

credible judgment could be done through

Google scholar. In this way, students could

search for secondary sources credibly.

V. BLEND UP THE RESEARCH

PROPOSAL SOURCE CATEGORIES

After shorting out what should be used and

what not, students should not end their

search abruptly. While writing about climate

change or any of this type of concerned and

global impactful topic, students should

consider mixing up the research proposal

source categories. Books, articles and other

secondary sources are important to

understand the topic area and most

importantly they are citation credible.

However, limiting the search to these

sources will not help in developing richness

and attractiveness of the research proposal.

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Innovation, unique and most recent contents

should be incorporated effectively in the

proposal. These resources could be easily

found through news, editorials, from videos,

interview recordings and others. Though, it

is true that these sources are difficult for

citation and references, but these are loaded

with the most recent materials on any

selected topic such as Climate change issues

(Marx, Haunschild, Thor, & Bornmann,

2017).

Depending on the size and topic of any

research proposal, students should point out

how many credible sources they are going to

use in the write up. Sometimes with many

sources confusion could arise and including

too many information may decrease

effectiveness of the writing. At the present,

after reading this, students should know

what should be avoiding during writing any

research proposal on climate change issues

and what; how the search process should be

carried away.

REFERENCES

Bremer, S., & Meisch, S. (2017). Co-production in climate

change research: reviewing different perspectives.

Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change,

8(6), e482. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.482

Esteves Gonçalves da Costa, B., & Cukierman, H. L.

(2019). How anthropogenic climate change

prevailed: A case study of controversies around

global warming on Portuguese Wikipedia. New

Media & Society, 21(10), 2261–2282.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819838227

Hancock, D. R., & Algozzine, B. (2017). Doing Case Study

Research: A Practical Guide for Beginning

Researchers. Teachers College Press. Retrieved

from

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=9DfwDQAAQ

BAJ

Marx, W., Haunschild, R., Thor, A., & Bornmann, L.

(2017). Which early works are cited most frequently

in climate change research literature? A bibliometric

approach based on Reference Publication Year

Spectroscopy. Scientometrics, 110(1), 335–353.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-016-2177-x