This guide will help you with the various stages of your final paper. Use the adjacent tabs to help you find news coverage of an event along with secondary sources about an event. If you need help, contact the librarian.
Before choosing a topic, make sure you understand your assignment. Read your assignment and look for:
Make sure you understand your assignment’s purpose. Are you supposed to take a side in an existing argument, explain a problem, propose a position, describe a project or process, or do something else?
If you find that you cannot describe what your assignment is about to someone else, either read it again or ask your instructor for clarification.
When you have chosen a topic, it's time to ask some questions.
Applying the 5 W's -- who, what, when, where, why, and how -- to your topic can help you begin to find a more focused issue within that topic that will work well for your assignment.