Background Information

Doing some background research will help you think about what you are looking for before you start searching.

What are the main issues?
What population is impacted?
Who are the people and organizations involved?

Keywords

As you attend the conference, Global Voices For Change: Policing, Communities, & The Common Good, take notes on keywords.

Identifying keywords related to your research topic will help you focus your search. As you attend the conference, you will want to write down keywords related to a topic you want to learn more about -- your research topic.

Sample Research Topic: Community Policing and Immigrant Youth

Keywords

Police, policing, criminal justice, juvenile justice, ICE
Community, community members, community partnerships
Immigrants, migrants, first generation
Hispanic, Latino, Latinx, Mexican, Salvadoran
Youth, teens, adolescents

Using different keywords will produce different results.

Google search using the keywords "community policing immigrant youth"

Google search using the keywords "policing ICE immigrant youth"

Google search using the keywords "policing immigrant youth partnerships"

Some keywords you will know from your own experience, and others you will learn from the conference and input from your instructor. You will identify more keywords as you do your research and learn more about your topic.

Now You Try

Record relevant keywords for your research topic as you attend the conference
To learn more, try using Advanced Google Search to find at least one website with background information on your topic. Advanced Google Search allows you to refine your search using filters:

- filter by domain (.edu, .org, .gov)
- filter by date
- filter by region

Questions? Ask A Librarian!