Sometimes, choosing a topic is the hardest part of the research process, especially with a broad topic like Digital Nation. Many of our databases have tools that will let you browse lists of topics so you can find something that interests you.
Once you have a topic, gathering background information is an important next step. This is called pre-research.
Pre-research will provide you with a good understanding of a broad topic so you can identify keywords, narrow down the topic, and form a thesis statement or research question.
Digital Nation is a broad topic! Topics related to Digital Nation can be very broad as well, like artificial intelligence. You may choose to focus your research on something more specific like the ethics of students using AI in education.
Use their Browse Issues tool to access their full list of topics. To see a list of topics that may be a better match for your Digital Nation paper, click their Topics drop-down menu and choose Science, Technology, and Ethics.
When you click on any of their topics, you'll see an overview. This is a good place to start your background research. The overview is also a good source of keywords to help you continue searching other databases.
On Credo Reference's home page, they have a list of broad subjects you can browse. Try Technology and Engineering for a list of topics that may be suitable for your Digital Nation paper.
Once you have a topic, Credo Reference's Mind Map tool can also help you get started with background research and begin identifying keywords. Use the search box at the left to use their Mind Map tool.
Online reference books (eBooks) are helpful for finding background information because they contain a lot of information about your topic all in one place. eBooks can be found in our library databases and are available at any time without a library card. Here are just a few of our eBook databases to get you started.
Gale eBooks offers broad cross-curricular collection of non-fiction titles, supporting science, geography, history, language arts, business and other subjects. Optimized for search and discovery, the Gale eBooks platform enables you to search through multiple nonfiction eBooks within a single search.
Multidisciplinary collection of nearly 700 titles that introduce topics in an accessible way.
For more eBooks, please visit our A to Z Databases and sort the database Types by eBooks.