This document provides guidance on finding credible sources for a climate change research proposal. It recommends beginning with Wikipedia for preliminary research and identifying other sources, then searching the library databases and secondary sources cited in key papers. The sources should include a variety of materials like books, articles, reports, videos and interviews to provide richness. The number and types of sources should be tailored to the specific research proposal topic and size. Credibility can be evaluated based on publication date, author expertise, and number of citations.

1. Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 1
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

2. Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 2
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.

3. Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 3
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