LibGuides: Research 101: Starting your Research

Starting your Research

First, check the assignment details. Were you assigned a topic, theme, or time period for class? This can help you to narrow down you idea to the right focus. Additionally, talking to a friend or classmate can also help to generate ideas.

Is there anything in class that stuck out as interesting or something that you wanted to investigate further? Do some background research to see if that would be a viable topic or area of research!

Britannica Online This link opens in a new window
Overview articles in almost all disciplines. Also includes historical timelines, multimedia, selected magazine articles, notable quotations, and a dictionary and thesaurus.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Reference sources for all subjects, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles.

Congressional Research Service Reports
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) approaches complex topics from a variety of perspectives and examines all sides of an issue. Staff members analyze current policies and present the impact of proposed policy alternatives.

If you are still stuck, try creating a concept map! Concept maps are highly personal and don't need to have a particular "look" to them. Your concept map can be a list of words or a map of connected thoughts.

Start with your topic or idea
branch out from the central topic by thinking about topics, subjects, ideas, and/or questions associated with the larger topic.
Thinking about questions WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, AND WHEN? may help guide your map and generate ideas

Some helpful tools:

Gale Academic OneFile - Topic Finder
This tool takes the titles, subjects, and approximately the first 100 words from a subset of your top results and feeds them into an algorithm. Keywords shown in the graphics are those found most often in the text with your search term. This is a great way to find new topics or keywords and discover new connections found in the top results.

Great, you picked a topic! Let's talk about creating a research question:

Write down or think about what you already know or don't know about your topic.

Use probing questing (why? how? what if)
Avoid close-ended, "yes" or "no" questions

That information can help you generate some questions to research

Once you have a research question, you will need to develop keywords for searching. Databases search differently than Google. With Google, you can write a question or phrase, and you will most likely get results on your topic. However, when searching in a database, you have to use short, specific keywords.

How to develop keywords:

Write out your research question and pull out or highlight the most important words
Think of synonyms for those words. Depending on your question, these can be either broader or narrower terms
If you are stuck, do some more background research and see what language and words researchers and experts are using for your question

Example: How do rising sea levels impact the polar bear population?

Keywords: sea levels, polar bear

rising sea level - floods/flooding, ocean levels, coastal inundation

polar bear - endangered species

Other keywords: climate change, melting ice caps, warming oceans