The very first step in any research project is developing a topic and question to be answered. The resources below give some helpful tips and tricks to ensure that your topic is not too broad or narrow. And don't forget to make sure you pick something that's interesting to you!
Once you have your question, the research begins! Understanding how to develop and use keywords will be helpful to you throughout your academic and professional careers because effective use of keywords can help you find more or less resources, depending on how specific your keywords are.
Finally, understanding how to use boolean operators, phrase searching, truncation, and wildcards to further expand or narrow your results, will significantly reduce the amount of time spent searching for the perfect resources!
The very first step in any research project is developing a topic and question to be answered. These short videos will help you think about ways to develop a good topic...because having the right topic will make your research process a little easier. Don't forget to pick a topic that is interesting to you so you can enjoy the research process a little more!
First Steps
Often, when beginning research, the topic is too broad. In those cases, think of the 5 Ws to help you narrow your topic.
Let's look at the topic of spiritual practices. This topic is too broad or general to write a short paper on, so we need to think of ways to make it more narrow or specific.
Who?
Think about who you would like to focus on in your research. You could look at age, race, gender, ethnicity, profession, etc.
You have now generated a new topic "spiritual practices among women."
What?
Think about what you would like to focus on in your research. For example, you might be focusing on a certain type of belief system.
You have now generated a new topic "monotheism beliefs among women."
When?
Think about when you would like to focus on in your research. This could be a time frame or a specific period in time. For example, you might focus on ancient spiritual beliefs, the present day, or a time of turmoil such as WWII.
You have now generated a new topic "monotheism beliefs among women during WWII."
Where?
Think about where you would like to focus your research on. Perhaps you're interested in another country, or maybe you want to look at specific spiritual institutions.
You have now generated a new topic "monotheism beliefs among women in Europe during WWII."
Why?
Think about why this topic is significant. Usually this will come down to outcomes, impacts, treatments, causes, etc. For a topic like this you might be focused on what effect the war had on women's spirital beliefs (e.g. did they turn to it more or turn away from it?).
You have now generated a new topic "How WWII impacted the beliefs of European women practicing monotheism."
Finalizing your topic
When you've answered all of your questions, you may find that your topic is too narrow, but you can mix and match the keywords you've established to come up with a good topic. Remember to have fun with it!
If you're still having difficulty coming up with a topic, did you know that the Madigan Library has access to some pretty great online tools to help you out!?
The Gale Topic Finder is a great tool for helping you to narrow down your topics, if you find that you're getting too many results.
Gale Browse Issues is another great resource to get ideas for your research. It lists some of the hot topic and highly debated issues of our time. You can click on any of the topics to get a brief overview, as well as a number of resources...so it's almost like a one-stop shop for your research needs!
Once you have your question, the research begins! Understanding how to develop and use keywords will be helpful to you throughout your academic and professional careers because effective use of keywords can help you find more or less resources, depending on how specific your keywords are.
When developing your research question, always be mindful that the type of paper you're writing, even for the the same general topic, will influence the keywords you choose when searching for books or articles. Using the example of "Nuclear weapons" below, think about what other keywords you would use for each of the paper types.
Adding the terms statistics or data will help you find tables and charts on your topic.
Understanding how to use boolean operators, phrase searching, truncation, and wildcards to further expand or narrow your results will significantly reduce the amount of time spent searching for the perfect resources! Check out some of the search tips below to get you started.
Search Tips
After you've developed your topic and your keywords, you can start finding your resources! It is important that you understand the differences in types of resources and when each are preferred or more valuable. Scholarly books and journal articles are what you will be using for most of your research papers in college; however, there are some instances when internet sources are okay as well.
The most used types of research resources include reference (biographies, dictionaries, and encyclopedias), journal articles, books and ebooks, and websites. The Madigan Library offers other resources such as videos, blueprints, photographs, and podcasts as well.
| Why use books? | Why use the internet? |
| Know the author and their reliability | More current information |
| The information within the book won't change between readings | The web is always open (as long as you have internet access |
| The best place to find comprehensive and general information | It's fast and convenient (but remember it's not always accurate!) |
| The information comes from experts who have spent a lot of time researching | Websites are generally easy to use |
| Books don't need batteries or power cords...use them anywhere! |
There is a huge amount of information and most of it is free! |
| They're a great way to find additional sources on your topic...just browse through the works cited or references page! | With today's mobile devices, information is literally at your fingertips (just remember it's not always accurate!) |
| Sometimes books are the only place you can find the information you need. | Sometimes the internet is the only place you can find the information you need. |
If you're still having difficulty developing, narrowing, or broadening your topic, the related research guides below, might be helpful to you!
As always, remember that I am here for you, and you can reach out to me with your research questions at any time!