1. CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC.
Places to get topic ideas:
Your textbook: Scan through relevant sections.
Current events: Check out news sources to see what people are talking about.
Encyclopedias: Skim through sections on your subject area.
Talk to people: Ask your instructor, a librarian, or classmates what they think about your subject.
2. DEVELOP RESEARCH QUESTIONS.
Write down what you already know or don't know about the topic, and then use that information to develop questions to answer in your paper.
3. KEY TERMS:
Make a list of key terminology for your topic.
Scan encyclopedia and wikipedia articles
Look through your textbook
Talk with friends or a librarian about key terms for your topic
4. THINK ABOUT THE BEST PLACE TO FIND THE INFORMATION
| Type of information | Where to find it |
| News |
|
| Information about a specific organization or company |
|
| Research article |
|
| Personal accounts |
|
| Statistics |
|
| History, overview, definitions (scholarly) |
|
| History, overview (popular) |
|
5. FINDING TOO MUCH INFORMATION? NOT FINDING ENOUGH INFORMATION?
Use boolean operators.
| AND: All words must appear in each result. | social networking AND college student | Decreases results. |
| OR: either word can appear in a result. | social networking OR Facebook | Increases results. |
| NOT: exclude undesired terms | social networking NOT software | Decreases results. |
Use truncation symbols.
Cut off a word to its root and use a symbol (usually *) to automatically retrieve all ends of this word.
Example:
Network* brings back networks, networking --- BUT Net* brings back netiquette, netscape, Netflix, etc.
Use alternative, narrower, or broader keywords.
Use a thesaurus for synonyms.
Brainstorm narrower or broader terms with a librarian, your instructor, or a friend.
Use this Thinking Tool worksheet to help you with this first step in the research process.