Consider these two approaches to completing a research assignment. Which do you think is more interesting for the student and the instructor?
picks a topic, gathers a handful of the most convenient sources, and summarizes what those sources say.
asks a question, looks for sources that help to answer the question, and explains their answer using the information they found.
While the first approach may be an adequate way to share information, it lacks your unique ideas—what interests you about the topic and how you interpret the information you find.
The second approach, seeking an answer to a question or a solution to a problem, changes every step of the research process. This approach leads you to select sources carefully, extract meaningful information, and draw significant conclusions.
The process begins with putting your question into words.
Look for ideas introduced in class that surprised or puzzled you, piqued your curiosity, or that were related to something you care about. Write our your initial answers to these questions:
Looking up your topic in a reference book, on Wikipedia, or in a web search can give you an overview of the subject and point to unresolved questions and disagreements among scholars. You'll learn about important people, key concepts, and the history of developments related to your topic.
Reference books and Wikipedia articles can also direct you to the books and articles that you will cite in your paper, because they often contain lists of resources for further reading.
Asking yourself questions can help you identify what you already know and what you want to learn about your topic.
Identify doubts or controversies about the nature of your topic, plus terms you need to define.
Limit your research to a specific time period or a developmental phase of your topic.
Choose a geographical location or a particular type of environment relevant to your topic.
Consider specific populations affected, professionals working on the issue, or others who are interested.
Investigate a cause or effect (or a process) related your topic.
Can you think of a question that...
Your professor is very familiar with the research landscape of the field you're just starting out in. Librarians understand research and how to turn a broad topic into a question. Both can help you find additional sources that will help you discover a more specific and meaningful path of research.
Searching library databases works best when you use search terms rather than your whole research question. Search terms are like hashtags for information sources. They describe what each source is about, and you can use them to find lists of sources on the same topic.
Your first search terms are keywords, the most significant words, from your research question. They are nouns or noun phrases: people, places, things, concepts, and actions. Let's look at an example research question and its keywords.
A couple of these keywords (study skills and students) are ready to be search terms, but what about the others (to succeed and taking classes online)? They need to be converted into nouns.
Now we have a great set of search terms for your topic: study skills, students, success, online education.
For each of your search terms, try to think of a few synonyms or related terms. Think about more specific categories, as well as broader ones that include your terms.
Study skills: time management, note-taking, test preparation, goal setting, study habits
Students: college students, first-year college students, higher education
Success: student success, academic achievement, graduation
Online education: online courses, distance education, online learning, remote learning
Now we have a larger set of potential search terms to use in various combinations to search for books, articles, or other information sources.