For example, if you’re taking a history course on Europe in World War II, the title of the course may be your broad topic. Your instructor might limit your topic further, such as asking you to focus on France.
For example, you may decide you want to research the activities of the French Resistance in aiding the Allies during World War II. A potential research question might be “How did the French Resistance provide intelligence to the Allies?” Some instructors may provide a list of research questions, or other information to help you narrow your topic. If you want to deviate from the list, talk to your instructor about your interests.
Identify key words to search, and try different combinations to fully test your question. For example, if you are researching the French Resistance during World War II, you might do a search for “French Resistance intelligence” and another for “French assistance Allies. " If you find articles or books that address your research question exactly, choose a different question. You might review the article or book you find to see if it mentions additional questions that still haven’t been answered.
If you’re writing a research paper, consider its length. Generally, a shorter paper should cover a narrower topic. Make sure you have enough sources available.
Documentary films can also serve as good introductory sources. You won’t necessarily be referencing any of these sources in your project, you’re simply using them to get a better feel for your topic, the experts in the field, and the sources available.
For example, if you’re researching history, your likely sources will be published books and scholarly articles by historians. If you’re researching the development of smart phones, on the other hand, you’ll probably find most of your sources online or in tech magazines. You may need to use a university or specialty library, which likely has resources that aren’t available at libraries open to the general public. Contact the library you want to use to find out how you can gain access.
Depending on your topic, it may be possible to do all of your research online. This is likely if you’re researching something trendy or cutting edge, such as a new tech development. Many scholarly articles can be found in electronic databases. University libraries typically allow free access to these databases for students and faculty.
In the library, look for the desk called the “research desk” or “reference desk. " These desks are often towards the back of the library. You can ask at the main desk or circulation desk if you aren’t sure where to go. Tell the research librarian your research question, and let them know what sources you’ve found so far, as well as what types of sources you’re looking for. They may have additional sources or different search terms to suggest.
If you read material that you want to quote, write the quote exactly on a note card, then write the page number where that quote can be found. This will differentiate quotes from other notes. It can also help to write a key word that identifies the issue the notes on the card relate to, so you can organize cards related to different sections of your paper as you go. This way you’ll be able to tell at a glance if there’s a part of your paper that needs more sources or information.
If your research raises additional questions that are outside the scope of your project, you could simply acknowledge that they exist and would require further research.
Your thesis statement makes a claim, or takes a position, and tells your readers why your position is important. For example, if you’re writing a paper about the French Resistance in World War II for a history class, your thesis statement might be “By providing intelligence to the Allies, sabotaging German efforts, and rescuing Allied pilots whose planes were shot down, the French resistance weakened the Nazi regime. "
If you have a secondary source, look in the footnotes or bibliographies to get information about the original source. The citation should allow you to find the primary source and evaluate it yourself. You may need to use a secondary source if the primary source is not available to you. For example, if you read an article in which a book is quoted, you would want to find the quoted book if at all possible. However, if the book was published a long time ago and is out of print, you may have no choice but to use the secondary source.
For science or tech topics, professionals working in the field are often just as reliable as professors or other academic experts. If you find the author’s name mentioned by other sources, that often means they are respected in the field. If other professionals have relied on their work, that’s a good sign that you can rely on it as well.
Whether the year of publication affects the reliability of the information depends on your overall topic. For example, if you’re conducting research on ancient Greek philosophy, the date of publication wouldn’t necessarily matter. However, if you were conducting research on social media and voting, you would want to use sources published within the last year.
Be wary of small, independent presses or self-published books. They don’t have robust fact-checking and editing like larger, established presses do. Reputation is particularly important for online sources. Search for reviews or complaints about websites to find out if people in the field consider it to be a good source of information. You can also ask your instructor or supervisor if you’re not sure.
For example, a website run by a university history department would likely be considered a reliable online source.
