Often, the first stage of the writing process is to select a topic of interest. The process of selecting a topic may seem simple, but an important step to developing a topic or research question is to know what information is already available on that topic or what other information is necessary to understand the topic. Thus, an informed topic statement or research question -- a refined version that takes existing information into account but does not expect you to be fully familiar with your sources yet -- requires a process of preliminary research.
There are a few things to keep in mind as you research and begin drafting an informed topic statement or informed research question. The following reminders and the two flowcharts will help direct your thinking throughout this stage of writing.
Reminders about informed topic statements and research questions:
**Remember that your approach to your topic can, and probably should, evolve over time as you encounter new information that changes or challenges your perspective.**
Once you have selected a topic or research question, it is time to start searching. The search process can be frustrating at times, so it is important to remember to be patient and flexible! Start by choosing keywords that are connected to your topic/question, but often we need to have some creativity when choosing keywords as our search progresses. If you are having difficulty finding sources, try searching in another database or using different keywords. Here are some keyword tips and tricks that can help you narrow in on your topic:
Keywords are terms that represent the main concepts of your research topic.
These terms are what you will use to search for sources (articles, books, etc.) to support or answer your research question. Keywords can be single terms or a phrase (if using a search engine or database, "put phrases in quotes" to search multiple words as a single term).
The right keywords are "key" to finding good sources.
When you are developing these keywords consider:
Start by identifying the main concepts in your research question:
For example, if my research question is: How is global warming affecting the polar bears of the Arctic?
The main concepts areas here are:
Then brainstorm related terms and synonyms for your concepts:
"Global Warming":
This material is adapted from Charleston Southern University's Rivers Library "Where to Start Your Research" Guide under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
For more practice with developing keywords, see the Developing Keywords tutorial here.
If you are having difficulty finding sources with your original chosen keywords, it can be helpful to take a look at "subject headings". Subject headings are standardized words or phrases that follow the Library of Congress' cataloging conventions in order to help make the source more findable in research databases (kind of the "hashtags" of the library). They also make it easier for researchers to find other materials with the same subject heading.
To find subject headings in OneSearch, first choose a source that fits what you are looking for or is on a similar topic. When you open the catalog entry, you should be able to see a list of blue words partway down the page in the "details" section. Some of these subject headings may be more helpful than others, depending on your research goal.
There are two ways you can use these subject headings. The first is to simply incorporate them into your list of keywords and searches. The second is to click on one of them, which will then open a search for all the materials in the OneSearch catalog that have been assigned that same subject heading. Depending on the heading you choose, it may be helpful to modify that search or to use search filters to narrow back onto your specific search goal.
Boolean operators are words and symbols that we can use while searching to help us limit our search results more precisely.
The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used to combine two different keywords to make our search more specific when actually searching in a catalog, database, or search engine. We can imagine how these operators work with the following venn diagrams:
AND allows us to search for sources that will have both keyword subjects. For example, if we want an source about cats AND dogs, the search will filter out materials that are only about cats or dogs. This way, our search results will only include sources that are about both animals.
OR allows us to search for sources that will have at least one of the keywords chosen. This operator is often used when there are multiple spellings, names, or words that can be used to search for the same topic. For example, the search Theodor Seuss Geisel OR Dr Seuss will show search results about the famous children's author under both his birth name and pen name, which gives us more search results than if we search with only one of the names.
NOT allows us to narrow down our search results by excluding a related topic or sub-topic from our search. For example, the search Judy Garland NOT Wizard of Oz will limit our search results to materials that are about Judy Garland, but do not include the Wizard of Oz in their catalog information.
For more practice with boolean operators, see the Using Boolean Operators tutorial here (required for FYI, also listed on the Home page).