For many students, the academic research process can feel overwhelming and confusing, leading to frustration and struggles. Remember: research may be difficult, but it shouldn’t feel impossible. If you are unable to make progress, you probably should change your strategy. Always keep your purpose in mind. Use these chapters, your instructor, your librarians, and tutors to change your strategy and make more progress

Topic and Basics

Know the Assignment Purpose

Before you choose your unique topic or focus, understand the unique research project that you have been assigned. Consider these different prompts:

• What if you were assigned to write an informative report about an environmental issue based on research?
• What if you were assigned to analyze a speech and evaluate its effectiveness and include background and context about when and where the speech was originally given?
• What if you were assigned to write an argument about an issue in your community based on research?

Can you see how each of these assignment prompts may lead to students looking for different types of information? Different types of sources?

• An informative report like this should be neutral and cite data from credible scientific studies.
• An analysis of a piece of communication such as a speech should cite credible reference information about its historical context.
• An argument, on the other hand, should describe multiple perspectives and may cite facts and opinions from news articles, scholarly journals, and other sources to present claims and evidence that relate to your own position.

The Right Topic

The right topic will lead to a more engaging research process and a more successful final project.

A good topic usually connects with your prior expertise, interests, and learning. And, it creates opportunities to learn more and explore different possible directions and academic research questions. So, good topics are usually the result of conversations and collaborations with instructors, librarians, and peers who can learn about who you are and what feeds your curiosity and motivation.

Preliminary Research: Knowing the Basics

Knowing some background facts about your topic, before you begin searching for sources to support your project, is an essential first step. Why?

• If you search for answers to broad, background-based questions at a later stage, you may find dozens of sources that say the same thing, and waste your time sorting them all. This might feel productive – “I have 5 sources already!” – but chances are, you haven’t learned enough to turn around and write about your topic–in an informative report or in an argument–to an academic audience.
• Having broader and deeper background knowledge will help you to use search terms and evaluate search results later. You will be able to consider new perspectives, questions, and areas of study as you research.

Consider this preliminary research or pre-research.

Research Questions

Keywords

Texts and Databases

Assessing Sources

Web Research

Connections