12 Steps to Effective Research

Remember:

Helping students is the librarian’s top priority. If we look busy reading or writing, we’re in between answering questions and welcome the chance to help you.

 Quality information is your goal, so select the best information sources you can find.

 Research is a serpentine process. This list is a general guide. You may get to step 3 and realize that you need to go back, or you may jump from Step 1 directly to Step 4.

 As you follow these steps, ask yourself questions such as… Is this information really relevant to my topic? How can I use this information to locate other great sources?

Step 1: Choose a topic

Pick something you’re interested in that falls within the limits of your assignment. Browse newspapers and magazines to get ideas for topics, look through your course textbook or talk to your instructor. If you still have trouble coming up with a topic, talk to a librarian about resources that might inspire you.

Step 2: Find background information

The best background material is often found in encyclopedias (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online is listed under Articles & More on the library website), and other reference books. Find out the who what where when and why of your subject at the beginning. As a bonus, you’ll find some bibliographic sources!  Ask your librarian for help in finding reference books. You will be amazed at how useful this step can be!

 Step 3: Narrow your topic

This is especially important if your topic is broad or you know little about it. The reading you did about your topic in Step 2 gives you a perspective on your topic, and possible approaches to take in your paper or speech. For example, rather than research the unwieldy subject of Asian art, your reading and interests might influence you to narrow your topic to Chinese landscape painting of the T’ang Dynasty.

 Step 4: Write down your topic

Develop several questions that you plan to answer in your paper or speech. This is an important step because your questions will become topic sentences in your outline. If you write leading questions, it’ll be easier to come up with a list of answers and issues to address in your project. For example, the statement "The voting system in the U.S. needs to be fixed" isn’t as intriguing to research or as interesting to read as asking "How can the voting system in the U.S. be fixed" or “What are the major issues facing the U.S. voting system that need to be fixed?”

 Step 5: Brainstorm for a list of search terms

Think of words and phrases relating to your topic. Refer to the reading you did in Step 2 to build this list. Add broader and narrower terms, and synonyms (words that have the same meaning). Look up these terms in dictionaries, thesauri and encyclopedias. For example, teenagers may be referred to as teens, adolescents, young adults, or even children, when discussing legal rights.

 Step 6: Combine terms by using Boolean operators

When you search the library catalog, electronic databases, or the World Wide Web, Boolean operators may help you broaden or narrow your search and its results. Of the two major Boolean operators, AND narrows your search, OR broadens your search. Use truncation symbols (usually * or ? check the Help screens) to capture all forms of words (e.g., educat* will retrieve education, educating, and educators). For example, to find information about the banking industry in Atlanta, try searching for  bank* AND Atlanta or try  bank* AND Georgia,  or, with practice,  bank* AND  (Atlanta OR Georgia). Check your tool for a guide or tips for using the database or search engine effectively.