Research Tips: How Should I Begin My
Research?
 | Identify your research interest and articulate your research question.
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Writing down your topic will help you identify your research needs and interests.
Your topic can be a keyword, a phrase, a complete sentence, or a paragraph that describes
your research.
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| Determine what types of materials
you will need for your topic.
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Do you need books, articles, statistics, video-recording, government documents, book
reviews, biographical information, primary sources...?
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| Formulate a search strategy.
| If your topic is phrased in a sentence, would you identify the key terms which are unique?
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| What synonyms or other similar concepts that you might use to make your search more
comprehensive or inclusive?
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| Is your topic too broad that you might want to consider making your topic narrower
and more focused by adding another term or using a more precise term?
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| Is your topic too narrow and not enough information is found? Do you want to
make your topic broader by using a broader concept?
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| Are there thesaurus, index, or subject terms that are specific to a database and to
your subject that you should be aware of?
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| Select relevant research sources
or databases.
| What database would you use to look for books owned by the Pollak Library, by CSU
Libraries, or by libraries "world-wide"?
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| What is the primary database to locate articles on your topic?
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| What other relevant databases would you consider? Why?
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| Evaluate your search results.
| Is the database appropriate?
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| Is your search result relevant? Why or why not?
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| Is the information (articles or books) written in an authoritative, accurate, and
objective manner?
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| How might you improve your search result? |
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