Library Tutorial - Research Strategy - Developing a Topic

1. Select a subject area, such as foreign affairs, adolescent psychology, or environmental protection.

Choose a topic within the subject area that is

• interesting to you
• not too broad - too broad a topic has hundreds of books and articles written about it, as in the example below:
  Global Warming
• not too narrow - too narrow a topic has nothing, or only one or two articles, written about it, as in the example below:
  Global Warming and the Caledonian pine
• example of good topic - Global warming and trees

2. Formulate a statement which describes the information you are looking for. It often helpful to put this in question form and may be one to two sentences long. You can view this statement as the potential theme of your paper.

• Example: How has the destruction of the world's trees affected global warming?

3. Identify the main concepts of your topic as shown below.

Topic: How has the destruction of the world's trees affected global warming?
A. Destruction
B. Trees
C. Global Warming

4. Review your list of main concepts; think of synonyms for each concept. Create a list of search terms for each concept as in the example below. You may find it helpful to note down what you already know about the topic through personal experiences and past readings as a basis for coming up with search terms.

A. Destruction
•clear cutting
•deforestation
•logging
•razing

B. Trees
•forests
•woods

C. Global Warming
•Climate Change
•Greenhouse Effect

No doubt, you will have a strategy in mind as you begin your search. However, as you actually conduct your research it is likely that you will develop and refine it as you conduct your research process. Bear in mind that your are likely to create several search strategies and conduct several searches before you are done. You may even totally change your topic.

For example, you may desire to do a search on a history of football at Radford University. Then, to your great surprise, you discover nothing on your topic. You might then search on a history of football and another unnamed institution or a history of Radford University and its Scottish heritage.

You will find that the above process is tied to the process of finding, evaluating, and citing information related to your topic.

next - Finding, Evaluating, and Citing Information