Start your research

There are six key steps to starting your research. This guide gives an overview of the steps and offers resources to get help.

The first step in doing research is to choose a good research topic. A good topic should be focused and clear and not something that can be answered by a Google search.

For example, instead of asking "Why is social media harmful?" you could ask, "How is interacting with social media, like TikTok and Twitter, impacting the mental health of college students?"

When choosing a research topic, you should pick something that you are interested in and something that fits the assignment you are doing.

Watch this video on choosing a research paper topic to learn more.

Once you have chosen a good topic you will need to identify your keywords (search terms). Find the main themes in your research question and list them. For example:

Then, think of synonyms for each keyword. Here are some synonyms for our example:

Think about what a scholar would use - for example: rather than teens, you could try adolescents or young adults.

After that, use quotation marks around keywords that are phrases. Otherwise the search will break them apart and you will lose the phrase in your search.

The next step is to group your keywords or search terms together into a search strategy. Searching a library database with a search strategy will save you time and give you better results.

To get started, link keywords together using AND, OR or NOT.

• AND limits a search - it must include all of the keywords
• OR expands a search to include similar keywords
• NOT excludes keywords

For example: social media AND mental health AND college students OR undergraduates

Watch this video to learn more about creating an effective search strategy.

Now it’s time to search! You will use your search strategy in a library database to find some great sources.

Library databases can be general (search all sorts of disciplines) or specific (search a specific discipline).

Start with a general database and then try more specific ones.

• general database examples: Academic Search Premier or Google Scholar
• specific database example: APA PsycInfo

Enter your search strategy into the library database.

Watch this video on what is a library database and why should I use one.

Watch these videos to learn more about some of our general databases including:

• how to get to the database
• keyword searching and filtering search results
• getting to the full text
• creating a citation

Once you find some sources that might work in your research, evaluate them to find the most useful sources.

Watch this video on evaluating sources for some good strategies to use.

Skim the library databases!

Read the abstract or summary, and glance at the introduction, headings, conclusion. At the end of the article, look at the references.

Ask the 5W questions (who, what, when, where, and why) about every source

• Who created or wrote the source?
  • Can you trust the authors based on their credentials? Do a quick Google search to find out more on the author’s background.
• What kind of source is it?
  • Can you tell which type of source you are looking at? Is it a scholarly article? A news article? Instructors generally prefer a variety of sources!
• When was it published?
  • Depending on your topic you might want current sources, older sources, or a mix. For example, a topic of artificial intelligence might benefit from looking at recent sources.
• Where was it published?
  • You will need to determine if the source is from a reputable site or publisher. Google the journal, magazine, or newspaper title to find out more about it.
• Why was the source created?
  • To share new research, to entertain, to give an opinion?

Citations are critical to academic research and academic writing.

Academic writing is a combination of mixing your own ideas and opinions with the ideas, opinions, and quotes from other sources. You will need to tell your readers (aka your professor) which are your ideas and words and which are the words and ideas of others. There is a standard way to do this: citations.

Citations have different styles like APA and MLA, but in the end do the same thing. Check your assignment or ask your professor which style to use if you aren’t sure. Each professor might be different.

Watch this video on the rules of the scholarly conversation for an overview of citations.

This tutorial will help you learn about citation and attribution practices: Using sources in your University work.