General Library Research
OVERVIEW

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to help you begin the research process for the purpose of writing a paper or speech as part of your general education courses. Topics may vary in focus areas, such as health, economics, media, science, or art, as well as in scope, from local to international issues.

If you are having trouble selecting a topic area, brainstorm with friends or your professor, browse your textbooks, read the newspaper, or scan blogs and web pages for ideas.
 

Once you choose a topic area, you will find a wide variety of information available to you. Information can take the form of news and brief articles to statistics and scholarly books and articles. This tutorial will help you narrow your research focus and lead you to sources that provide the information you need.

Topic Selection

A good topic for an academic project is one that interests you, fulfills the parameters of the assignment, and is researchable. The following guidelines may assist you in choosing an appropriate topic:

Try to choose a "manageable" topic that is not too broad or too narrow for the assignment.

For example, organic food is probably too broad of a topic for a ten-page research paper. You would quickly be overwhelmed with thousands of relevant books and articles on such a topic, which is way too many to use in a ten-page paper.

On the other hand, Floridian’s decisions to purchase organically grown strawberries is probably too narrow for such a paper. You would have difficulty finding information in trade or scholarly books and articles on such a specialized topic.

In this scenario, you might eventually refine your topic to something more manageable, such as consumer behavior related to the purchase of organic food. A librarian or professor can also help you identify suitable topics in your area of interest.

Identify concepts associated with your topic: these are relevant main keywords and their synonyms and near-synonyms. For example, for our topic of consumer behavior related to the purchase of organic food, you might identify concepts such as:

• Concept 1: consumer... public
• Concept 2: behavior... attitude ... food preferences
  
• Concept 3: organic food... natural food... health products

These keywords will be helpful when you search for information on your topic in library catalogs and article databases. As you do more research, you may add or delete keywords (or even entire concepts) from your search. Throughout the process, try to remain flexible and be willing to alter the focus of your topic as you learn more about it.