BIO3990: Honors Literature Seminar: Your Research Topic

Every great research paper starts with a good topic, but it's not always so easy to come up with one.

While you should always work within the scope of the assignment, these tips can help you find a topic that works for you:

• Start with something that interests you,
• Identify keywords in the topic area,
• Find out what's already been written about the topic,
• Find an area that hasn't been overly researched,
• Develop your research question or thesis statement
• Refine keywords to find the best articles for your topic.

1. Searching works best when you have a research question in mind. You should be able to identify key concepts related to your research. These concepts form the basis for your search terms.
2. Know your topic. Exploring general sources (a chapter in your textbook, an encyclopedia article or other background reading) is a good way to start. The better you undestand a topic, the easier it is to evaluate sources.
3. What is your purpose? You may be writing an argumentative or persuasive paper. Or, your assignment may require you to analyze research on a topic. Perhaps you are developing a slide presentation based on your evaluation of key sources.
4. Start early. Until you have done some searching and reading, you might not recognize if your topic is too broad or narrow.
5. Don't wait until the last minute. Good resources may not be available locally. Allow yourself time for an interlibrary loan.
6. Select resources appropriate  for your topic. Your professor may ask that you use only peer-reviewed journals. Other professors may want you to use a combination of texts and articles, or news sources. Perhaps you will be doing primary research using interviews or observations.

Keywords are simple words or phrases that sum up your topic, and can usually be pulled from your research question.

Simply eliminate those words and concepts that have no meaning, when on their own (How, does, the, etc.), and you're usually left with 2-3 good keywords to use in your research.

To find information on a topic, you would use one or more of your keywords to search for sources (books, media, articles, etc.) in the library's online catalog or databases.