TGC: The Roadmap to Research

2: Developing Your Topic

The first three steps of research are about developing your topic and research question:

1. Develop a Topic
2. Conduct Preliminary Research
3. Formulate a Research Question
4. Find Sources
5. Evaluate your Sources

Developing a focused topic and research question will make your research process easier and faster. 

Watch (11 minutes):

• Navigating the Jenks Library's Homepage (4:08)
• Developing Keywords (3:13)
• Constructing a Search String (3:38)

Read (3 minutes):

• Importance of Preliminary Research

Do (~30 minutes - 1 hour):

• Search String Discussion (3-5 minutes)
• Preliminary Research (~30 minutes - 1 hour)

End Goal: 

After completion of Section 2 on your journey through the Roadmap to Research, you will be able to:

• Select keywords from a research question and write them as a search string in order to apply them in a search in a library resource.
• Refine and narrow your topic based on search results from your preliminary research.

Navigating the Jenks Library Website

Jenks Library allows you access to all forms and topics of information. Using the library website, you can start to conduct your research at Gordon. Watch the video below to familiarize yourself with the important parts of the library website and learn how you can easily get connected to information and help.

Developing Keywords

Keywords are the foundation of your research process. In the video below we’ll learn how to identify keywords in a research question and how to use them in your search.

Constructing a Search String

Now that we know how to identify keywords from our research questions, let’s learn how to combine them effectively. Combing these keywords creates a search string, this is an important step in retrieving valid information on the right subject. Watch the video below to learn more:

Importance of Preliminary Research

Before you form your research question, you need to do a first round of research, or preliminary research. 

The goals of preliminary research are:

1. See if your topic is too broad or too narrow
2. Identify keywords and vocabulary to create better searches
3. Identify the sides of your issue (there are often more than two!)
4. See what research questions are already being investigated

Your sources for preliminary research can include:

• Google
• Magazines & Newspapers (like the ones on display in the Bistro!)
• Informally consulting experts (like talking with a professor in the field of your topic)
• Wikipedia, or other encyclopedias available through the library:

Part of preliminary research is narrowing down your topic so that you aren't overwhelmed by too much information. Here are some ways to narrow down your topic:

• Find sub-topics. For example, if you want to look at cell phones & parents, your sub-categories could be:
  • Privacy: password control, GPS tracking
  • Limiting screen time and social media
  • Parental use of phones during family time
• You can narrow a topic down by:
  • Viewpoint (social, legal, medical, ethical, political, economic)
  • Time period
  • Population (age group, ethnic groups, nationality, education level)
  • Place (country or region)

Tip: Your topic may change significantly after preliminary research. This is normal! It is better to adjust your topic now than after you've started your research notebook or first draft.

Navigate back to Canvas to submit the Search String Discussion and Preliminary Research.