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- Ask Us!Use the Ask Us! service for questions about library resources, research assignments or other information. We offer chat and text, or you can email your question.
- Request Research AssistanceYou may also make an online or face-to-face appointment with a librarian or specialist. Learn more about individual research consultations.
1. Pick Your Topic
You're not just picking a topic, you're joining a community of scholars in a conversation about something you're all interested in. This requires you get to know something about the conversation before you join in so you don't re-do someone else's research.
So picking a topic is more than just making up a research question. You need to:
- start with an idea,
- brainstorm keywords for your core concepts (independent and dependent variables),
- find some basic background information on individual concepts (and more keywords!),
- start searching for articles on your topic (both/all your core concepts),
- then improve your research question, refining it to become a college-level topic.*
*The more you research, the more your research question will change and refine, until your topic is clear and the terminology reflects what is current in the discipline. Below left - helpful videos. Below right - an image of a sample research process.
Topic Ideas
See what professional researchers are up to...and choose something you're interested in reading about!
Research Process
