Research Process Overview
Developing Your Research Question
Developing your research question can be one of the most difficult parts of the research process. Remember that research is fluid; your topic will adapt, and could even completely change, as you do your research!
Find Definitions and Background Information:
- Gale ebooks (Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new windowCoverage: Varies
Provides access to encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. - Oxford ReferenceCoverage: Varies
Online reference product, spanning 25 different subject areas, bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions, and Encyclopedias.
- The African American Almanac2011. Ebook. Provides a range of historical and current information on African American history, society and culture.
- An African American and Latinx History of the United States2018. Ebook. "Spanning more than two hundred years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history, arguing that the 'Global South' was crucial to the development of America as we know it."
Searching Library Databases
Database searching is different from Google searching.
- Break your topic into keywords (or key concepts)
- Combine main concepts with AND to get fewer results (homelessness AND college students)
- Combine synonyms or related terms with OR to get more results (college OR university)
- Try different searches using different combinations of your keywords
- As you skim your results, look for new keywords or ideas that relate to your topic
- Keep trying! Searching often takes time and requires multiple searches in a few different databases
- Ask for help
When searching in databases, you can use limits (normally on the left of your search results page) to focus on specific publication years, article types, etc.
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