Research Process: Define the Task

Read your assignment carefully.  If you have any questions about the instructions or your professor's expectations, ask your professor for clarification.

Is there a required number of sources or source types?

Were you instructed to use any specific books, journals, websites, or databases in your research?

If you have a choice, you should always pick a topic that interests you and one with which you are already somewhat familiar.

For topic ideas

• Browse current journals in your field of inquiry for articles on current or interesting topics.
• Go to Galileo and explore a periodical database which covers a subject you are interested in, such as Oxford Art Online*, or a general database like Research Library*, which covers all fields. Click here for instructions on searching databases by subject.
• Ask your instructor for suggestions.
• Brainstorm topics with your classmates.
• Ask a librarian for assistance.

*Part of the Database Offerings in Galileo, Georgia's Virtual Library.

Now that you have a general topic, focus it by asking yourself the following:

• What approach do I want to take? For instance, if you wish to study tobacco, is it the effects on the user's health or the economic/legal issues you want to examine?
• Has too much already been written on my subject? You can find this out by looking on a few Galileo databases or in the library catalog.
• Is my subject too broad or too narrow? This will become apparent as you do your initial search for sources. If you come up with more sources than you can possibly read, you should narrow your topic further by focusing on one or two of its aspects. If you don't find enough sources, your topic may already be too narrow.

Ask yourself the following questions about your project:

• What sort of product do I want to create? Determine the format of the project. For example, are you writing a traditional term paper or an oral report? Are you trying to accomplish something less traditional, like a multimedia project?
• How soon do I need information? Do you have time to wait for an interlibrary loan (1 to 6 weeks), or is your project due tomorrow?
• How long does my paper need to be? This is important because it will affect the breadth of your topic and the number of sources you will need.

As you read through background sources, try to identify the main concepts associated with your topic. Make a list of the terms used to refer to these concepts. You can later search for words from this list in reference books, periodical databases, indexes, and other information sources. Keep in mind that these sources may not use the same terms to identify your topic that you would. When looking at citations in periodical databases you can see the headings, or terms, used to describe a certain article in the "subject heading" or "descriptor" field. Find other articles on the same topic by searching under these headings. The same applies to book catalogs.