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Home: RESEARCH TIPS
Evaluating Web Sites
Defining Your Topic
Research Process Worksheet
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Research Process Worksheet
This worksheet will guide you through the process of defining your research topic and
constructing a keyword search. For further assistance, ask a Reference Librarian at D. H. Hill Library.
- What is your topic? (Ex. depression)
- Define your topic in terms of who/what/when/where.
(Ex. Who = children. What = treatment. Where = in school. When = after a traumatic
event.)
- Is there a way to further narrow your topic?
(Can you express your topic in more specific terms? ex. children = specific
age group such as teenagers)
- What words would you use in a search on your topic?
(Ex. depression, teenagers, treatment. Try to use only the substantial words
[nouns and verbs] of your topic for your search. Stay away from prepositions
such as "of", "after," "with," etc.)
- Come up with some alternative or related terms for your topic keywords.
(Think in terms of synonyms [ex. teenagers = adolescents]. Also, think of
more narrow ways to express your terms [ex. a specific level of schooling, different
age groups/grade levels, different types of treatment or therapies]).
- Now construct a search by combining your terms in a way that reflects your topic.
(Try combining your keywords using the Boolean operators AND/OR to construct
a search query. AND retrieves less results and limits your search; OR retrieves
more hits and broadens your search. Ex. "depression AND youth")
- Conduct your search, making sure that your search is constructed/formatted
correctly for the database you are using.
- Evaluate your search results. How many hits did you get?
(Remember the "right" number of hits will vary for each subject.)
a. Did you get a very large number of hits from your search?
(If so, think about further narrowing the scope of your search. Refer to questions 2&3.)
b. Did you get a very small number of hits but want more results?
(You may need to broaden your search by connecting more terms together
using OR, removing some very specific terms from your search query, making use of synonyms, or using broader terms.)
- Look at the records for the hits you think may be most useful. Are the
items appropriate for the assignment? Briefly summarize the criteria you are
using to select resources for this assignment.
(Consider the accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage of
the source. For example, is the article from a popular magazine or a scholarly journal?)
- Write down some of the citations that seem the most promising.
(Be sure to record the relevant information such as the title of the article,
the name of the author, the journal title, and the volume/issue/date, in order
to locate the item.)
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