The Research Process
When you start research on a topic you generally begin with some broad ideas and then refine and focus the search as you begin to gather information. Keep a record of what you find and where you found it because not only will you need it for your project's bibliography, but you may need to re-visit some of the sources as you focus your search.
There are several steps to this process: identify the topic; gather information; focus the research. You'll probably have to take the steps over and over a few times. As you proceed, you'll formulate a focused research question. That's the question you'll be answering in your paper.
Another way to approach a topic is to create a 'concept map' - a brainstorming
technique that helps organize a research problem. From there a search strategy can be
developed to assist in finding information.
The Research Process
The topic is the idea that you are researching
Example: Pollution in the ocean
Brainstorm, concept map the topic
Look at your topic from many different angles, and write down related topics and synonyms
to the terms you come up with.
State your topic as a question
Example: How does pollution affect the ocean?
Refine the question
Example: How does oil pollution affect marine life in the ocean?
Now list the Key Concepts of the research question you have devised
Example: water, pollution, oil, marine life
How about the Library of Congress Subject Headings?
LCSH: Oil pollution of the sea
Oil pollution of the water
Marine invertebrates
Marine animals
Marine protozoa
List synonyms of the key concepts so that you can have more search terms to use. You
can use a thesaurus to help develop your list.
Example: Petroleum, trash, salt water, ocean animals
List the subject or fields of knowledge that might answer the questions you are
researching.
Example: Environment and Life Sciences, Oceanography, Fisheries, Natural Resources,
Maritime Law, Biology, Aquaculture
How are they listed in the Library of Congress Classification System? Take a look at
http://www.uri.edu/library/user_guides/
general_guides/lccs1.htm
Step 2: Gather Background Information General and subject-specific encyclopedias provide a broad overview; books provide in-depth and historical background.
Explain the methods, resources and results of your search for background information. Did you have to or want to refocus or change the research question after your initial research foray?
List, in citation format, the sources you consulted for background information. Explain the usefulness or lack of usefulness for each of the sources, Use your evaluation criteria and annotation skills to do this.
Write along the way - write the steps you took to find your information and write your feelings about the process of finding and gathering the information for the research question.
Step 3: Focus the Research You'll find more focused information in scholarly journals, newspapers, trade magazines, popular periodicals, Web sites, and experts in the field.
Evaluate all the information sources you find keeping in mind the source's purpose or intent, the authority or credentials of the author, the accuracy, timeliness, objectivity and appropriateness of the information,
Explain the methods, resources and all of the results of your search for periodical, Internet, and other current information. If it was useful, how so? If it wasn't useful, explain why not. Did you have to refocus the research question again due to what you found?
List, in citation format, the sources you consulted to focus the research. Explain the usefulness or lack thereof for each source. Use your evaluation criteria and annotation skills to do this.
Write again - write about how you found information and describe what you found. Write your feelings about the process,
The table below shows how a research question develops from a broad topic to a focused
question. Follow the 4 examples down the columns to see how the questions develop.
| BROAD TOPIC | pollution | fishing | marketing | food |
| RESTRICTED TOPIC |
acid rain | fishing and business | Nike and marketing | eating habits |
| NARROWED TOPIC |
acid rain in the U.S. | fishing reserves in the U.S. | Nike and international marketing | vegetarianism |
| Research Question |
How can we prevent acid rain in the U.S.? | How do we maintain and preserve our fish reserves in New England? | How successful has Nike been in its international sales? | What are the nutritional advantages of vegetarianism? |
Concept Mapping
Most people do not think in a linear style when they think creatively, such as when they are brainstorming a research topic or question. Our minds tend to work much like Web sites do – with groups of thoughts and concepts linked together and going off in different directions. Furthermore, what you learn while doing research is combined with what you already know, creating new links within your store of knowledge.
Concept mapping is a powerful tool to use during the early stages of research. It allows you to "free-think" about your topic: to explore material or questions that might be useful to you, to summarize what you've learned so far, and to help you discover additional topics to investigate.
Mapping will allow you to see the major categories of your topic, but will not impose an order on them. This will allow you to place your ideas in whatever sequence is most useful for your purposes.
Mapping can also help you think. You can use this technique as often as you like, particularly when you are stuck. When you are mapping, emphasize arguments, explanations, definitions, and abstract categories and relationships.
Concept Mapping Exercise Work Sheet
Do this exercise offline first - use a pencil and a blank sheet of newsprint or other large format paper:
Write down your most important word or short phrase in the center of the sheet. Think for a minute about what you just wrote down, and then circle it.
Thinking freely, write down any and all other important words, concepts, or symbols related to the topic outside the circle. Now, use lines and/or arrows to connect items.
Leave lots of white space so your concept map can grow.
Don't worry about being exact or perfect – don't analyze your work at this point!
Analyze what you have done so far:
An example of a concept map on the topic "vegetarianism":
(Link to Vegetarian Concept Map graphic)
Once your research question is formulated and some of the main concepts are identified by concept mapping, You can begin to develop a search strategy that will help you when you actually go to find information on your topic. The following example shows how search terms can be created from research questions and concepts:
Suppose the topic for your paper is the connection between smoking and depression among teenagers.
First your research question: “Is there a connection between cigarette smoking and depression among teenagers?”
What are the major concepts in this question?
What are some possible synonyms or related terms for each of these concepts?
These concepts and synonyms will become your search terms. Here is how it will look on the Search Strategy Work Form:
SEARCH STRATEGY WORK FORM
Search Question: (Please write a sentence in the form of a question describing your topic.)
What is the connection between smoking and depression among teenagers?
Major Concepts: (List as many as apply.)
Smoking
Depression
Teenagers
SEARCH TERMS
Concept 1 |
AND |
Concept 2 |
AND |
Concept 3 |
smoking |
depression |
teenagers |
||
OR |
OR |
OR |
||
cigarettes |
mental health |
teens |
||
OR |
OR |
OR |
||
tobacco |
mood |
adolescents |
||
OR |
OR |
|||
nicotine |
youth |
|||
OR |
||||
high school students |
||||
OR |
||||
college students |
Academic Disciplines
To help get you started on the research process, it will help to clarify how the major areas of knowledge are defined, especially in the beginning stages when you are not quite sure of the terms that are used in the literature. It will help when you begin to gather information by making it easier to identify some broad-based sources like encyclopedias.
Definitions of the Disciplines
From Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary
http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm
Humanities
“The branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human
constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and
social relations (as in anthropology or economics)”
Social Sciences
“A science (as economics or political science) dealing with a particular phase or
aspect of human society.”
Sciences
“Knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of
general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method; such knowledge
or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena.”
Review the URI Academics page at http://www.uri.edu/home/academics/
and scroll down to "Schools, Departments, and Programs." All of these fields of
knowledge fall into one of the three major disciplines.
This course was developed by Joanna Burkhardt, Mary MacDonald and Andrée Rathemacher and was adapted for online use by Jim Kinnie as part of the URI Libraries Plan for Information Literacy - http://www.uri.edu/library/instruction_services/infolitplan.html
Copyright © 1994-2002. University of Rhode Island. Disclaimer: http://www.uri.edu/home/about/disclaimer.html
