Skip to Main Content
homepage homepage

RDG 6322 : Research Practicum in Reading: Steps to Doing Research

Step One

Step 1:  Identify and Develop a Topic

 

  • Topic=  Broadly defined Subject area
  • Research Question=narrower focus of the topic
    • Why are you researching?
    • What do you want to know about the topic?
  • Suggestions for picking a topic and a research question:
  • Discuss with your professor or classmates
  • Identify something that you are passionate about
  • Scan professional and trade publications for current trends on your TOPIC, and select a RESEARCH QUESTION based on that.
 Image: Drawing of a man with a thought bubble containing a lightbulb, indicating an idea.

Step Two

​Step 2:  Develop an Overview of the Topic

  • Do background research on the topic--find out what you can about your topic.
  • Do background research on the different parts of your research question
  • Refine your research question—you may have picked a question that is very general and you need to make it more specific (or vice-versa).
  • Useful sources for finding background information
    • GENERAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS
    • SUBJECT ENCYCLOPEDIASClick here
    • BOOKS—look at table of contents and index
    • PERIODICALS/JOURNALSBrowzine
    • NEWSPAPERS
    • SUBJECT DICTIONARIES
    • ALMANACS
    • RESEARCH STARTER

Research Question

Image of PowerPoint slide. Title: Identify A Topic. Example Topic: Literacy

Selecting Keywords

SELECTING KEYWORDS
  • Know what you are looking for first!
  • Going to a search engine, library catalog, or database and simply typing in words for inspiration will lead quickly to frustration
  • Typing in your entire question almost never works.

Step Three

Image: binoculars​

Step 3:  Locate Materials

  • Books: Use mainly for background information, history, overviews of a topic
    • What to Search: Use your broader search terms (topic keywords) to search catalogs for books
    • Where to Search:  Library Catalog, (select Search Books and Media tab over the search box on the library main page). Also search Worldcat (to find other books that  the West Library doesn't have)
  • Journal Article:Use for in-depth topic research, and experimental results
    • What to Search: Use the keywords you selected from your research question or other terms that you identified from steps 1 and 2
    • Where to Search:  EBSCO Discovery Service, individual Journal databases
  • Web Pages: Varied--Everything from scholarly level research to pop-culture pages
    • What to search: Use the keywords that you developed in steps 1 and 2
    • Where to search:  Google, USA.gov, other search engines