Research Process: Define Topic

The following tools can be helpful as you brainstorm ideas:

• Clarify your information needs
• What is your assignment?
• What are you really being asked to do?
• State your proposed topic or problem in a  sentence or two.
• Ask yourself the who, what, where, when and why questions.

• Organize your thoughts
• Break the topic into subtopics or key concepts
• Jot down synonyms or other words to convey each concept.
• Think of broader or narrower terms that might also be appropriate.

• Develop an overview of the topic(s).
• Browse encyclopedias, handbooks, almanacs, or journal contents to gather some background information.

• Become familiar with the terminology, including synonyms.
• Browse dictionaries and encyclopedias, thesauri.
• Precision searching is important when using electronic databases, so spend some time identifying appropriate terms.

• Keep notes/records