Research is a systematic inquiry that investigates hypotheses, suggests new interpretations of data or texts, and poses new questions for future research to explore. Reference books like encyclopedias and dictionaries are a great place to find background information about your topic, especially facts and statistics. Many reference books are available online, such as most of the titles in the box below.
Once you have a good understanding of your topic, write a brief outline as well as a thesis statement or research question. This exercise will help you focus your research.
An outline not only helps you organize the topics and subtopics, but will help you know which topics in your paper need more information.
A thesis statement is one sentence that tells the focus of your paper. It explains the argument presented in the paper or makes a debatable claim.
TIP Don't get too sidetracked reading articles or following leads that aren't relevant to your paper. (Save irrelevant articles to a special folder to be read later or tell yourself to get back to this irrelevant topic later so you can keep focused.) However, remember that it is usually o.k. to change your topic or slightly shift your topic, at least up to a certain point before the due date.
Research is not research until you have focused it a round a solid research question that addresses a problem or issue (Badke ch. 2).
A research project is more than collecting data and explaining what you've read. A college-level research project or paper has five general goals (Turabian ch. 2):
Here are a few tips to help you find a topic that is appropriate for your class assignment.
How do you find an interesting topic? READ! LISTEN!
Ask yourself the following questions about your topic to make sure you've picked a topic that will keep both yourself and your audience engaged. If you can answer yes to all the questions, you're ready to create a research question so you can search for information. Source
The perfect topic for a college-level research paper will require you as the researcher to evaluate and reflect about the issues revolving around this topic. It will require your readers also to reflect and think deeper about his or her previous assumptions about the topic. Here is a basic topic:
This is a good start, but needs to be developed. You as a researcher should not be attempting to write an encyclopedia article, and this topic will not require any evaluation.
Here is a better topic:
Now we can take this topic to the next level and develop it into a research question.
A concept map (sometimes called knowledge maps or mind maps) is a great way to organize your research topic and brainstorm keywords for searching. It's also a good way to visually lay out how the different parts of your topic fit together.
The main idea (your topic) is at the center of the concept map, with the subpoints and keywords surrounding it.
Use lines and arrows to show connections between the various aspects of your topic.
Since most topics/research questions usually have multiple aspects, create a separate "bubble" for each one, then brainstorm synonyms or alternate keywords.
The following are some online tools that will allow you create a concept map for your topic:
MindMeister
bubbl.us
Popplet
Text 2 MindMap
We all search for information probably almost everyday. Without thinking too hard about it, we ask a question and find an answer (or find out there is no answer). Sometimes these questions even lead to more questions. This is the normal research process, and students sometimes get frustrated writing research papers because they do not understand how normal and common the whole process is.
Turning your research topic into a research question will provide you with a reason to search for information.
You would want to pick one research question on which to focus your paper or research project. Sometimes it is necessary to learn more about your topic to create a good research question. Encyclopedias such as Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia are great for background information. The reference databases Credo and Gale Virtual Reference Library are also great choices.
SmartSearch is a good place to research a topic as you develop it into a research questions. One search wil locate print books, ebooks, journal articles, digital items, and more - all related to your topic. SmartSearch is a product from EBSCOhost, but the tool searches all of the Unveristy Libraries' subscription content. For a link to Smartsearch as well as information on how to use this search engine, go to http://libraries.wichita.edu/smartsearch.
To get even more specific with your searching, you will want to use a disciplinary database such as ERIC (for education) or PsycINFO (for psychology). Using these databases individually will allow you to use advanced search features to find relevant articles. Use the "Subject" menu on the Databases A-Z list to find the best databases in your topic's discipline.
A search may be a single word or phrase, or multiple words or phrases. Search words should usually be the most relevant concepts found in your research question. These important words are usually nouns.
Try these easy search tips!
Quotation marks are used for phrases: “market economy”
An asterisk is used to truncate or find multiple word endings in most library databases. (Some search engines or databases may use different punctuation for truncation.)
“market economy” AND Russia* This example will find Russia, Russian and Russian’s, etc. as well as the phrase "market economy."
Most plagiarism by students is accidental. Copy/pasting big pieces of text into your own notes is easy when you are taking notes online. Be sure to make note of what you are copying verbatim and what you are analyzing and rewording while you're working. This will avoid confusing yourself when you are ready to write your paper.
Write the citation information with your notes and use the permalink or permanent URL so it will be easy to find the original article again. Keep track of every article you read, even if you don't think you will use it. Just use the citation aid, which is available in most library databases, and copy/paste the citation into your online notes. Of course there may be mistakes in this computer-generated citation, so be sure to review your citation list before you are finished with your final draft.
TIPS
Check out this library guide http://libraries.wichita.edu/plagiarism for more information about avoiding plagiarism.
SmartSearch is a mega search engine, much like Google, for library resources. Find help on this library guide http://libraries.wichita.edu/smartsearch.
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Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices by 
An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields by 
Encyclopedia of Gender and Society by 
Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World by 
