KEY ELEMENTS OF PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

• spend time to do background / preliminary exploration of your general topic BEFORE worrying about your research question.  You need to know the issues around your topic, and its scope.

• Pay attention to areas of interest and write down questions you have.  Don't worry too much about taking notes at this stage. You're just exploring!

• Your purpose is BROAD, shallow information, to build a general understanding of important issues,  find basic facts and enter the ongoing academic conversation around your issue.

THINGS TO DO

• Read your EE Subject Guide to get an idea of acceptable topics.

• Start with Wikipedia and Perplexity: Seriously--Wikipedia is a great source if you don't know much about a topic. And don't forget the list of sources at the end of each article.  This is also where websites can be handy sources of general information. Perplexity is great for asking questions about the viability of your topic. 

• Use Elicit.com to get a broad sense of your topic. Login with the school's password.

• Use the BHA databases for access to reputable reliable sources.