Clarifying Research Need

Students first need to take a moment to consider what information they’re actually looking for in their searches.

It can be a worthwhile exercise to add this extra step in between giving a student a task (or choice of tasks) and sending them off to research.

You could have a class discussion or small group conferences on brainstorming keywords, considering synonyms or alternative phrases, generating questions etc. Mindmapping might help too.

Morris, Kathleen. "How to Teach Online Research Skills to Students in 5 Steps (Free eBook and Posters)." Primary Tech by Kathleen Morris, 23 Feb. 2018, kathleenamorris.com/2018/02/23/research-filter/. 

Keywords

When you look at the research question in the example, note that there are circles around 3 words. These are the most critical important or distinguishing words in your research question. 

Finding a Manageable Topics

If your topic can be summed up in a word or two, like smoking, school violence, education, overweight kids, capital punishment, World War II, or rap music, your topic is too broad.

One reliable method to use to narrow a topic is to narrow it by different contexts. Ask the questions of Who, What, Where, When and sometimes How and Why.