Finding Information

Get an overview of your topic by consulting an encyclopedia, handbook or specialized dictionary. Credo Reference, a database of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and more, or Wikipedia are both good places to start. This step is especially important if your area of research is less familiar to you. As you read, start focusing in on your potential topic. See if there are certain aspects to your topic that interest you, or questions that you would like to try to answer. 

More Resources:

Worksheet: Choosing A Topic
Video: Picking Your Topic IS Research!
Library Resource Guide: Research Quick Start Guide

What questions do you want to answer with your research? Think of the Who, What, Where and Why's of your topic. It's often helpful to write (or type) these down. From there, select a question that interests you and that you feel you can reasonably answer with some research. Once you get started, you may need to adjust your question if it's too broad or too narrow, but that's ok! It's important to be flexible. 

Once you have your research question, think of relevant keywords or search terms. Keywords are usually the most important concepts in your research question. For example, if your research question is "What are the effects of climate change on fish in the Gulf of Maine?" your keywords might be "climate change" "Gulf of Maine" and "fish." 

It's important to remember that different keywords will yield different search results. Think of synonyms and other related words that might be worth searching as well. "climate change" could also be referred to as "global warming," or "climate crisis" or "global heating." The Gulf of Maine might also be "Southern Maine Coast" or "Maine Atlantic Coast." "Fish" could be "marine life," "aquatic animals," or even a specific species. 

More Resources:

Worksheet: Choosing a Topic & Search Terms
Video: Mapping Your Research Ideas
Library Resource Guide: Research & The Writing Process

Select some keywords to get started. Even though you may have your topic figured out, start a little broad. For example, if you want to write about the history of building wooden schooner ships in Bath, Maine, start by just searching “wooden shipbuilding and Maine.” to see what’s out there. You can always narrow your search down, but it’s usually best to cast a wide net first so you don’t miss out on a valuable resource. 

Using “and” in your search makes your search more specific (ex: “Maine AND climate change”), using “or” makes your search broader by looking for related terms (ex: “climate change OR global warming”).  

Books and articles that you find using the library are the best way to ensure you’re finding credible resources. Try starting with LibrarySearch, which searches several databases at once. 

More Resources:

Visual: AND, OR Explained or watch this video from Scribbr
Library Resource Guide: Starting Your Search

Evaluate how your initial search is going. Are you finding what you're looking for? Is there a specific aspect to your topic that jumps out at you and you want to focus in on? If things are going well, keep narrowing down your search and saving articles and other resources. If you're not finding things, circle back to your research topic and keywords. What other keywords could you try? 

You can also search within individual library databases that are more specific to your subject or research needs. For example, if you are researching a Psychology topic, the library has databases that focus solely on Psychology, such as the databased Psychology Collection. 

More Resources:

Library Guide: How to Use Library Databases
Video: Using the OneSearch Tool at UMA Libraries