After selecting the general topic, read one or two articles from current encyclopedia and determine three or four elements that additional research will pique your interest. Then, reflect on your personal interests related to the topic, and choose the area of focus that is most interesting and thought-provoking. If the topic is interesting, you will easily stimulate your peers to learn from your research.
This step is called preliminary research, and is important to develop a focus on the topic. In addition to refining your topic, this step is important to gain some background or foundational information, in preparation for the in-depth conversations with experts on the topic. For example, if you were to attend a conference on your topic about post-traumatic stress syndrome for veterans that served in Afghanistan, most attendees would be familiar with the major issues, and the presenters would share the material assuming the audience has that level of understanding. It is a comparable situation for anyone researching a topic on an advanced level. The professional publications recommended for college-level research assume the audience has a foundation of information on the topic, and presents the content with that foundation.
As researchers, students need to have an adequate level of understanding of those common knowledge elements. Most encyclopedia articles contain the “common knowledge” material on the topic at hand, and professional literature is written assuming the audience has acquired that foundation. With this preparation, students can converse with experts on the topic, reading and responding to the information. Also, many times a student discovers an interesting topic presented in class, and college texts may be used for preliminary research as well.
One common problem for many students doing research is that their topic is too general. For example, a student might want to explore learning styles. The encyclopedia article may describe several learning styles, but a researcher might learn quickly that this topic is too general. The student should make a list of elements to narrow down the topic and make it more manageable. For example, how do certain learning styles work better for different subjects in school? How do different personality elements contribute to the student’s learning style? What teaching style(s) work best for a specific learning style for math? How should an instructor adjust his/her teaching style present material to reach more learning styles? The more specific research questions often have at least three elements, based on “who,” “what,” “where,” “why,” and “when”.
Another common problem develops when students want to research a new issue, especially a recently developed health concern. For example, a student that wants to research a cure for COVID19, might be very frustrated because the research is so recent and very little has been published. In the encyclopedia articles, look for what professionals have learned, and choose research questions that focus on how/why it works, explore how researchers were able to verify the success of a program, or another exploratory question.
Talk with other classmates and instructor about your topic and develop a specific research question to explore through your research. Does your research question need research to explore and explain an issue of interest to you?
