Explore Your Topic
Spend a few minutes thinking about your topic
- List important vocabulary related to your topic. Consider the 5 W's - who, what, where, when, why
- List people or groups impacted by your topic.
- Make a list of questions (large or small) that you’d like to address through your research.
Brainstorm keywords for your search
1. Identify the main concepts of your research question
How does clothing impact the economy of Asian countries?
2. Brainstorm synonyms or related terms for your main concepts
How does (clothing OR dress OR apparel OR textiles OR fashion) impact the (economy OR economics OR money) of (Asian OR Asia OR "South-East Asia") countries?
Research Tip: How to Narrow Your Search
- Combine concepts with AND to find more relevant sources
- picasso AND Africa
- internet AND privacy
- bedrock AND Massachusetts AND hydrology
- Use “quotation marks” to find exact phrases
- "rock art"
- “African diaspora”
- “invertible matrix”
Research Tip: How to Broaden Your Search
- Use ORs and parentheses to combine synonyms or related terms
- (oil OR petroleum OR crude)
- (antibiotic OR antiviral)
- (woman OR girl OR female)
Put it All Together
