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Monmouth College Hewes Library

Explore a Topic

Developing a research question can be a challenge. Give yourself time to brainstorm and explore using the tips below.

Explore a Topic Tips

Picking a topic IS research!  Pre-research includes:
  • Finding and reading a few sources on your topic
  • Tweaking a topic based on what you find (or don’t find)
  • Continuing this cycle to test your topic and find useful resources

This video is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike via North Carolina State University (3:10 length). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0B3Gjlu-1o&feature=youtu.be.

Developing a good research question can be the most difficult part of the research process. These steps may help:
Browse these resources (some print, some online) to jumpstart your topic brainstorm process:
 
Don't forget to consider background information!
See the "Background" tab at the top of the page.
 

Explore your topic with this pre-research assignment.


Complete this worksheet (in print or digital format) and bring to library research session to reference during class.

Hewes Library at Monmouth College | 700 East Broadway, Monmouth, IL 61462 | Phone: 309-457-2190 | Fax: 309-457-2226 | https://library.monmouthcollege.edu | reference@monmouthcollege.edu