Before you begin your research there a a few things to reflect upon and determine:
- What is the nature of the assignment? Is it a paper, project, or presentation?
- Have you been assigned a topic or do you need to develop one?
- If you need to develop a topic, how will you go about it?
- Once you have a topic ask yourself, "What are the questions I need to answer?"
- What is the scope of the assignment; how much information will you need?
- What type of information is needed? Primary? Secondary? Both?
- Where should you look for the needed information?
- How will you find the needed information? What search terms and strategy will you use?
- How will you organize your paper, project, or presentation?
- Create an outline to help keep your product organized.
- Keep track of your references/citations.
- Use a consistent citation style.
