Career & College Promise/ Early College

1) Identify the main question you will be investigating for your research.

Depending on your subject, you might be investigating questions like:

• History: How did the Vietnam War affect the U.S. economy? 

• Biology: What are some control methods for invasive weeds?

2) When you have a research question or topic in mind, start by identifying the most important concepts. 

ex. How did the Vietnam War affect the U.S. economy? 

ex. What are some control methods for invasive weeds?

3) Brainstorm additional keywords that are either synonyms or related terms. Use resources like a thesaurus or google search if you have trouble thinking of terms. You can also try a keyword map like the one on snappywords.com. 

Making a concept map may help you to narrow down your topic or find key terms. 

Try searching for your topic in Credo Reference.

In addition to reference sources, Credo Reference has a mind map feature that will help you identify related terms and narrow down your topic.

• Scan article abstracts for terms
• Check subject headings
• Use the database thesaurus
• Browse encyclopedia/wikipedia page for terms 
• Look at autocomplete suggestions