Choosing a Topic5 Methods

Take your time to look for a topic

Look around “to see if a juicier topic may be in full view nearby” (George 30).

Think about preparing the topic for company

“Choose something that interests you” (George 31).

See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (30-31)

Toadstool Peeking

See Artful Danni’s Peeking in the Fairy Door: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danniquee/

Ask Advantage

◦ Instructor = interested in whatever they recommend

◦ Knows your strengths & weaknesses

◦ Knows library collection Disadvantage

◦ You may not be interested

◦ Instructor may be an expert on the topic Seek and relish wisdom Ignore her fame

See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (31-32)

Read

Record intriguing facts Start your research log

Multiple summaries in reference tools◦ Encyclopedia Britannica◦ Wikipedia◦ Plus more

Note how various accounts of a subject differ

Find and record keywords to search with later.

See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (32-36)

Browse

Discover good books Meet “Serendipity”

Look at lists of references in textbooks or encyclopedias

Browse the library shelves aka stacks

Libraries organize books according to subjects

See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (36-40)

“Hence you can browse, or scan, your way to an exciting topic of your own by standing in one place” (George 37).

Look Primary Sources

◦ Evidence by or near whatever you are studying.

◦ Examples: Sonnet Speech Law Photograph Equation Stock market chart Computer graph of a drug

interaction Musical score Letter

◦ Can be shared with someone

Image courtesy of Suttonhoo:

http://suttonhoo.blogspot.com/2008/07/postdated.html

“One way to discover a captivating topic is to look deeply into a primary source to see what it tells you and to attempt to understand it in its original context.”

- Mary George

See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (41)

Link Think about what you

already know Canal building in

Idaho and transportation

Try to connect the dots

See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (41-42)

Seek approval from your instructor

Don’t go to the library or search on your computer for a whole day

Engage your imagination

Avoid drowning in a sea of sources before you know what to do with them

See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (42-43)

“A longer process is in fact easier to manage and a lot less painful than a compressed one.”

See James Good and “Balmy Ocean.”

What to do after choosing a topic